Meetings with local actors in Lebanon

During our field visit to Lebanon, we were pleased to have many interesting meetings with enthousiastic groups of different specialists. We would like to thank everybody for the good meetings and the new ideas! Special thanks for Mr. Nassib El-Solh, Mrs. Jeumana Nasser and Mrs. Hiba Haidar for their active presence and energetic attitude in almost all of our meetings during our stay in Lebanon.

Saturday 7th April

 

On our first day in Lebanon we had the pleasure to have a meeting at Al-Amal Institute for the Disabled in Broummana, Mont Lebanon. We met Nassib El-Solh (Al-Amal Institute), Amar Al-Tarshah (The executive manager of Al-Amal Institute), Shadya Maqsal (Pedagogical Supervisor, Al-Amal Institute) and Riva Fneish (Administrative Assistant, Al-Amal Institute), who offered us interesting information about the Institute, Rock Village and the end-users.

We also visited a Lebanese ecovillage in Dmit Valley, Chouf mountains, Lebanon. The ecovillage is a place for educational ecotourism, where visitors can learn about the environment, organic agriculture, healthy living etc. We met Karim Khatib, the founder of the ecovillage.

View from Broummana.

EcoVillage in Dmit Valley.

Sunday 8th April

 

On the second day we headed for the Rock Village site in Nabatiyeh governorate, South Lebanon. It was an eye-opening visit as we learned much about the local conditions and requirements. We met Hiba Haidar (Tathmeer group), Marie Claude Fleyfel, Jeumana Nasser (Tathmeer group) and Ali Berro (Lebanon green building council).

We also visited the nearby municipalities of Yahmur and Arnoun to learn for example about local governance, infrastructure and planned projects. In Yahmur we met Ayad Olleik (Yahmur municipality), Kassem Saad (Yahmur municipality) and Mouhamed Dawoud (Yahmur municipality). In Arnoun we met Al-Hajj Fawaz Qatbay (The head of the Arnoun Municipality).

Rock Village site in South Lebanon.

View from Beaufort castle.

Monday 9th April

On the third day we held a presentation of our project at the American University of Beirut. We had the pleasure to meet many experts and discuss about the Rock Village project as a whole. We met Mounir Mabsout (AUB CCES), Vatche Boyadjian (Tathmeer group), Rima Habib (AUB Env & public health) and Rabih Shibli (AUB CCES).

American University of Beirut.

Shoreline of Beirut.

Tuesday 10th April

On our last day in Lebanon we visited a grain processing factory in Zahle, Beqaa valley. As a factory like this is also planned in Rock Village, we learned much about grain processing and the requirements of this kind of factories. We met Abu Tarek (Manager of the Zahle grain processing factory). We also had some time to visit the beautiful ruins in Baalbek.

Grain processing in Zahle, Beqaa valley.

Ruins in Baalbek.

Our trip to Lebanon was very fruitful and gave us many new thoughts to elaborate in our project!

Greetings from Lebanon!

Now we're here! After long flights and a short sleep last night we have started to familiarize ourselves to the Lebanese culture and most importantly the Al-Amal Institute. We started the day with a tour around the Institute's Winter Sweater Program. Unfortunately the "kids" where not present due to Eastern holidays, but we got to look at the facilities.

Hossam, Axel, Susa, and Aino at the Winter Sweater Program's facilities

Nassib el-Solh, leader of the Al-Amal Institute

After the visit to the Institute (and a short presentation both from us and people working with the institute) we traveled to take a look at an Ecovillage currently operational south of Beirut.

Ecovillage (read more from http://www.ecoecovillage.com/)

Ecovillage had very nice energy solutions, basically they covered everything with solar heaters and micro hydro, the latter was capable to produce some 1250W.

Micro hydro (bar screen and surface regulator on top of a 10 meter drop)

Of course we had time to go to the beach, however small the beach was. That's it for this time. Hear from us  again, soon!

Aino and Susa in the water, Axel and Hossam are discussing the state of the world.

Designing for people with special needs

Rock Village is a concept for mentally disabled people with special needs. The societal objectives of the project are reintegrating the end users to the society by offering them social integration opportunities, raising the public awareness of mentally disabled people, and focusing on empowerment and independence. As the Rock Village is a home for people with special needs, the socio-cultural aspects need to be taken into deep consideration during the planning and design phase. How should the the special needs be recognized in planning and design?

There are three important aspects in designing for the disabled: creating a stimulating environment, coherence and control. The environment should be stimulating, yet clear enough to avoid confusion. Planning and design can be assisted with the right use of for example colors, light, coding, floor patterns, materials and sensory cues. For coherence, the spaces and their uses need to be clearly distinguished. Offering a feeling of control through giving possibilities of altering the space is also important. There should be a clear hierarchy of spaces as public and private spaces can encourage different kinds of activities, interaction, self-expression and empowerment.