“Empowering the Informal City” addresses issues of climate change to enhance the environmental performance in informal areas based on local solutions. Supported by the Create Industries Fund in the Netherlands, it includes a series of research-design-build workshops in partnership between CLUSTER,  AP+E: Practice for Architecture & Research, and Loom: Practice for cultural transformation in the Netherlands, and in collaboration with the Independent School for the City in Rotterdam.

This first workshop, May 2025, built on the ongoing research around the same topic which analyzed and tested the solar chimney in specific sites as a potential passive solution to be used in the typical housing typology within informal areas in Cairo, identifying ventilation shafts, stairwells, balconies and rooftops, as potential areas to place passive cooling devices, that are sourced from recyclable materials and  locally produced.

The second workshop, September 2025, included 10 local and international participants having both academic and professional backgrounds to investigate possible solutions to improve indoor thermal comfort levels in such housing and climate conditions. Participants grouped together to design and build prototypes for 3 different alternatives: 1) a solar chimney enhanced according to the previous research and testing done, 2) a windcatcher with adjustable heights, and 3) an evaporative cooling method.

The workshops took place at our creative lab in Ard al-Liwa ALFABRIKA, with the help of our team there as well as the local craftspeople in Ard al-Liwa.