Hop-E

Team member 

  • Brando Di Giovanni (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Emanuele Durante (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Laura Gabrielli (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Luca Gialli (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Michele Lapomarda (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Mohamed Shahwan (Cairo University, Egypt)
  • Patricia Gonzalez Mariscal (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
  • Sherifa El-Haggan (Cairo University, Egypt)
  • Yasmina Abdelrazek (Cairo University, Egypt)

Project abstract

The SIAPA industrial site is the perfect location to merge between the history and the future of a city. It was the city’s engine in the past, and once more, Hop-E project aims to turn the site to its past glory by creating a contrasting approach to the site industrial roots. We aim to revitalize the area using a smart, sustainable and interactive approach that creates an innovative agriculture-based centre in the middle of the urban setting. We promote minimal demolition and maximum retrofitting for the existing warehouses on site. We are proposing a socially inclusive learning hub where various community members can come together, grow food, learn about sustainability and urban farming while having a fun and pleasant experience and becoming an integral part of the project’s structure. Crops will be produced locally, sustainable and healthy lifestyle will be promoted among the community, organic waste will be recycled into art, crafts and even electricity, research on urban farming enhancement will be abducted. We produce, we recycle, we teach, we engage. We aim to create a generation of innovative, socially, economically and environmentally aware community members who will serve this city’s present as well as its future.