AgraNest

Project idea

Located in Alexandria, Egypt, this project emerges from a landscape both historically rich and environmentally threatened. For centuries, Alexandria served as one of Egypt’s agricultural heartlands — a fertile bridge between the Nile and the Mediterranean. Areas like Al-Amriyah once thrived as industrial-agricultural zones, nourishing communities and sustaining traditional livelihoods. Today, that legacy is under siege. Rising sea levels have heightened soil salinity, weakening crops and devastating fields. Once-productive lands now falter. At the same time, agricultural waste — palm fronds, husks, stalks — piles up, left to decay, burned, or forgotten. Each year, thousands of tons of organic byproducts are discarded, yet they carry immense, overlooked potential. Amid this crisis, a new vision takes root — one that reimagines agricultural waste not as a burden, but as a building block for a regenerative economy.

Honoring Tradition, Embracing Innovation
Historically, agricultural byproducts played a vital role in Egyptian craftsmanship and architecture. In regions like Fayoum, Old Cairo, and Alexandria, materials such as palm husks and stalks were skillfully transformed into bricks, carpets, baskets, and textiles — woven into daily life with ingenuity and respect for the land.

However, as industrial materials have taken precedence, this sustainable heritage has faded.

AgraNest: A Circular Future
AgraNest is inspired by the principles of the circular economy, seeking to revive these traditional practices through modern applications. It proposes a system where agricultural waste is collected, processed, and reimagined — converted into marketable, eco-friendly products ranging from construction materials to crafts and composites.

More than just recycling, AgraNest is a regenerative architecture and business incubator — a catalyst for local innovation, economic empowerment, and environmental resilience. By turning agricultural byproducts into resources, the project reconnects Alexandria with its agricultural roots while forging a model for sustainable futures.

Project description

AgraNest is organized into five interconnected zones, each contributing to a closed-loop system where agricultural waste becomes opportunity, innovation flourishes, and community engagement thrives. The architecture seamlessly blends production, education, commerce, and nature.

1. The Workshop Zone: From Waste to Resource
The process begins in the open workshops, where agricultural waste — palm fronds, husks, stalks — is collected and transformed into new materials. These expansive spaces, framed by arcaded structures, open directly onto the surrounding farmland, creating a strong spatial and symbolic link to the land. The open-air design supports transparency, ventilation, and public visibility of the making process.

2. The Packaging Zone: Sustainable Finishing
Adjacent to the workshops, the packaging zone is where finished products are prepared for distribution using eco-friendly, recycled packaging materials. It’s designed for efficiency and cleanliness, with minimal environmental footprint and smooth transition between production and market readiness.

3. The Market Walkthrough: An Outdoor Showcase
This open-air market is the heart of public interaction. Surrounded by integrated shops and galleries, the central walkway is shaded by textile canopies that provide comfort and a rhythmic aesthetic. Visitors experience the full journey of upcycled products — from raw material to finished goods — in a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly environment. It’s more than a market; it’s a space for storytelling, culture, and sustainable commerce.

4. The Office and Innovation Hub: Cultivating Green Entrepreneurship
This building supports startups and eco-focused enterprises, offering open-plan workspaces, shared lounges, and terraces wrapped in vertical aeroponic systems. It acts as both a business incubator and an architectural showcase for green technologies. The integration of greenery and flexible layouts fosters a productive, regenerative work culture.

5. The Interactive Outdoor Areas: Growing Together
The final zone invites users to actively engage with the landscape. These green outdoor spaces are shaded by light textile canopies and planted with aeroponic systems, offering areas where visitors and locals can plant, grow, and learn. Designed for workshops and community use, these gardens transform AgraNest into a hands-on learning environment, where urban agriculture meets environmental stewardship.

Technical information

AgraNest employs a dual structural system that reflects both the functional requirements and symbolic intentions of the project — balancing grounded, process-driven spaces with elevated, visionary ones.

1. Concrete Flat Slab System for Grounded Zones
The lower zones — including the workshops, market walkthrough, and packaging areas — are constructed using a reinforced concrete flat slab system. This system provides structural efficiency, flexibility in layout, and thermal mass ideal for the building’s industrial and public functions. The robust concrete grid allows for open spans in workshop areas and seamless circulation across market and packaging zones.

These volumes are shaded by an independent lightweight steel structure, composed of tensile wire mesh and recycled textile-inspired panels. This secondary skin serves multiple purposes:

Shading: Reduces direct heat gain while allowing filtered daylight.

Aesthetic layering: Creates a dynamic play of light and shadow throughout the day.

Functional screening: Conceals service cores, vertical circulation, and structural joints while reinforcing the narrative of reused fibers and upcycled materials.

2. Space Truss and Side Bracing for the Vertical Hub
In contrast, the high-rise business startups center employs a steel space truss system paired with side bracing elements. This lightweight yet rigid structure supports the building’s bold cantilevers and open interior spans, accommodating flexible workspaces and shared lounges.

The space truss ensures minimal material use while achieving large unsupported spans, expressing structural clarity and innovation.

Side bracing provides lateral stability, especially in cantilevered sections, ensuring resilience against wind and seismic loads.

The contrast in structural logic between the grounded slab system and the elevated trussed tower expresses AgraNest’s central narrative: from grounded waste to elevated innovation, from material burden to spatial lightness, and from decay to regeneration.