Gashbin – The Blue House Project : Architecture for charity

Sammanfattning: Gashbin- the Blue House Project, is an Architect for Charity Project concerning a house in Domiz which is situated in the outskirt of Duhok in the Kurdish part of Iraq. The house is used by a non- governmental organisation (NGO), Domiz Organisation for Community Development (DOCD) which organizes activities for children and youth and education for different groups of people. The house is however in need of a renovation and an enlargement and this is the aim of the Blue House Project. The project is supported by the Kurdish European Medical Students Association (KEMSA) and a team consisting of people from DOCD, KEMSA and private persons with different professions leads the project. My part of the project is to give a design proposal for the renovation and the expansion of the building. This thesis includes research of the somewhat unclear history and identity of Domiz, i.e. it is not clear why it was built and by whom and the origin of the name is also unknown. There are also some crucial problems due to the natural environment in the region with a hot and dry climate as well as the lack of resources such as water, electricity and building materials which will be discussed in the technology part of the thesis. The new building will be enhanced with some of the old and original technique of cooling a building and some other low-tech solutions. The project will take advantage of the Meshrabya technique, i.e. the windows and all open parts of the building will be covered with wooden, metal or concrete screens in traditional style to let daylight in and support the ventilation process and also create more privacy