Anti Desertification Research Center

Desertification is one of the main international environmental problems the globe is facing, this project will help prevent and reverse this problem by turning the desert green again and reclaiming the desert. The desertification research center is devoted to research on the causes, and factors of desertification and the characterization of soils as a natural resource and saltwater. also, the research center will reverse desertification in the surrounding area, solving the four major causes which are the wind, wrong farmers’ behaviors, water shortage, and soil degrading. The site is in Jordan close to the shore of the dead sea and where Almujib valley connects with the dead sea, the site was chosen because it is under desertification and it has a supply of saltwater and rainwater that comes from the valley and there is a community of farms and village to the north of the site. Also, the area is a popular route for hikers giving them an area to set and at the same time increase awareness about the problem.

The concept of the systems was to make a loop where using and reusing the resources to make the most efficient outcome.

1: making the building offset from the mountain and elevated it so rainwater can go through and dispense grey water to the same route to be collected later on, at summer the water gets pumped to the top of the mountain and used as a cooling device for the main building.

2: after rainwater come from the valley then it will go to a small like-dam structure that will use the water to generate power and then either get the two rainwater artificial ponds to the left and right or if the pools are full it will open a hatch and let the water go to the sea.

3: using seawater pressure to get water from the sea to an underground tank that connects to the outside pool for seawater.

4: then the water will be evaporated from the sun or from heat pipes that will be powered by (2:water turbines) or (5:solar panels).

5: saltwater Green house mud Domes: The greenhouse domes are greenhouses designed for arid and hot regions, by solving all major causes of desertification. The first one is (wind) this dome is built from a steel structure and then covered with mud which is a good thermal insulator that can keep humidity inside. Using seawater collected from “3:water pressure” the water taking to special cardboard and when the hot dry air goes through the water-soaked cardboard, it becomes humid increasing the humidity of the dome, high humidity makes the plants inside take up to ten times less water. Then on the opposite side, there will be a dehumidifier that will turn the humid air that will exit the dome back to water that will be used in addition to “2:rain water from the pools” to water the plants and that will solve the shortage of water. by making a defined place, which is the dome, we can place dead leaves from the plants themselves to heal the soil back, and these leaves will keep moisture trapped and decompose upgrading the soil. But by making the dome the plants lost their sunlight and that can be solved by having a glass top with concave glass to spread the light to the dome.