Italian Architect to Build Green Schools in Gaza

Image by MC Architects

By Noam Dvir February 21, 2012

Crossposted from Haaretz

Image by MC Architects

For the past year Italian architect Mario Cucinella has been heading a UN Relief and Works Agency ‏(UNRWA‏) project to build 20 sustainable schools in the Gaza Strip. The planning for the first environmentally-friendly school, to be built in Khan Yunis, is now in the final stages. The building will serve about 800 students and meet all its own energy and water needs by means of a combination of traditional and new technologies.

In a telephone interview, Cucinella explains that when you construct an educational facility, you are contributing directly to the literacy and freedom of the citizens. “If we succeed in putting up a building like that in Gaza, we’ll be able to succeed anywhere in the world,” he said.

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