This project began with a phone call from Fareed Mahamid—an extraordinary environmental activist—who reached out with a vision: to transform a neglected patch of land behind the school in al-Fur‘a, an unrecognized Bedouin village, into a small yet vital educational hub.

Schools in unrecognized villages are unlike those in towns and cities. Typically built from shipping containers arranged in rectangles, they form a modest central courtyard—functional, but far from adequate. Al-Fur‘a’s school is unique in scale, serving 1,500 students from first to ninth grade despite a severely underdeveloped infrastructure.

Fareed asked me to help reimagine this overlooked corner. Working alongside Haytham Canaan, we designed a space rooted in ecological awareness and local resilience: an edible permaculture forest, planted next to the water filtration unit used for agricultural reuse; shaded seating made from palm fronds beside the drinking water purification machine; and a rammed earth kitchen for cooking, learning, and resting.

The project is still in process—but it already gestures toward a broader future, where community-driven design reclaims space, even in the most neglected environments.