What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the term 'sustainable architecture’? You might think of the colorful houses in Nuba or the Lattice-Domed Parliament Building in Abu Dhabi.
As the global trends are shifting towards using sustainable and green materials, utilizing the natural resources to our benefit without harming the environment, along came the idea of El Bedaly Architects. Tamer El Bedaly, co-founder, tells us about starting his own sustainable architecture firm in the midst of a global pandemic, his dreams for the future of architecture and his journey to build an online presence.
Designing a resilient future
Tamer El Bedaly graduated in 2010 from the Faculty of Engineering, where he majored in architecture. His career kicked off in Egypt, then Dubai where he worked on several residential, governmental and industrial projects. He’s also licensed from Dubai municipality for Green building regulation and disable people regulation.
During his 10 years of experience in the market, Tamer was fascinated by mother nature, and deep down he knew that environmental design is the future of architecture globally.
Then, in 2020, he decided to start his own business El Bedaly Architects based on the concept of arcology. He explains:
I noticed that there was a surge in the prices of architecture supplies, meanwhile nature has provided us with natural resources that we can use to build and design.
El Bedaly paving the way for sustainable architecture
El Bedaly architects offers complete architectural services and green building designs by licensed professionals. They pride themselves in using non-toxic or recycled materials.
When working on a new project, Tamer’s main inspiration is ‘nature’.
From plants, soil, trees, flowers, to the birds’ colors - all elements of nature can be of an inspiration to him, which can be vividly seen in his designs and projects.
One of the projects that Tamer is particularly proud of is a restaurant in Cairo called ‘Bones N Chicks’. The main concept of the design is to transfer the restaurant to a chicken factory by using recycled materials.
Setting a website for El Bedaly Architects
El Bedaly’s vision was to be online so that they would be able to communicate and reach a wider audience, especially during the pandemic. Tamer explains:
The world is now considered one market. I didn’t want to restrict my business to one region or one country, I built my website in order to have both local and global reach.
When Tamer was choosing the domain name for his website, he was looking for a trustworthy, secure and established company - and that’s why he preferred GoDaddy.
After securing the domain name elbedalyarchitects.com, he faced a challenge with creating a website. He says, “When it comes to technology, I’ve always been good with architectural programs. Yet, I don’t have the tech knowledge needed to build a website. So, when I wanted to build a website for my business, I found it hard to hire someone to do it for me as I had a certain vision for my website design.”
Knowing that Tamer had an architectural design background, it was challenging for him to work with a web designer who’d build the website for him. This is when he realized that he needs to take ownership of his website and build it himself, he explains:
When I first started using GoDaddy’s Website Builder, I appreciated the tool’s ease of use.
Whenever El Bedaly had a question or a website-related inquiry, he’d either check the help center, or he’d reach out to the GoDaddy Guides to assist him with any technical inquiries.
What does the future hold for sustainable architecture at El Bedaly?
He says that environmental design isn’t only beautiful, it’s also useful and won’t harm us or mother nature.
He also urges this not only for the consumers, but also other designers and architects to support environmental architecture, and to ‘give it a chance’. His vision for El Bedaly architectures is to be the hub for sustainable architecture, and to help raise awareness around environmental architecture.
Tamer’s dream project ‘Green Village’ serves his vision in protecting nature by building a full environment friendly village with low cost, powered by free gas and natural ventilation. He hopes to see a free home and natural use delivered as a concept, as he believes that we are not supposed to pay nature money in order to live in it or survive.
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