On Monday June 1st An Najah’s American Corner Nablus in cooperation with the Construction and Transportation Research Unit held an all day Sustainable Building Expert Panel as part of the Green Buildings Project.  10 groups of participating students presented their innovative and original green building models to the panel of judges and were subjected to intense cross examination in order for the judges to score the projects’ design and construction elements, sustainable considerations, and the level of innovation when implementing all sustainable components.  The green building projects the students created varied in size and application such highlights as an Architectures’ Club, a Media Center, and a Sports Center.

The Palestinian sustainable experts who served as guest judges included Eng Ma’moun Abu Rayyan, Coordinator of the Palestine Higher Green Buildings Council (PHGBC); Eng Elias Deick, a freelance architect and member of the Technical Committee for the PHGBC; and Dr Abdel Fattah Hassan, Head of An Najah’s Civil Engineering Department and member of the technical of PHGBC.  The Panel was supervised by Dr Muhannad Haj Hussein, Assistant Professor in Building Engineering Department and also a member of the Technical Committee of the PHGBC.

An Najah’s Green Building Project is a partnership with the American Consulate in Jerusalem and Arizona State University.  In August, the winning group will travel to Arizona State University in America for a seven day cultural and academic visit with our sustainable academic engineers. 

Upon their return, all the project models will be presented in a public exhibition and Sustainable Expertise Exchange Forum that will include American and Palestinian sustainable experts.