Hello from Gaza — looking for support to turn a geodesic shelter project into reality

[mohammed Rasmy]

Hello from Gaza,

About a year ago, while trying to find a practical way to provide shelter for my family under the current conflict and severe shortage of conventional building materials, I started thinking about a different approach.

The idea was to rely on short, repeated structural elements that could potentially be produced from locally available or recovered materials, including material salvaged from damaged buildings.

After months of studying different structural systems, I became increasingly interested in geodesic domes because of their ability to create relatively large structures from many small repeated parts.

What started as research for a shelter gradually became a much larger engineering project.

During this process, I developed Dome of Drums, a SketchUp extension dedicated to the design and fabrication of dome and gridshell structures.

The tool now goes far beyond standard geodesic domes. It includes systems such as:

Geodesic and Geodesic Hex structures, Zonohedral and Zome systems, reciprocal / Nexorade structures, geodesic tunnels, different grid-shell configurations, and several experimental systems that I have developed during the project.

One of the most important features is that the user can also take almost any 2D grid or line pattern and project it onto a dome or another shell profile, then convert that geometry into a buildable structural system.

The dome profile itself does not have to be a semicircle. It can be generated from many different arch profiles, including pointed, elliptical, multi-centered and other forms inspired partly by traditional and Islamic arch geometry.

The software also deals with the parts needed for actual fabrication rather than only generating lines in space.

It can generate physical timber or steel members, connection systems, reciprocal structures, hubs, doors and windows, shell or cover patterns, and fabrication reports with dimensions and cutting information.

There is also a system for generating cover patterns, similar to sewing patterns, for fabric or membrane skins.

Another part of the tool can generate reusable casting molds for repeated structural blocks. This is particularly important for us because it could allow shelters to be built from locally available earth or other cast materials when conventional cement or timber is difficult to obtain.

At this point, the project has moved beyond being only a computer experiment. The goal now is to expand the work into more full-scale construction and use it to serve families and communities here.

What I need most now is help connecting with people who may have experience in:

• geodesic and gridshell construction,
• structural engineering,
• timber or reciprocal structures,
• earthen construction,
• humanitarian shelter,
• material testing,
• or organizations that may be interested in supporting or partnering on field implementation.

Support does not necessarily have to be financial. Technical advice, introductions to humanitarian organizations, engineering review, material expertise, or help connecting with potential partners would all be extremely valuable.

If anyone here has experience in these areas, or simply wants to help us move the project from digital design into wider real-world construction, I would be very grateful to hear from you.

You can contact me directly at:
m7md....@gmail.com

Thank you from Gaza.

Dome of Drums
From Simple Parts to Shelter.