Designing a Safe High-Rise Residential Building in War Zones

Safety is a crucial issue in any residential building, especially in war zones like the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Addressing the urgent need for safe and resilient housing for civilians constantly exposed to conflict and repeated bombardment is crucial. Architectural design must focus on maximizing civilian protection through a layered approach, offering varying levels of safety for different user groups and building zones. The primary challenge is to develop a design that accommodates the daily routine while ensuring that structural systems withstand both blasts and their associated waves. To ensure user safety, the project integrates a serial protection system across the landscape, building mass and boundaries, building materials, and rooms. Specific site configurations, a Mamad room, and an underground bunker require a haven that employs a robust material, a blast-resistant protective structure, and a hardened core to support long-term occupancy during an emergency. Supporting infrastructure, including reliable energy reserves, secure water storage, effective air filtration, and a robust communications network, is essential to ensure the survival and comfort of occupants. To address these challenges, qualitative and quantitative architectural research approaches are applied, combining case studies of existing protective housing, building performance simulations, and field data analysis to create a context-specific design.