KarmBuild, a subsidiary of solar energy company KarmSolar, has teamed up with Azza Fahmy Designs Company to add an artistic flavor to the designs of solar panels and solar technology-based architecture in Egypt. Invest-Gate explores such a unique partnership, aiming to integrate between the Egyptian heritage designs and the sustainable eco-friendly architecture.
“Looking back to our heritage, we will find that architecture designs were reflecting our culture. But today, architectural designs of buildings everywhere and especially at the most upmarket areas no longer fit the Egyptian environment,” Ahmed Zahran, CEO and co-founder of KarmSolar, tells Invest-Gate.
KarmBuild is an architectural design and build firm focusing on energy efficiency and environmentally-sustainable building designs. Since its launch in 2011, KarmSolar and its subsidiaries have been mainly demonstrating the notion that Egypt can have its own technology in the field of solar power. The company is keen on bringing solar power solutions for those, who are in dire need to find alternatives to high costs of energy consumption, especially in areas far from the capital. 
Seeking to create a mixture between Egyptian heritage and the innovative technology in the field of renewable energy, the company has cooperated with renowned heritage expert Azza Fahmy. Fahmy, a prominent jewelry Egyptian designer, has managed to showcase Egyptian heritage and culture in her jewelry designs that are recognized internationally.
Commenting on her partnership with KarmBuild, Fahmy says, “I found that my 50-year- experience will be a perfect addition to KarmBuild’s idea.” “I spent 50 years doing nothing but reviewing designs of the Egyptian architecture in different civilizations, namely Islamic and Ancient Egyptian,” Fahmy adds.
The artist has long been working with KarmBuild team in order to add her artistic vision to their architectural designs. One of the joint projects currently underway is KarmSolar Sahl Hashish Campus along with a number of touristic and residential projects in Marsa Allam and Bahariya Oasis.
“Azza Fahmy’s business continues to grow, relying on the artist’s design methodology, which gives value to the character of the design and translates culture and heritage into modernized designs. She continues to expand and implement that design methodology not only in jewellery but also in other design-related sectors,” Zahran says.
“Using such methodology, the KarmSolar Sahl Hasheesh Campus Headquarters features inspirations with using various elements, such as the Palmetto plant, which has Ancient Egyptian and Roman origins,” he adds. The plant design is a mixture of ancient Egyptian and Nubian architecture. “The ceiling of the plant is a mix of Ancient Egypt and Nubia, showing traditional architectural motifs,” he notes.
Zahran also confirms that the company has been working hard to make designs, where inhabitants totally depend on the sunlight to lighten their houses. “The designs also decrease temperatures in high-temperature houses,” Zahran clarifies.
“Using renewable energy will not be optional in the near future,” says Omar Mansour, KarmSolar CTO.
“The company’s projects are focusing on building houses that ‘literally breathe’, meaning that the buildings will be coping with the outer atmosphere with no need for the usage of artificial lightning and air conditioners,” Mansour tells Invest-Gate.
Mansour also says that the company’s main goal is to encourage ordinary customers to possess solar panels that generate power and have an artistic design.
“In order to achieve our aim of engaging customers to have solar panels in their homes, we have come up with Azza Fahmy Mountings, a project that seeks to highlight Egyptian heritage in solar technology-based architecture,” Karim Kafrawi, Principal Architect at KarmBuild, says.
Kafrawi adds that the solar panel still looks so odd in the urban city; so the project will help change such odd designs with ones that reflect the Egyptian culture.
Ranging from agriculture, tourism, industrial, and commercial sectors, KarmSolar along with its subsidiary KarmBuild are carrying out a number of projects across Egypt, including Sahl Hasheesh in Hurghada, Marsa Allam, and Bahariya Oasis.
After its large exposure in the Egyptian market, KarmSolar is now running eight projects while its subsidiary KarmBuild is managing another three.
KarmSolar’s current projects are designed to provide solar power to Enmaa Farm, a cater to Egyptian beverage and yogurt company Juhayna, in Bahariya Oasis, as well as to touristic client Red Sea Diving Eco-lodges and Wadi Sabara in Marsa Alam.
In Marsa Alam, KarmBuild is also working on Tayebat Workers Village, which spans an area of 2,400 square metres in Bahariya Oasis as well as the expansion of Seil Boutique Hotel, encompassing 1,200 square metres, and Wadi Sabbara residential development spreading on an area of 2,200 square metres; to another project being implemented in Sahl Hasheesh, the Red Sea. Other four solar power projects are also under way in Bahariya Oasis.
According to the company’s data, KarmSolar has also helped seven clients power their houses by solar energy, mitigating the emissions of 22 tons of carbon dioxide and saving 7971 liters of diesel per day.
