Hand Over

As we move forward with intention into the new year, we pause to reflect on our progress. 2025 brought site visits, workshops, ongoing projects, and lots if firsts. Here’s a quiet look back at a year that shaped the next.

@SceneHome : ArchDaily has just announced the winners of its 5th edition of the Next Practices Awards, a global program honoring 20 groundbreaking practices redefining the future of architecture. The competition celebrates innovation, social responsibility, and new approaches that expand the role of architecture in tackling today’s most urgent challenges. This year’s winners were revealed during the inaugural Copenhagen Architecture Biennale, highlighting firms whose work embodies sustainability, care, and community-centered design. Out of hundreds of nominations worldwide, only 20 practices were recognized – each one shaping architecture’s next chapter. Among the winners are CatalyticAction (Lebanon/UK), Civil Architecture (Bahrain/Kuwait), Deir ez-Zor Heritage Library (Syria), and Egypt’s own Hand Over. Based in Cairo, Hand Over has been pioneering sustainable architecture since 2016 through earth construction techniques like rammed earth, adobe, and stabilized blocks. Their participatory design-build model not only creates environmentally resilient structures but also empowers local communities. From rural schools and healthcare centers to community hubs, their projects prove that architecture can be ecological, durable, and deeply social. With this recognition, Hand Over joins the global conversation on how architecture can care for people, memory, and ecology, placing Egypt firmly on the map of socially engaged design. Read more on scenehome.com 📸 Al Ayat Community School by Hand Over

@SceneHome : In a world where concrete structures dominate skylines and sprawl relentlessly across the earth, there’s something In a world where concrete structures dominate skylines and sprawl relentlessly across the earth, there’s something profoundly grounding about discovering a humble home - its walls formed from undulating waves of red, crafted from the very soil beneath it. This is the vision at the heart of Handover Projects, an Egyptian design and build practice dedicated to reshaping the construction field through earth-built structures that embody warmth, sustainability and a deep connection to humanity. Beyond its aesthetic allure, building with earth carries a timeless essence that transforms spaces into something almost ethereal. It’s not a new technique; it’s one with roots stretching back to ancient civilizations. In our fast-paced, modern world, this method has been quietly making its way back, reminding us of the importance of slowing down and reconnecting with the earth beneath our feet. But its resurgence requires intentional effort, a deliberate push to bring its rich history and natural beauty back to the forefront of contemporary design. In this SceneHome interview, we sit down with Radwa Rostom, civil engineer and founder of Handover Projects, to explore their remarkable journey. From their origins and the challenges they’ve faced, to their mission of spreading awareness and education, Radwa sheds light on how Handover Projects is touching lives, reshaping perspectives and debunking myths about building with mud. Read the full feature on scenehome.com 📷Handover Projects 🖊️Rana Gabr

There’s no shortcut with rammed earth — every layer has to be mixed, placed, and tamped by hand before you can move to the next one. This bar counter was one of the more demanding pieces we’ve built. Curved and angular formwork in the same piece, electrical conduits integrated directly into the earth body, and color that comes purely from different soil mixes — no paint, no finish. The wet appearance you see in some photos is the final coat — Arabic gum, extracted from acacia trees, applied as a 100% natural sealant. Once it dries it becomes invisible, leaving the earth clean and protected without anything artificial touching the surface. Built in the shadow of the pyramids — a site where building with earth feels less like a choice and more like the only thing that makes sense. 🏗 Built by HandOver 🎨 Design: Yasmina Makram Interior Design Studio 📍 Cairo #RammedEarth #HandOver #EarthConstruction #SustainableDesign #CairoArchitecture EgyptArchitecture NaturalBuilding Pyramids ArabicGum NaturalFinish

Our first international commercial project, currently in design in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Set within an existing fruit farm, the proposal is built around preservation rather than replacement. Every tree remains. The architecture weaves itself between trunks and branches, allowing visitors to move through the orchard rather than sit beside it. The site unfolds along a gravel path, guiding guests through the farm toward a main building that anchors the project. Above its entrance, a windtower rises both a passive cooling device and a landmark element visible from the road. Some 30 private pergolas are carefully inserted between the trees, each one integrating an existing trunk within its footprint. Built in rammed earth, stone, and wood, the structures provide shaded, intimate spaces for breakfast and lunch while remaining fully immersed in the landscape. Perforated wooden screens filter light, air, and views, shaping privacy without disconnecting from the orchard. Architecture as extension of agriculture. Shade as structure. Landscape as experience.

Year-end revisits. This is the Blue Hole Visitors’ Facilities, developed with UNDP for the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. It sits quietly within the Abu Galum protected area. Built with locally sourced rammed earth, stone, and wood, the project serves the site without dominating it. Architecture recedes, materials remain honest, and the landscape leads the experience. Photos: @seleembuilds #BlueHole #AbuGalum #Dahab #Sinai #rammedearth #architecture #sustainable #environmentaldesign #myegypt

We’re proud to share our latest work in El Gouna, where we were commissioned by Yasmina Makram Interior Design Studio @yasminamakram to build a series of curved rammed earth walls and benches integrated into the landscape of this private villa. Building these rammed earth walls has been a reminder of how crafted landscape can shape the experience of a space. We’re always excited to explore and collaborate on creative ideas for landscape elements and urban furniture and we’re always open to new collaborations. #HandOver #EarthConstruction #RammedEarth #SustainableDesign #ElGouna #Architecture #LandscapeDesign #NaturalBuilding

We’re honored to share that Hand Over has been selected as one of ArchDaily’s 20 Next Practices of 2025 🌍✨ A huge thank you to @archdaily for this recognition, to our incredible Hand Over team for their creativity and dedication, and to the many partners, collaborators, and communities we work with who make our projects possible.

Check out our new and improved website to explore our work and get inspired! Link in bio.

Here are 3 common misconceptions about rammed earth, and why they are false. Which one surprised you the most?

Adaptive refugee housing proposal H_arbor presented at the 2025ECC Venice Architecture Biennale In a collaboration between Hyperlocal Workshop and Handover for the 2025 Time Space Existence Architecture Biennale hosted by the European Cultural Center in Venice we present the adaptive refuge housing concept H_arbor. For this year's biennale themed Repair, Regenerate, Reuse we investigate the process of rebuilding warzones and sheltering displaced refugees. It is important to have building solutions that can be repeated and applied as inherently simple and robust but still sensitive to local conditions and culture. H_arbor is an earth or rubble based structural support system for highly adaptable shelter that is used as a standalone or in series to provide the basis for hardened housing and community space. The H shaped support structure acts as an arbor for formal and informal additive building elements. Rammed earth, adobe block, earth-packed rubble, and gabion systems can be utilized based on practicality. The building can be deconstructed with minimal impact in respect for national refugee treaties and regional needs. Basic construction training will optimize the effectiveness of local labor. Utilizing Handover’s engineering and training, the displaced population is empowered with the necessary knowledge to rebuild their communities with the rammed earth building process. They will also be supplied with critical equipment and on going technical support. In the exhibition, we also showcase a video of dakkahproject that explains a step by step of rammed earth building, along with available samples exhibited. Dakkah is a collaboration between Handover and Joy Samuel, that enables users to use a kit to build model sized rammed earth walls in order to understand soil mixture and technique.

Adaptive refugee housing proposal H_arbor presented at the 2025 @ecc_italy Venice Architecture Biennale. In a collaboration between @hyperlocalarch and Handover for the 2025 Time Space Existence Architecture Biennale hosted by the European Cultural Center in Venice we present the adaptive refuge housing concept H_arbor. For this year’s biennale themed Repair, Regenerate, Reuse we investigate the process of rebuilding warzones and sheltering displaced refugees. H_arbor is an earth or rubble based structural support system for highly adaptable shelter that is used as a standalone or in series to provide the basis for hardened housing and community space. The H shaped support structure acts as an arbor for formal and informal additive building elements. To provide robust, long term shelter the concept is based on a modular scheme. Building with earth and rubble means that the minimal external materials needed can be easily procured and transported to site. Rammed earth, adobe block, earth-packed rubble, and gabion systems can be utilized based on practicality. The building can be deconstructed with minimal impact in respect for national refugee treaties and regional needs. In the exhibition, we also showcase a video of dakkahproject that explains a step by step of rammed earth building, along with available samples exhibited. Dakkah is a collaboration between Handover and Joy Samuel, that enables users to use a kit to build model sized rammed earth walls in order to understand soil mixture and technique.