Sustainability of Kuwait’s Built Environment

"The overall objective of the proposed signature project is to develop innovative solutions and methodologies
for the sustainability of Kuwait’s built environment and to establish a new paradigm in engineering design
that can be used in Kuwait and exported throughout the world. Synergistic results anticipated from the
proposed collaborative research are directly related to the long-term goals of Kuwait for scientific and industrial
development, economic growths competitiveness, education, and the leadership in the Gulf region.
The proposed MIT and Kuwait project teams are in a unique position to tackle the enormous environmental
and societal challenges that population and urban growth pose to Kuwait. The group has the world leadership
of domain knowledge in three related focus areas: the development of new materials that positively affect
comfort and energy use of buildings; monitoring and analysis techniques that ensure the longevity of new
constructions in extreme environmental conditions; and building design and modeling capabilities that can
optimize the effect of new materials and system parameters on operational energy use in infrastructures and
buildings. The proposed focus areas have strong intellectual and scientific merit, involve both experimental and
computational work and are closely inter-related. Their integration and synergy will lead to broad impacts on
the national, regional and international level, with a significant impact in profession, benefiting Kuwait and its
sustainable development.
The collaborative research proposed is of a true ‘signature’ or ‘flagship’’ nature with a significant scientific and
multi-disciplinary content, as well as potential for strong impact at the national and international level. It is
envisaged that the partnership with the MIT and Kuwaiti teams will be further strengthened by mutual visits
and by MIT hosting visiting engineers, scientists and students from Kuwait and participate in specific tasks and
attend seminars and courses in related areas. In fact, this proposal is a product that initiated from collaboration
with MIT and Kuwaiti scholars during their visits to MIT."