The Green Hill: Reclaiming Waste, Restoring Nature

Khaoula Mrad

Sludge Recovery Center in El Attar – Architecture Thesis

Architecture is more than shelter—it is a living dialogue between space and purpose, between nature and people, between the past and the future. In a world in constant flux, design must do more than exist; it must heal, empower, and regenerate.

I explore architecture as a system that breathes—where sustainability isn’t a choice but a foundation. From reclaiming waste to restoring ecosystems, from healing spaces to preserving culture, each project is an invitation to rethink resilience.

Through innovation and empathy, I craft spaces that listen, adapt, and endure. Can architecture be a vessel for transformation? Can it grow, evolve, and restore?

This project is an invitation to explore.

Amidst shifting urban landscapes, waste is often cast aside—a burden to be concealed, a problem to be managed. But what if waste could be a beginning rather than an end? The Green Hill is an architecture of transformation, a sludge recovery center where discarded matter finds new purpose, shaping fertile ground for ecological and social renewal.

Nestled in El Attar, my project aligns with the mission of ONAS (L'Office National de l'Assainissement de Tunisie), proposing a paradigm shift: waste as a resource, infrastructure as a living, breathing ecosystem. Through composting, methanization, and biogas recovery, it fosters a circular economy that intertwines industry, education, and sustainability.

Where waste once weighed heavy, now the earth breathes anew.A project split in two—one side whispers to the soil, composting, methanization, biogas—fueling fields, igniting renewal.

The other side hums with voices, learning, gathering, reimagining—a space where knowledge roots deep and the future takes shape.Between them, a bridge—nature’s walkway, alive with footsteps and foliage,where nature and people meet, where transformation takes root.

Can architecture redefine our relationship with the overlooked? Can it transform scarcity into abundance?