I established Engineers Without Borders-Iran on November 20^st, 2012 to work on humanitarian, educational activities, environmental awareness and sustainability to improve the quality of life in Iran and make some bridges of peace between nations.

I’m very proud to say EWB-Iran hosted three Ambassadors of Peace from Canada and China “Mr. Jorg Ostrowski, Madam Helen Ostrowski and Ms. Limei Zhang” and rest of the team “Ms. Sheida Manteghi-nejad, Ms. Mona Mohajerani, Mr. Behdad Bolouhar and Mr. Mehran Atashbiz” from Iran through the conference of "THE SILK ROAD TO PEACE" at Fasa University-Iran (October 13, 2013).

Attendees to the conference included members of Engineers Without Borders-Iran, professors, administrators and students of Fasa University.

Mr. Jorg Ostrowski [M. Arch. A.S. (MIT), B. Arch. (Toronto) & President of ASH-Autonomous & Sustainable Housing Inc. and ACE-Alternative & Conservation Energies Inc.⁽¹⁾ ] did us a great honour by accepting our invitation to present the mission, vision and goals of the project of "THE SILK ROAD TO PEACE" ⁽²⁾ which is also supported by “University of Calgary”.  Mr. Ostrowski also delivered a lecture on the topics of Sustainability and the Environment which centered around his 37 years of expereince designing and build sustainable buildings/projects⁽³⁾ .

“We’re basically here to learn from Iran and the vernacular architecture to make western architecture better and at the same time to build peace here”Mr. Jorg Ostrowski said.

After a thoughtful introduction of this long-term project, he proposed these conclusions for the Silk Road:
1) The ecoInventory of precious historic sites is important
2)There are many potential World Heritage Sites to protect
3) many practical lessons to future architecture
4)many located in beautiful natural areas
5)need to protect, repopulate, revitalize & regenerate areas
6)sustainable conservation is the only strategy possible
7)ecotourism is most promising economic opportunity
8)There are many opportunities for cooperation & collaboration
9)There are partnerships with West+MiddleEast+East needed
10)a historic World Heritage Trail should be developed
11)There are sites need to be nominated for UNESCO designation

Post lecture Mr. Ostrowski answered questions from audiences about the project, adding; “We’re here to be inspired by earth constructions, vernacular architecture and example; that’s why we are here and all of that to build peace, we can design and we can build another building but what can be more important than peace and collaboration and corporation between the nations, that is the key”.

He started the second part of the presentation with a definition of sustainability by a formula based on 37-year experiences. “Sustainability is green building+conserver lifestyle+responsible transit+food security+community; so sustainability is not only in the buildings and not only in civil engineering, it is a multidisciplinary, multitasking effort”.

Mr. Ostrowski shared details of the EcoHome⁽³⁾ located in suburban Calgary, suprising many of the attendees with the advanced features of this highly sustainable green house. To date, approximately 60 articles have been published about the EcoHome⁽³⁾ project. More than 30,000 people from North America, Africa, Europe and Asia have toured the project, including two delegations from Japan. The house has been the recipient of the “Emerald Award for Environmental Excellence”⁽⁴⁾. After that he shared his fabulous experiences and details of much bigger projects in Canada and rest of the world with us. He also introduced a new type of building foundation which is not widely used in Iran  the “Styrofoam" or "ICF" (insulated concrete form) foundation.

One of the most amazing parts of the presentation for students was “Green Transportation”.  Mr. Ostrowski presented some photos of his car which is working by Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) saying; “The key element is turn something that is waste into something useful. We got this car for one reason, not transportation but to make co-generator for our buildings, using the engine to produce all the electricity and all the heat for our house”.

Once again I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to dear Mr. Jorg Ostrowski for his fabulous efforts on promoting Peace and Sustainability during his lifetime and wishing the best for him and his projects.

Soheil Salimi
President of Engineers Without Borders-Iran

Connecting Engineering to Humanity and The Real World Mission of Peace!

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References:
(1) http://www.ecobuildings.net
(2)“THE SILK ROAD TO PEACE” Dr. Arthur Clark Research Fellowship in Global Citizenship, University of Calgary
http://www.ucalgary.ca/peacestudies/ostrowski
(3)http://www.ecobuildings.net/pdfs/ASH.pdf
(4)http://www.ecobuildings.net/pdfs/alberta_sustainable_home_office_abstract.pdf