The “eco-village for art and crafts", located just 12 km from the center of the capital Tunis, offers facilities for the different crafts in that area. The idea and the spatial program of the eco-village were the brain child of dr. attaieb ben miled the head of the NGO GDA sidi amor. At its heart is an aspiration to bring together all the sustainable activities in an integrated program of vocational training for the young people of the area. This would make social inclusion of young people in the sustainable development of the natural site a reality. Also, this "village" will be the heart of the sustainable eco-tourism development in the area, which will complement the Working Village for arts and crafts.
The landowners of the Jbel sidi amor region decided to take things into their own hands, after following the advice of a public servant who proposed initiating an NGO to help give a legal and organized face to their activities, they began a campaign to preserve and protect both the agricultural land and the nearby pine forest under threat from over grazing and unauthorized building encroachments.
The materials of choice for this particular project are clay which is readily available and abundant in a fairly good quality for construction, the second building material is limestone which is quarried nearby and brought to our site virtually for free since it is the left over blocks that is no longer commercially viable to sell in the market.
Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Nile Delta. An abrupt southward turn of the Mediterranean coast in northern Tunisia gives the country two distinctive Mediterranean coasts, west-east in the north, which is where our site is situated, and north-south in the east.