Gaza Is Rebuilding With Lego-Like Bricks Made From Rubble
Gaza Is Rebuilding With Lego-Like Bricks Made From Rubble
加沙正利用废墟制成的“乐高式”砖块进行重建
Inside a makeshift workshop in Gaza, rebuilt after it was damaged by Israeli air strikes, Suleiman Abu Hassanin stands among piles of broken concrete, trying to give them a new form. His voice over the phone sounds tired, carrying the weight of what he is trying to do: rebuild in a place where building materials are no longer available.
在加沙的一间临时作坊里，苏莱曼·阿布·哈萨宁（Suleiman Abu Hassanin）站在一堆破碎的混凝土中。这间作坊在遭受以色列空袭受损后已被重建，他正试图赋予这些废料新的形态。电话那头，他的声音听起来很疲惫，承载着他所做之事的沉重感：在一个建筑材料早已断供的地方进行重建。
Gaza’s construction crisis did not begin with the latest war. For years, the Israeli blockade restricted the entry of cement, steel, and other building materials, slowing reconstruction efforts across the enclave. But after nearly two years of intensified bombardment, the scale of destruction has pushed the system far beyond collapse.
加沙的建筑危机并非始于最近这场战争。多年来，以色列的封锁限制了水泥、钢材和其他建筑材料的进入，减缓了整个飞地的重建工作。但在经历了近两年的密集轰炸后，破坏的规模已使整个系统彻底崩溃。
According to UN estimates, Gaza now contains more than 60 million tons of rubble, while hundreds of thousands of displaced people continue to live in tents with little protection from heat or winter chill and no clear prospect for reconstruction.
据联合国估计，加沙目前有超过 6000 万吨的建筑废墟，而数十万流离失所者仍住在帐篷里，几乎无法抵御酷暑或严寒，且重建工作遥遥无期。
In that environment, rubble is no longer just debris. It is becoming one of the only construction resources left.
在这种环境下，废墟不再仅仅是垃圾，它正成为仅存的建筑资源之一。
One local response is Green Rock, a project led by Abu Hassanin that aims to recycle the remains of destroyed buildings into usable Lego-like bricks. Similar interlocking brick systems have been used elsewhere, including in parts of Europe and in post-conflict settings such as Sudan and Iraq. But in Gaza, the project emerges under very different conditions: not as an architectural experiment, but as a response to the near disappearance of conventional reconstruction materials.
当地的一项应对措施是“绿岩”（Green Rock）项目，该项目由阿布·哈萨宁领导，旨在将损毁建筑的残骸回收利用，制成可用的“乐高式”砖块。类似的互锁砖系统已在其他地方使用，包括欧洲部分地区以及苏丹和伊拉克等冲突后地区。但在加沙，该项目的出现背景截然不同：它不是一项建筑实验，而是对传统重建材料几乎绝迹的一种应对。
Abu Hassanin says the idea was born out of necessity rather than innovation. “We were facing a simple equation: destruction without solutions,” he says. “So we tried to turn it into a resource.”
阿布·哈萨宁表示，这个想法源于必要性而非创新。“我们面临着一个简单的等式：只有破坏，没有解决方案，”他说，“所以我们试图将其转化为一种资源。”
The process involves crushing and sorting rubble, then mixing it with local soil and alternative binding materials developed inside Gaza before compressing it into blocks using a machine built by hand. The resulting interlocking bricks can be assembled without traditional mortar, reducing reliance on cement, which remains scarce.
该工艺包括粉碎和分拣废墟，然后将其与当地土壤以及在加沙内部开发的替代性粘合材料混合，最后使用手工制造的机器将其压缩成砖块。由此产生的互锁砖无需传统砂浆即可组装，从而减少了对稀缺水泥的依赖。
Lego-like interlocking bricks made from recycled rubble inside the Green Rock workshop in Gaza. Photograph: Hassan Herzallah
在加沙“绿岩”作坊内，由回收废墟制成的“乐高式”互锁砖。摄影：哈桑·赫扎拉（Hassan Herzallah）
Under normal conditions, this type of brick would require some cement, around 7 to 12 percent. But because access to it remains heavily restricted, the team says it developed a version using locally available replacement materials instead. Engineer Wajdi Jouda helped define the brick’s size and structure to meet engineering standards and connected the team with technical expertise from outside Gaza.
在正常情况下，这种砖需要添加约 7% 到 12% 的水泥。但由于水泥获取渠道受到严格限制，团队表示他们开发了一种使用当地现有替代材料的版本。工程师瓦吉迪·朱达（Wajdi Jouda）帮助确定了砖块的尺寸和结构以符合工程标准，并为团队对接了加沙以外的技术专长。
According to Abu Hassanin and Jouda, early tests show the bricks provide better thermal and sound insulation than the tents many displaced families currently live in. But the project remains experimental and has not been tested at the scale required for long-term reconstruction.
据阿布·哈萨宁和朱达介绍，早期测试表明，与许多流离失所家庭目前居住的帐篷相比，这种砖块提供了更好的隔热和隔音效果。但该项目仍处于实验阶段，尚未在长期重建所需的规模上进行测试。
Current production ranges between 1,000 and 1,500 bricks per day—theoretically enough to build a small shelter in roughly two weeks. But every stage of the process remains difficult. Without heavy machinery, amid repeated power outages and damaged infrastructure, even transporting and crushing rubble becomes labor intensive.
目前的产量在每天 1000 到 1500 块砖之间——理论上足以在两周左右建造一个小避难所。但该过程的每个阶段都很困难。在没有重型机械、电力频繁中断和基础设施受损的情况下，即使是运输和粉碎废墟也变得极其耗费人力。
The challenges are not only technical. They also include the lack of proper equipment and the broader political restrictions imposed by the Israeli blockade, which continues to limit access to essential construction materials. Despite the availability of skilled workers inside Gaza and technical support from outside, Abu Hassanin says funding remains the main obstacle preventing the project from moving more quickly toward implementation.
挑战不仅在于技术层面。它们还包括缺乏适当的设备，以及以色列封锁所带来的更广泛的政治限制，这些限制持续限制着基本建筑材料的获取。尽管加沙内部有熟练工人，外部也有技术支持，但阿布·哈萨宁表示，资金仍然是阻碍项目更快实施的主要障碍。
That reality has pushed some reconstruction efforts toward smaller, improvised local systems instead.
这一现实促使一些重建工作转向了规模更小、更临时的本地系统。
The project also carries risks and limitations. Humanitarian organizations and reconstruction experts have warned that rubble in Gaza may contain hazardous materials, including asbestos, heavy metals, and unexploded ordnance. Even if recycled blocks can help create temporary shelters, rebuilding entire neighborhoods would still require infrastructure, machinery, and material access on a vastly different scale.
该项目也存在风险和局限性。人道主义组织和重建专家警告称，加沙的废墟可能含有危险物质，包括石棉、重金属和未爆炸的弹药。即使回收砖块有助于建造临时避难所，重建整个社区仍需要规模完全不同的基础设施、机械和材料供应。
A worker operates a hand-built machine used to compress recycled rubble into interlocking construction blocks in Gaza. Photograph: Hassan Herzallah
一名工人在加沙操作一台手工制造的机器，将回收的废墟压缩成互锁建筑砖块。摄影：哈桑·赫扎拉（Hassan Herzallah）
Still, projects like Green Rock are emerging because few alternatives currently exist.
尽管如此，“绿岩”这类项目仍在涌现，因为目前几乎没有其他选择。
Compared to traditional reconstruction models that depend on imported materials and large international rebuilding programs, the project represents a hyperlocal response shaped by scarcity. It also reduces construction costs by roughly 50 to 60 percent, while creating work opportunities for displaced people involved in collecting, sorting, and producing materials.
与依赖进口材料和大型国际重建计划的传统重建模式相比，该项目代表了一种由匮乏所塑造的超本地化应对方案。它还将建筑成本降低了约 50% 到 60%，同时为参与收集、分拣和生产材料的流离失所者创造了就业机会。
Inside the workshop, the project feels less like a startup than an adaptation to collapse. The rubble of destroyed buildings moves through improvised machines and returns as walls, shelters, and stacked blocks waiting to be assembled again.
在作坊里，这个项目给人的感觉与其说是一家初创公司，不如说是一种对崩溃的适应。被摧毁建筑的废墟通过简易机器，又变回了墙壁、避难所和等待重新组装的砖块。
For Abu Hassanin, the significance of the project lies not only in the bricks themselves, but in what they represent. He describes a moment that repeats itself often: a man standing where his home once stood, helping rebuild it with his own hands.
对于阿布·哈萨宁来说，该项目的意义不仅在于砖块本身，更在于它们所代表的含义。他描述了一个经常重复出现的场景：一个人站在他曾经的家园旧址上，亲手帮助重建它。
“In that moment,” he says, “he is no longer just a recipient of aid, but part of the solution.”
“在那一刻，”他说，“他不再仅仅是援助的接受者，而是解决方案的一部分。”
In Gaza, where reconstruction materials remain unavailable and rebuilding efforts continue to stall, rubble is increasingly becoming one of the only resources. The result is a form of reconstruction shaped not by long-term planning but by the immediate realities of survival under constraint.
在加沙，重建材料依然匮乏，重建工作持续停滞，废墟正日益成为仅存的资源之一。其结果是一种并非由长期规划，而是由受限环境下的生存现实所塑造的重建形式。
This story originally appeared in WIRED Middle East.
本文最初发表于《连线》中东版（WIRED Middle East）。