Abstract Construction in desert arid areas imposes many challenges to geotechnical engineers due to the difficult problematic nature of the ground. The challenges could be faced during the pre and post construction phases. Those additional challenges are due to the fact that water/ground water is missing during the investigation phase. After construction, water is introduced due to planting causing many problems to the constructed facilities. This lecture provides many examples of the challenges faced during investigation, miss-characterization and post constructions. Many of the examples are supported with field monitored performance of the constructed facilities. The examples provide evidences that many types of soil or rock could surprisingly cause serious damages to the constructed structures. The lecture provides alternative foundations and solutions to the observed problems.

Marawan Shahien, VP of ISSMGE for Africa. He has 35 years of experience in practice, consulting, and academia. He has received BSc. In Civil Engineering with Class Honors from Kuwait University in 1987. Dr. Shahien received MSc and PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana in 1991 and 1998, respectively. While in Illinois, he was honored fellow of both S.D. Wilson and R.B. Peck. In 1998, he joined Mid-America Earthquake Engineering Research Center in UofI for Postdoctoral studies. In 1999, He joined Tanta University. Currently he is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Foundations. In 2004, he received Norman Medal Award of the (ASCE). In 2020, he was recognized by Canadian Geotechnical Society as Honorable Mention of the Quigley Award. He joined Hamza Associates(HA) on part time basis in 2001. He has been serving as head of geotechnical department in HA since 2005. He is registered geotechnical consultant. He has wide spectrum of interests and experience in several fields of geotechnical engineering. He was the Secretary of the 17th ICSMGE(2009). Starting from 2015, he served as Secretary of the first 5 conferences of the (ICASGE) series held every other year in Hurghada. He is author/co-author of more than 100 technical reports and more than 80 publications in international Journals and conferences. He served as member of two Committees of the Egyptian Code of Practice.