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Hassan Fathy:
The Barefoot Architect
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Hassan Fathy
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With
increasingly hot summers occurring around the world and concrete buildings not
proving their endurance in unstable conditions, I am reminded of a time when 50°C
(122°F) was an experience far less threatening, when fewer straight lines,
corners and squares defined the nature of the buildings we lived and worked in.
With low buildings and open spaces, it was not the clock that defined the day,
but the Adhan that beckoned from the wind. Life was almost a prayer with each
part of the day giving a sense of purpose towards the next.
The
home was a part of that purpose. The rooms looked inwardly onto the courtyard,
where women and men both had their own time and space, and not onto hot dusty
streets. The air was cool and clean and serene. As traditions weakened to
external competition, the art of living has only remained in the homes of those
who choose to hold on to traditional designs that allowed for inner rest,
heartfelt sharing, and a common bonding. An outsider might consider the
occupants to be simple people if he were not in harmony with a level of
communication demanding fewer words and more thought.
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New Gourna, Upper Egypt |
One
would enter a home made out of local natural resources with dome shaped ceilings
and no electrical air-conditioning, to find a sudden descent of peace and calm
within a cool atmosphere. The power of one’s voice would adjust to become
compatible with a world away from the outside world. If we are fortunate we can
find or build a home accordingly, but for those who cannot…? Conscientious
architects of today struggle with the precepts of the past when a home was a
place of physical, spiritual, and psychological nurturing based on what were
essentially scientific principles. In this context a mason was more than a
builder.
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Hassan Fathy’s architecture in Ouagadougou, West-Africa |
“The
quality and values inherent to the traditional and human response to the
environment might be preserved without a loss of the advances of science.
Science can be applied to various aspects of our work, while it is at the same
time subordinated to philosophy, faith and spirituality,” said the great
Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (Kmtspace p.1), who was born at the turn of the
20th century. As a violinist, his musical sensibilities nurtured within him a
fine sense of harmony that was to carry through into his architectural designs.
Inspired by Pharaonic and traditional Nubian architecture, Fathy was
engineer-architect, musician, dramatist, teacher, professor, and inventor.
Hassan Fathy re-inspired the living art of adobe architecture, giving it a
mission for the 20th and 21st centuries.
Employing
energy-conservation techniques, six fundamental principles underlie Hassan
Fathy’s work:
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Belief
in the primacy of human values in architecture
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Importance
of a universal rather than a limited approach
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Use
of appropriate technology
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Need
for socially oriented, cooperative construction techniques
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The
essential role of tradition
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The
re-establishment of national cultural pride through the act of building
(Kmtspace p.2)
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Hassan Fathy’s architecture: Dar al-Islam Village, Albuerquque, New Mexico |
Hassan
Fathy developed his own ideas, inculcating traditional Arab styles like the
malkhaf (wind catcher), the shukshaykha (lantern dome) and the mashrabeya
(wooden lattice screens) (Al-Ahram, p.1). He designed complete communities
including utilities and services, country retreats, and special projects and
homes. Hassan Fathy had already worked for decades in his beloved Egypt before
he designed and built for the homeless community of Gourna, Upper Egypt, which
attracted international acclaim (Aucegypt p.1).
The
old Gourna village was situated near archeological Pharaonic sites on the
western shore of Upper Egypt. The Department of Antiquities commissioned Hassan
Fathy to meet the challenge of providing a home for a poor community of 7,000
people. His solution differed drastically, not requiring the machinations of the
established building industry of concrete and steel. For New Gourna he utilized
natural resources using mud-brick, a signature of adobe architecture, and
features of Egyptian architecture such as enclosed courtyards and domed vaulted
roofing. He worked with the local people to develop the new village, training
them to make the materials to construct their own buildings with. In this way,
he was able to provide an environment specific to the inhabitants’ needs and
revive decorative techniques that were quickly disappearing with the expansion
of the Global Village. While many may suffer from the amplified ultraviolet rays
that hit our concrete structures and rebound onto us in hot weather conditions,
Hassan Fathy’s contribution reminds us of the need for the climatically
conducive, cost-effective, cooling promises of certain traditions that would
force modern city planning to think more wisely about future development.
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Ablution area, Dar al-Islam Village |
His
work took him to many countries, especially since the publication of the 1973
English edition of the book Architecture for the Poor. In Athens he joined
international planners, looked at the concept of cities for the future in
Africa, and focused on natural energy solutions in major community projects for
Iraq and Pakistan. He participated in the United Nations Habitat conference in
1976, served on the steering committee for the Award for Architecture and
founded the Institute for Appropriate Technology (Aucegypt p.1, 2).
For
this level of dedication, Hassan Fathy received the Right Livelihood Award for
saving and adapting traditional knowledge for adaptation to the needs of the
poor. Known as the “Alternative Noble Prize,” it was established in 1980,
the same year that Hassan Fathy was given an award that “embodies the
principle that each person should follow an honest occupation which fully
respects other people and the natural world. It means being responsible for the
consequences of our actions, and taking only a fair share of the earth’s
resources” (Right Livelihood p.1).
Ambitious
goals to be applauded, the principles of Right Livelihood are ones that are
intrinsic to Islam, principles that, with commitment, create a pathway towards
instilling balance within the societies in which we live.
Hassan
Fathy died in 1989, but his legacy lives on in his disciples with ideas of their
own. Muhammed El-Sharkawy and fellow young architects spent 1969–1972 under
Fathy’s tutorship, researching the region for the viability of the Luxor
Cultural Center in Upper Egypt. “We spent five months studying the region,
going from village to village to understand what would be appropriate for the
locals and tourists in order to conceptualize and then draw up the project.”
Now his focus has been the extended family which, despite its importance in
Egyptian society, has an aspect that is rarely considered in building design.
The materials used in modern building obstruct the flow of air, making
air-conditioning essential. Sharkawy does not use Nubian vaults and domes, which
would be difficult to employ in highly populated Cairo, but he worked on a
design in the less populated 6th October City on the outskirts of Cairo. There,
he re-introduced the internal courtyard on the first two floors. The stairwell
serves as a ventilation shaft with a malkhaf (wind catcher) at the top (Siddiqui
p.40, 41).
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Quseir Mövenpick Resort |
Soheir
Fraid and Ramy El-Dehan met under the tutelage of Hassan Fathy. More faithful to
the principles of Hassan Fathy, their partnership in business as well as
marriage has attracted much admiration in the tourist industry. They began the
construction of Quseir Movenpick resort in 1987 and completed it in 1994. Their
aim is not to challenge, impose on, or obstruct the local topography, nor to
upset the social fabric of the region. Built on a peninsula, “We did not dig
or fill the site, but we began by making a topographical map and study of the
site. Every room is at a different level, depending on the curvature of the
land,” said Soheir Farid. The domes and vaults add a sense of mystery to the
place, providing a natural means of ventilation (Siddiqui p. 40).
American
architect Michael Graves was impressed by Farid and El-Dehan’s self-assured
and beautifully accomplished application of Fathy’s techniques in the vaults
and domes of the staff dormitories in El-Gourna, southeast of Cairo. He was so
impressed that he managed to convince Egyptian construction magnate Samih
Sariwis to forget about concrete and steel for the five-star Miramar Hotel.
Commissioned by Sariwas for this purpose, Graves built the Miramar entirely of
brick, covered with concrete and gypsum and accessorized with domes and vaults.
Ramy El-Dehan felt that Fathy would have been pleased because he also built for
the rich, in the knowledge that the poor like to emulate the rich, and in this
manner the taste for vernacular architecture would find its way back to the
source. How fortunate it is that there are those who choose not to live any
other way other than this because they feel claustrophobic within concrete
walls. In this way, we can be reminded.
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Miramar Hotel, al-Gourna, Egypt |
In
his book An Architect for the People, American architect James Steele wrote of
Fathy, “rather than believing that people could be behaviorally conditioned by
architectural space, Fathy felt that human beings, nature, and architecture
should reflect the personal habits and traditions of a community rather than
reforming or eradicating them. While he was certainly not opposed to innovation,
he felt that technology should be subservient to social values, and appropriate
to popular needs” (Tresilian p. 1).
If
we think about it long enough, we might find that it is not us controlling our
own personal spaces at all, but we are accepting those spaces with all their
demands. If we were to adapt them according to our psychological, spiritual,
physical, and economic needs, we might begin to experience a little of what
Hassan Fathy set out to achieve.
Sources:
Associated
Press. “Legacy of Egyptian Architect, Seen in Graves Hotel.” 08/24/00.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/design/08/24/egypt.graves.ap/
A.U.C.
“Hassan Fathy – An Outline of his Life”. 2. 06/16/04.
http://www.aucegypt.edu/hassanfathy/Outline/outline.html
Kmtspace.com.
“African Art and Architecture: Hassan Fathy- The Silent Dialog Between
Tradition and Modernity.” 3. http://www.kmtspace.com/fathy.htm
Grove.ufl.edu.
“Village of New Gourna”. 2. http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrosier/gurna.html
Right
Livelihood. “The Right Livelihood Award.” 06/16/04.
http://www.rightlivelihood.se.
Saddiqui,
Yasmeen. M. “Through a Master’s Pupils: Four Projects by Disciples of Hassan
Fathy.” Medina.15 (2000) 38 – 46. Egypt.
Fathy,
Hassan. “Architecture and Environment”. Arid Land Newsletter. 36(1994). 4.
Arizona.edu. 02/06/02.http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln36/Fathy.html
Integraton.com.
“The Virtues of the Dome”. 1. 04/27/01. Sacred Geometry
http://www.integraton.com/5SacredGeometry/SacredGeometry.html
*
Hwaa Irfan is a councilor and is specialized in alternative medicine.
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