Hassan Fathy

Hassan Fathy is Egypt's best-known 20th-century architect. He was also a man of contradictions. He came from a wealthy background and had a western-style training. Yet he embraced traditional, vernacular forms, techniques, and materials and throughout his career promoted their use as part of a campaign to improve the conditions of Egypt's rural poor. Earth & Utopia chronicles this lifelong commitment through personal interviews conducted by the author, photographs, and drawings from the Hassan Fathy archives, and Fathy's own writings on the subject, many of which are published for the first time. This beautiful, fascinating, and scholarly book will be essential reading for students, academics, and general readers interested in Fathy, and the development of Arab and vernacular architecture, earth construction, architecture for the poor, and sustainability.

Architecture for the Poor describes Hassan Fathy's plan for building the village of New Gourna, near Luxor, Egypt, without the use of more modern and expensive materials such as steel and concrete. Using mud bricks, the native technique that Fathy learned in Nubia, and such traditional Egyptian architectural designs as enclosed courtyards and vaulted roofing, Fathy worked with the villagers to tailor his designs to their needs. He taught them how to work with the bricks, supervised the erection of the buildings, and encouraged the revival of such ancient crafts as claustra (lattice designs in the mudwork) to adorn the buildings.

Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy's reputation for a modern & humane architecture has grown to cult status. Architects worldwide are recognizing that his revival of ancient mud-brick building techniques has begun to revolutionize modern thinking, not just in Egypt & in the 3rd World, but throughout the developed world -- where sustainability, energy conserv'n. & the responsible use of natural resources have all become vital concerns. Fathy's buildings are found all over the world. Steele's research in Cairo & in Greece uncovered many previously undocumented projects. New material -- photos, plans & Fathy's gouaches -- is included, along with a comprehensive illustrated chronology of his work.

A thought-provoking and richly illustrated look at tradition and innovation in the work of the world-renowned architect

This fully illustrated volume represents the most comprehensive examination yet of the life and work of the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (1900-89), and the regional and international significance of his contribution to the lived environment. Generously illustrated with archival and color photographs and the architect's own distinctive and beautifully decorated gouache plans and elevations, many never previously published.

The culmination of a lifetime's design practice and environmental study, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture presents a master architects' extraordinary insights into the vernacular wisdom of indigenous architectural forms that have evolved in hot arid climates.

The Egyptian architect and master builder, Hassan Fathy (1900-1989) was one of the first architects to found a new approach based on a conception of interpreting forms and masses from the past. He was unique in believing that this language could exist alongside that of an aggressively modern one that cut all ties with the past. In addition to Fathy’s tireless efforts to establish his traditional approach, he struggled to improve the housing and living environments of the poor, especially in the Third World. Fathy’s efforts were acknowledged by several awards, including the Chairman’s Prize, Aga Khan Awards for Architecture (1980), the Right Livelihood Award (1980) and the first Gold Medal of the International Union of Architects (1984).