The New Gourna Village: A Case of Sustainable Architecture

Essay Instructions:

please write the essay about one architecture from the listing below
Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, University College, Ibadan, 1948-54
Oluwole Olumuyiwa, Crusader House, Lagos, 1958
Hassan Fathy, New Gourna Village, Luxor, 1945-1948
Sayed Karim & Tawfik Abdel-Gawwad, Village of Transition (prototype), Egypt, 1941

Writing Assignments: You will complete a research essay to deepen interpretive and analytical skills. This will involve making use of online resources to research one or more key projects; you will write about their major design ideas, historical context, architectural features, and your response.

First, you will situate the project(s) in architectural history; how does it relate to other things we’ve studied? Then consider the issues raised by the project in terms of your own beliefs and your desires for your future career. In your opinion, are any of the issues raised by the project still relevant in 2021? If so, do you think the solutions the project offers would still be appropriate, or would they need “translating” to fit current circumstances? Alternatively, are there aspects of the project that didn’t work in their original context, but still give you ideas for a present-day situation? Does thinking about your own work, in comparison to this project, help you be more specific about what you want to do (or things you want to avoid doing)? These can be “small” conclusions - thinking about precedents can change the way you think about certain specific things, even if they don’t change your entire view on the universe. In laying out your argument, you should make deliberate use of images with detailed captions, and have a thesis that is supported by descriptive detail.

Your final paper will be roughly 7-9 pages; images and bibliography should be at the end of the document, and do not count towards the page total. Be sure to cite the sources where you got your information (whether or not you use exact quotes), including page numbers. Your section leader will specify the deadline at the beginning of the semester, and may give you further details of assignment expectations.

This paper will be preceded by another short writing assignment. Your section leader will give you more details about expectations; it may be a draft related to the final research paper, or another assignment of comparable length and complexity.

In the years and decades after World War II, the system of European colonialism, which had previously dominated worldwide politics and development, underwent rapid changes. Many colonial regimes were completely displaced through independence movements or wars of liberation. Colonial economic and power relationships often remained in place under new regimes, overlapping with the theme of “development” which we discussed previously.

Meanwhile, architects were often asked to invent new representations of nationality that drew from history and modernity in a variety of ways. Some modernist architects sought to attune architecture to local climates, materials, histories, and images, while others preferred an "international style" that would use modernist aesthetics to express new beginnings and the exciting possibilities of independence. This lecture will examine how different ideas of region-specific architecture took hold in the early- and mid-twentieth century, focusing on work in Nigeria and Egypt.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

The New Gourna Village: A Case of Sustainable Architecture
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Introduction
In his work, Architecture for the Poor, Hasan Fathy explains that he was haunted by the helplessness of the peasants of the Talkha town, a small country town along the north of Delta opposite the Mansoura. The people here lived in depilated conditions following the exit of the colonialists who had robbed the town of its livelihood. Fathy noted that the town's people lacked proper wages, reliable sources of income, and decent housing. The peasants were too sunk in misery to initiate any sustainable change (Fathy 1969). Both the state and capitalist investors concentrated in a large town with ample returns on housing investments. Neither the state nor the capitalists were willing to undertake housing projects for the poor because it was not an investment that promised returns. Therefore, Fathy was faced with two core problems. Firstly, the peasants could not afford the building materials required for modern housing. Secondly, there was a need for a housing project that would not only accommodate people but reflect their values, traditions, culture, climate, and history of the region (figure 1). In the current paper, I argue that Fathy's final designs of the New Gourna Village were a visionary step towards realizing the importance of architectural designs in supporting the sustainability of the environment and resources, which remain relevant in the modern world.
Design Principles and Processes
Due to a lack of modern building material, Fathy's earlier projects relied on mud bricks in the erection of walls. The scarcity of roofing material forced him to re-think how he could construct full roofs from the locally and readily available material. At this time, he discovered that the Nubians had long been constructing houses entirely out of mud bricks with vaults acting as the roof without any support. Mud bricks were used for every part of the house, including religious buildings like mosques. He also discovered that some of the traditional architectural products at the Fatimid Cemetery had lasted since the 10th century. The Monastery of St. Simeon, for instance, consisted of domes and vaults built exclusively from mud brick. Lastly, he realized that mud-brick houses could go as high as two floors and remain strong to survive over a thousand years (Fathy 1969).
In 1946, Fathy was commissioned by the Egyptian government to design, plan, and construct a new village that could house the old inhabitants of the Old Gourna. The old village was located directly above the tombs of the Thebes cemetery. The villagers were accused of stealing antiquities from the tombs and selling them as a source of livelihood. The new village would therefore relocate the inhabitants to stop the looting. The commissioning offered Fathy an opportunity to test his knowledge in mud-brick building designs and provide sustainable housing for the poor villager. The new village incorporated ideas and concepts of designing a cost-effective and aesthetically appealing village (Nandy and Nandy 2016). While the state aimed to protect Pharaonic Tombs, Fathy aimed to evolve better living conditions for the peasants ...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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The New Gourna Village: A Case of Sustainable Architecture

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