In the 1940’s Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy attempted to start an architectural revolution. Soon after dedicating himself to rural or ‘peasant’ architecture and starting work with the Nubian Vault roofing and mud brick building techniques, Fathy took on the enormous and not-so envious task of re-locating the inhabitants of the village ‘Gourna’, near Luxor in Egypt. A village grown out of tomb-raiding, the government wanted the Gournis moved off of a historically significant site. With this in mind it should be noted that in this case it was always going to be necessary to build a completely new village. To cut a long and complex story short, despite an exceedingly well thought out and considerate plan, the new village was never completed, due in large part it would seem, to the mysterious unseen forces of bureaucracy.
The doomed project was led by tradition techniques and cooperative building, attributes that are, certainly in this case, both economical and sustainable. The application of traditional techniques (the mud bricks used in both walling and roofing) led to beautiful, timeless architecture that clearly belongs to its landscape. The materials and techniques have their limitations of course and while ‘limitation’ may sound a negative force it can be an important, positive element of design, the handmade approach limits spans and stories, automatically maintaining the human scale that is integral to the beauty of these buildings.
I’ve found a lot of inspiration in Fathy’s approach that is applicable to my contemporary intentions for rural architecture in this country. Some obstacles that were troublesome to the New Gourna scheme I think would be less so in Britain, today. For example, one major problem lay in the relationship between architect and the villagers, when the project is to involve cooperative building this relationship is crucial. With less dramatic differences between classes and living conditions we should be able to overcome this communication problem (time will tell whether that is a naïve statement or not).
Money, the unavoidable, ever present bane of our modern society would be as much a priority now as it was then. In 40’s Egypt the project was dramatically less costly than the conventional approach and I’m afraid that to be taken seriously by authorities or developers a project is always going to have to offer a money saving/making opportunity. I suspect managing to convey any saving down to the occupants will be a real challenge of course but if a methodology can be illustrated to a level of comprehensiveness as to have at least matched the cost of conventional developments then it should stand a chance in our competitive climate.
My one reservation about the New Gourna project is the fact that the villagers didn’t actually want to be moved. The whole situation could easily start a raging moral debate I’m sure but it does seem an unlikely target for a cooperative building project. I think when embarking on this kind of development the new inhabitants must be involved to make it truly successful and I really think that in Britain we could make this work. Not all the time of course but there are a lot of people out there now entering the right frame of mind to get more involved and commit to such schemes. Perhaps the time is right to start our own revolution.
Occasionally Architectural 
Medina Whiteman
October 31, 2010
Hi there Trevor. This is a great introduction to the work of Hasan Fathy. You know Lateefa Spiker went to school in one of his designs, in New Mexico? You should come and visit our house, once it is finished (hopefully in the next couple of months). It actually features a Nubian vault too, as well as a segmental arch vault (can you tell Tom studied architectural history and Islamic design?) It’s also built in hemp bricks and hemp fibre insulation and using lime mortar and plaster. Arches galore too. In short, an architectural student’s playground…You can find him on facebook through my page, there a few pics there, though a bit out of date. Good luck on your course! We will both check back here for sure. xxx
Trevor Taw
November 4, 2010
Thanks Medina. I knew Lateefa had studied his work but didn’t realise she studied in one of his buildings, I’ll sure to quiz her next time I see her! We will definitely arrange to come and visit, your house sounds wonderful. I’m a sucker for an arch or two!
NJArtitecture
November 7, 2010
Nicely written. I also admire Fathy’s work very much and was the oddball at Arch school studying him, when no one else had even heard about him. And I agree with your comments on some of the failures of the New Gourna project wholeheartedly. The gap between developer/designer/builder and resident/homeowner/citizen has historically led to unsustainable projects, particularly in the field of disaster relief work, where the core of the project misses the target population by not empowering their voices, or allowing them to be a part of the process. Things have changed a lot in the past ten years though, and partly due to the political situation of the world – I actually think the people are finally understanding the word “vernacular,” and putting in an effort to apply it.
youngmuslimworld
December 16, 2010
Hi Trevor, got to know your site through NJ’s blog, great stuff, and I particularly like that post since Fathy’s one of my favorite artists/architects
i’d like you to check out that video that i think you’ll find interesting:
it’s a look at the new gourna project 60 years later. i personally found it very informative.
all the best
Trevor Taw
December 19, 2010
Hi, thanks for visiting and commenting.
Fantastic video. There’s not a great deal out there (on the web that is) on New Gourna but this is great, thanks very much!