Hassan Fathy revisited: Postwar discourses on science, development, and vernacular architecture

Journal of Architectural Education

Volumn 60, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 28-39

  Pyla, Panayiota I ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 53349164353     PISSN: 10464883     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1531-314X.2007.00093.x     Document Type: Review

References (86)

1. Hassan Fathy, Architecture for the Poor (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973)
2. Fathy's colleagues and supporters recount many sociopolitical reasons for the work's interruption, including the locals' defiance, and some of the actions of the Department of Antiquities, which was in charge of the project (Author's interviews with Abdelhalim Abdelhalim and Nawal Hassan, 1999). Also, see J.M. Richards, "Courna: A Lesson in Basic Architecture," The Architectural Review CXLVII, no. 876 (February 1970): 109-118
3. "Art and Survival Fashioned in Bricks of Mud," Middle East Times IV (March 1986): 12-13
4. James Steele, An Architecture for People: The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997)
5. and William Polk, "Gropius and Fathy Remembered," Architectural Design 74, no. 6 (November/December 2004): 38-45
6. For a historical analysis of the sociopolitical context for the project, and the government role in provoking the locals' resentment, see Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-politics, Modernity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), pp. 184-95
7. For a critical discussion of Fathy's paternalistic views toward the "ignorant" peasants see Mitchell, Rule of Experts, p. 185
8. Also, for another recent critique of Fathy that points to his cosmopolitan assumptions, see Nezar Alsayyad, "From Vernacularism to Globalism," Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 7 (1995): 13-24
9. For more on Fathy's adoption of Cairene (specifically Mamluk and Ottoman) forms, see Nasser Rabbat, "Hassan Fathy and the Identity Debate," in Gilane Tawadros and Sarah Campbell, eds., Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes (London: Institute of International Visual Art, 2003), pp. 196-203
10. For this reason, the houses were remodeled by their later users several years later, when the village began to be inhabited. For a description of the alterations later users made in order to make dwellings more acceptable to them, see Fekri Hassan and Christine Plimpton, "New Gourna: Vernacular Remodeling of Architectural Space," Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Papers Series XVI 49-77 (1989): 50-77
11. "New Courna: Vernacular Remodeling," pp. 65-66
12. Fathy began his book with a criticism of the contemporary state of architecture, and the majority of book reviews resounded similar ideas. See, for example, Moshe Saftie, "Joy in Mudville," New York Review of Books (December 11, 1975): 233
13. and Colin Ward, "For the Fellah with Nothing," Royal Institute of British Architects Journal 81 (February 1974): 35
14. William Mares, "An Architect Whose Clients Are Peasants," The Christian Science Monitor (September 5, 1974): 7
15. Felicia Clark, "Appropriate Invention," Architectural Record 168 (January 1980): 186-87 and 195
16. Robert Marquis, "Egypt's Prophet of Appropriate Technology," AIA Journal 69 (December 1980): 38-39
17. "UIA's Gold Medal Awarded to Hassan Fathy," Architecture 74 (January 1985): 25-26
18. Paul Oliver, ed., Shelter, Sign and Symbol (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1975)
19. Bernard Rudofsky, Architecture Without Architects (New York: Doubleday, 1964)
20. Ian Mc Harg, Design With Nature (New York: Natural History Press, 1969)
21. Victor Olgyay, Design With Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1963)
22. John F.C. Turner, Housing by People: Towards Autonomy in Building Environments (London: Marion Boyars Publishers, 1976)
23. John F.C. Turner and Robert Fichter, eds., Freedom to Build (New York: Macmillan, 1972)
24. William Margin and John C. Turner, "Benavides and the Barriada Movement," in Paul Oliver, ed., Shelter and Society (New York: F.A. Praeger, 1969)
25. Also, M.H. Shaheen, "Hassan Fathy Architecture for the Poor," International Journal for Middle East Studies 6, no. 4 (October 1975): pp. 511 -14
26. James Steele, Sustainable Architecture, Principles, Paradigms, and Case Studies (New York: McCraw Hill, 1997)
27. and Jacobs' The Life and Death of Great American Cities), Ghirardo also argued that Fathy's book signaled "a pervasive resistance to Western Modernism and an often contentious confrontation with the colonial legacies in many nonwestern countries."
28. Diane Ghirardo, Architecture After Modernism (London: Thames and Hudson, 1996), p. 13
29. Fathy, "L'Illustre Architecte Egyptien," Le Monde Islamique (February 1971): 1, 11
30. Jerry Jobbins, "Architect for the Arabs," Near East Business (March 1980): 7-10
31. I. Serageldin and El-Sadek, eds., The Arab City: Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Medina, Saudi Arabia in 1983 (Arlington, VA: Arab Urban Development Institute, 1992)
32. See, for example, Hassan Fathy, "Planning and Building in the Arab Tradition," in Monroe Berger, ed., The New Metropolis and the Arab World (New York: Octagon Books, 1974), pp. 210-29
33. Hassan Fathy, "Constancy, Transposition and Change in the Arab City," in Carl Brown, ed., Madina to Metropolis (Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press, 1973), pp. 319-34
34. For a description of these works, see James Steele, "The New Traditionalists," Mimar 40 (September 1991): 40-47
35. Saleem Shahed, "Adbel Wahed El Wakil, Interpreter of a Living Tradition," Arts and the Islamic World 1, no. 4 (Winter 1983-1984): 56-64
36. and Michele Vicat, Between Tradition and Modernity: Eight Egyptian Architects (Cairo: American University of Cairo, 1992)
37. See, for example, references to Fathy in Charles Jencks, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1984), p. 94
38. and Charles Jencks and Karl Kropf, Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture (New York: Academy Editions, 1997), pp. 170-71
39. Doxiadis invited Fathy to Greece in 1956 to work in his firm as a consultant. Letter from Doxiadis (September 14, 1956)
40. Author's interviews with Nawal Hassan and Shahira Mehrez, 1999
41. See, for example, Constantinos Doxiadis, Architecture in Transition (New York: Hutchinson of London, 1963)
42. and Constantinos Doxiadis, "Ekistics, The Key to Housing in Developing Areas," in Report to the International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation (Rotterdam, the Netherlands: The Council, 1959)
43. Doxiadis Associates, "Iraq Housing Program," Doxiadis Associates Newsletter September 5, 1959
44. Also, Doxiadis Associates, The Housing Program of Iraq (Baghdad:Governmentof Iraq, Ministry of Development, 1959)
45. Editorial in Ekistics (May 1960): 335
46. Hassan Fathy, "A Report on Housing for Greater Mussayib," Doxiadis Associates Documents R-QA, October 10, 1957, pp. 1-47; quotation on 1
47. "A Report on Housing for Greater Mussayib," pp. 1-47
48. See Fathy's report, "Experiments on Mud Bricks," Doxiadis Associates Documents R-QA, April 13, 1957
49. The most extensive study of mud brick construction that Fathy had produced up to that point was his 1952 report to the Egyptian authorities: Hassan Fathy, Report on Egyptian Village Housing, Building Materials, and Methods of Construction to Administrator, Technical Cooperation Administration, Department of State (Cambridge, MA: Arthur Little, 1952)
50. "A Report on Housing for Greater Mussayib," pp. 14, 16
51. Hassan Fathy's sketch in "A Report on Housing for Greater Mussayib," p. 13
52. Constantinos Doxiadis, Raumordnung im Griechischen Städtebau (Heidelberg: Kurt Vowinckel, 1937)
53. and Doxiadis, "The Ancient Greek City and the City of the Present," Architektoniki 108 (July-August 1964): pp. 46-59
54. Doxiadis, "Plans for Village in Mussayib by Professor Fathy," Internal Doxiadis Associates Memo, July 21, 1958, pp. 1-2; quotation on 1
55. Doxiadis Associates, "A Regional Development Program for Greater Mussayib, Iraq, 1958," Ekistics 6, no. 36 (October 1958): 149-86; the requirement of the courtyard on 169; Fathy's drawings on 180
56. Doxiadis, "Pakistan Diary 20," 1954
57. See also "A Regional Development Program for Greater Mussayib, Iraq, 1958," p. 169, paragraph 38
58. For Fathy's dismissal of the "peasant manner" of Nubian decorations, see L'Architecture D'Aujourd'hui (February 1978): 43-84, quotation on 84
59. Note that even the initial photographs of New Gourna (taken by Alexandrine Dimitris Papademos under the direction of Fathy) highlighted this modern aesthetic. See Panayiota Pyla, "Photographing Tradition: Papademos' Work in Egypt" [in Greek], Kathimerini (October 14, 2001): 13-15
60. For an extensive analysis of the gender biases in Fathy's courtyard houses, see Asia Chowdhury, "The Persistent Metaphor: Gender in the Representations of the Cairene House by Edward W. Lane and Hassan Fathy," MIT Masters Thesis, June 1993
61. Fathy describes the significance of courtyards and public fountains to women in Architecture For the Poor, pp. 56-59, 99-101; quotation on 100
62. "A Regional Development Program for Greater Mussayib, Iraq, 1958"; quotation on 168, paragraph 37e
63. Fathy, Deimezis, Kyriou, and Marinos, "Thermal Comfort," Doxiadis Associates Documents R-GA 108, April 15, 1958, pp. 1 -17; quotation on 1
64. Fathy, "Climate and Architecture, Course Outline, 1959-60," pp. 5-6, quotation on 5
65. For a recent critique of Modernization Theory and its legacy, see Nils Gilman, Mandarins of the Future (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), which presents a much more detailed analysis of this theory than the space of this paper allows
66. For a discussion of some of the connections between Doxiadis and Modernization Theory, see Panayiota Pyla, "Global Visions, Local Knowledge, and the Design of Model Communities: The Centrality of the Postcolonial World in the Historiography of Modernism," Proceedings of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Conference (Washington, DC: ACSA, 2003), pp. 253-58
67. Fathy, untitled 5-page "Draft" with tables on "Mental fatigue scale," "Thermal comfort sensation scales" etc. Also: Fathy, untitled 2-page memorandum regarding the "psychological aspects of life in a warm climate;" quotation on 1
68. His reports listed the various possible microclimatic conditions around buildings - e.g., air temperatures at different times of the day, at different parts of Iraq. See, for example, Fathy and Marinos, "Applications of Ideas on Thermal Comfort," May 2, 1958, pp. 1-6
69. and Fathy, "Heat Protection," Doxiadis Associates Documents R-GAH 305, April 19, 1958, pp. 1-5
70. For an example of Ekistics' comprehensive models, see Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, "The Ekistic Grid," Architectural Association Journal 87 (September-October 1965): 10-15
71. Fathy, "Course Outline, Climate and Architecture (1959-60)."
72. Doxiadis, "Architecture in Evolution," Royal Institute of British Architects Journal 67 (September-October 1960): 3-22; quotation on 20
73. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, ed., The Ekistic Approach: Human Identity in Ecumenopolis, A Series of Readings for the Second Year Architecture Students, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University GSD, 1969), p. 14
74. For a description of Doxiadis Associates' final houses in Baghdad, see Pyla, "Global Visions, Local Knowledge, and the Design of Model Communities," pp. 253-58
75. Fathy, "The Dwelling Within the Urban Settlement," COF Documents, August 1961, p. 7
76. Fathy, "Planning and Building in the Arab Tradition," p. 218
77. Fathy, "Aesthetics in the COF," COF Documents, p. 9, 2
78. Fathy, "COF - Contribution to the Final Report," COF Documents, July 17, 1961
79. Fathy, "Aesthetics in the COF," p. 8; Fathy, "Exchange of Views on the Research Project," COF Documents, October 12, 1960, p. 2
80. Fathy, "The Dwelling Within the Urban Settlement," p. 16."... very different from the confusing of inside and outside that is often aimed by architects today when they make walls of glass or include trees and ponds in the living room ..."
81. Fathy, "Aesthetics in the COF." This is also where Fathy's view differed from Rudofsky's who praised the vernacular to advocate the deprofessionalization of architecture
82. Fathy, "Aesthetics in the COF." Also, David Simon, "Heidegger's Notion of Dwelling and One Concrete Interpretation as Indicated by Hassan Fathy's Architecture for the Poor," Geoscience and Man 24 (April 1984): 43-53
83. and Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
84. Ezra Ehrenhrantz and Ogden Tanner, "The Remarkable Dr. Doxiadis," Architectural Forum 114, no. 5 (May 1961): 112-16
85. Examples of houses for the urban elite include Fouad Riad (1967), Mehrez Apartment (1967), and Mit Rehan (1982). Regarding Fathy's nationalist and religious interpretations, see also endnote 15 above
86. Fathy, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture: Principles and Examples with Reference to Hot Arid Climates (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986)