Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "If you were given a million pounds, what would you do with them?..." (more)
Key Phrases: sabras door, vault span, tomb robbing, Upper Egypt, Department of Antiquities, New Gourna (more...)

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Product Description

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.

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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.

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Product Details Paperback: 366 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 15, 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 0226239160 ISBN-13: 978-0226239163 Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #420,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
If you were given a million pounds, what would you do with them? Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
sabras door, vault span, tomb robbing, crafts school, cooperative building, rubble masonry

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Upper Egypt, Department of Antiquities, New Gourna, Abdul Rasoul, Bill Harzia, Ancient Egyptian, Cairo University, Ibrahim Hassan, Lower Egypt, Ministry of Public Works, Boghdadi Ahmed Ali, Housing Department, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, Osman Rustum, Royal Society of Agriculture, Salah Said, School of Fine Arts, Shafik Ghorbal, Colonel Debes, Gad Effendi, Metropolitan Museum, Stillborn Experiment, Tombs of the Nobles, Valley of the Queens

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Citations (learn more)

8 books cite this book:

• Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods by Lynne Elizabeth on page 114, page 9, and Back Matter
• Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods by Lynne Elizabeth on page 116, page 149, and Back Matter
• Ecological Design by Sim Van der Ryn in Back Matter
• Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity by Timothy Mitchell in Back Matter
• The Humanity of Cities: An Introduction to Urban Societies by John Gulick in Back Matter

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	80% buy the item featured on this page: Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt (Phoenix Books) 4.8 out of 5 stars (5) $22.84
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5 Reviews 5 star:  (4) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 24 of 24 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars An economic revolution using mud, April 9, 2002 By  Sue Wilcox (Solana Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews 'Architecture for the Poor' by Dr Hassan Fathy Sometimes a book is so ahead of its time it can sink beneath the waves before it's appreciated. Such a book was 'Architecture for the Poor', written in 1969 and originally published by the Ministry of Culture in Cairo. Written with the help of a fellowship from the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs it was published in America by the University of Chicago in 1973 and in a second impression in 1976. But even then it was only taken up by the fringes of the solar energy movement as a neat idea for a different culture and climate. Currently its out of print. The author died in 1989 having received some praise in his home country of Egypt but having seen no actions to take up his ideas for helping peasants take control of their lives by taking charge of the creation of their homes and communities. Dr Fathy was officially an architect but his talents as an amateur anthropologist, sociologist, psychologist, inventor, and economist are what make him great. His holistic approach to solving the housing problems of a poverty level community (and his vision to see how they could be applied to a whole country) takes in the gamut from reviving the craft of mud brick making (along with the traditional masonry building of vaults and domes to roof simple mud structures) through to solving the problems of parasitic worm infections that debilitate entire populations infected through their water supply systems. Every aspect of village life receives his attention: how to adapt an Austrian heating system to make a cooking stove more efficient, how to share a house with cows more hygienically, where to do laundry, how to build a better school, how to provide an alternative income from tomb robbing for the peasants, and how to tactfully delouse peasants using the luxury of a Turkish bathhouse rather than the chilly chemicals of a government mandated cold shower. His appreciation that some inefficiencies are functional within a society makes the changes he does make even more impressive. Fetching water from the village pump in water jars is one of the few occasions a girl has to be seen out in public in Moslem society. Providing running water to every house would derail the marriage process within that society. However he is happy to create plumbing inside the home ? running pipes to the kitchen from rooftop storage jars across the middle of rooms, so if they leak the occupants will have to fix them not ignore the drips until the wall is eroded. Fathy's changes are not just improvements to make a peasants life more like a modern westerners life ? that is impossible given the astonishingly low income of these people. They are changes that make life easier or healthier while striving to maintain traditions and strengthen society because they understand what is behind the tradition. For example splitting the village up into single home farmsteads would expose the individual families to roaming bands of thieves, so it's necessary to let houses huddle together for protection and for cows ? more valuable than children ? to stay inside the house. Yet this book is not just about practicalities of house or village building ? it's also about the need for beauty in the life of even the poorest amongst us. Dr Fahey's desire to restore an appreciation for craftsmanship to all members of society especially by restoring the ability of the poor to control the creation of their own homes is inspiring. An architect can help the process along only if he or she can learn to see life outside the urban world of modern design. This book shows how an architect with an academic education can be of some help to a peasant faced with grinding poverty but only if equipped with the ability to move to the world of that peasant and see how alien western technological solutions can be. Fahey's ideas are not just applicable to Egyptian society, reading this book made me aware of the similarities of problems faced by peoples in many middle eastern countries, particularly Afghanistan which is trying to rebuild itself and could use Dr Fahey's techniques to rehouse its population cheaply and empoweringly. It's even possible to extend his ideas to other hot dry climates such as Southern California, and the desert states of the US, to Mediterranean countries and to many parts of Africa, South America, and Australia. Wherever issues of building cost or those of insulation, shelter and energy efficiency in a hot dry climate need addressing Dr Fahey's solutions should be considered. This book needs to be reprinted; clamor for copies and see if we can make it the bestseller it should have been the first time around. ISBN 0-226-23916-0 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Principled Professionalism, March 21, 2000 By A Customer This book should be required reading to obtain an Architect's license. Mr Fathy is far from perfect, but his message of democratic economy is desperately needed and eloquently stated, and his mixture of respect for and scientific evaluation of traditional building techniques is inspiring. 13 of 15 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A new theory in architecture by a famouce Egyptian architect, February 24, 1998 By A Customer This book sets a new theory in architecture by the famouce Egyptian architect Hasan Fathy. Fathy argues that you can build fancy buildings without using expensive materials. He practiced his theory in Upper Egypt, Mexico, and many other countries.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars economic sided, wish it had more practical engineering The content is more economic sided than I'd hoped but still a great introduction to the opportunity. I wish it had more practical engineering. Read more Published 2 months ago by T. Gendron 5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any architect. For those of you looking for a book on how to build a house cheaply this is not for you. This book is on how to give poor people the means to build homes, and communities, get... Read more Published on March 16, 2003 by Scott Knudsen Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 366 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226239160
• ISBN-13: 978-0226239163
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #420,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An economic revolution using mud, April 9, 2002

By	Sue Wilcox (Solana Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

'Architecture for the Poor' by Dr Hassan Fathy

Sometimes a book is so ahead of its time it can sink beneath the waves before it's appreciated. Such a book was 'Architecture for the Poor', written in 1969 and originally published by the Ministry of Culture in Cairo. Written with the help of a fellowship from the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs it was published in America by the University of Chicago in 1973 and in a second impression in 1976. But even then it was only taken up by the fringes of the solar energy movement as a neat idea for a different culture and climate. Currently its out of print. The author died in 1989 having received some praise in his home country of Egypt but having seen no actions to take up his ideas for helping peasants take control of their lives by taking charge of the creation of their homes and communities.

Dr Fathy was officially an architect but his talents as an amateur anthropologist, sociologist, psychologist, inventor, and economist are what make him great. His holistic approach to solving the housing problems of a poverty level community (and his vision to see how they could be applied to a whole country) takes in the gamut from reviving the craft of mud brick making (along with the traditional masonry building of vaults and domes to roof simple mud structures) through to solving the problems of parasitic worm infections that debilitate entire populations infected through their water supply systems. Every aspect of village life receives his attention: how to adapt an Austrian heating system to make a cooking stove more efficient, how to share a house with cows more hygienically, where to do laundry, how to build a better school, how to provide an alternative income from tomb robbing for the peasants, and how to tactfully delouse peasants using the luxury of a Turkish bathhouse rather than the chilly chemicals of a government mandated cold shower.

His appreciation that some inefficiencies are functional within a society makes the changes he does make even more impressive. Fetching water from the village pump in water jars is one of the few occasions a girl has to be seen out in public in Moslem society. Providing running water to every house would derail the marriage process within that society. However he is happy to create plumbing inside the home ? running pipes to the kitchen from rooftop storage jars across the middle of rooms, so if they leak the occupants will have to fix them not ignore the drips until the wall is eroded. Fathy's changes are not just improvements to make a peasants life more like a modern westerners life ? that is impossible given the astonishingly low income of these people. They are changes that make life easier or healthier while striving to maintain traditions and strengthen society because they understand what is behind the tradition. For example splitting the village up into single home farmsteads would expose the individual families to roaming bands of thieves, so it's necessary to let houses huddle together for protection and for cows ? more valuable than children ? to stay inside the house.

Yet this book is not just about practicalities of house or village building ? it's also about the need for beauty in the life of even the poorest amongst us. Dr Fahey's desire to restore an appreciation for craftsmanship to all members of society especially by restoring the ability of the poor to control the creation of their own homes is inspiring. An architect can help the process along only if he or she can learn to see life outside the urban world of modern design. This book shows how an architect with an academic education can be of some help to a peasant faced with grinding poverty but only if equipped with the ability to move to the world of that peasant and see how alien western technological solutions can be.

Fahey's ideas are not just applicable to Egyptian society, reading this book made me aware of the similarities of problems faced by peoples in many middle eastern countries, particularly Afghanistan which is trying to rebuild itself and could use Dr Fahey's techniques to rehouse its population cheaply and empoweringly. It's even possible to extend his ideas to other hot dry climates such as Southern California, and the desert states of the US, to Mediterranean countries and to many parts of Africa, South America, and Australia. Wherever issues of building cost or those of insulation, shelter and energy efficiency in a hot dry climate need addressing Dr Fahey's solutions should be considered. This book needs to be reprinted; clamor for copies and see if we can make it the bestseller it should have been the first time around.

ISBN 0-226-23916-0

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Principled Professionalism, March 21, 2000

By A Customer

This book should be required reading to obtain an Architect's license. Mr Fathy is far from perfect, but his message of democratic economy is desperately needed and eloquently stated, and his mixture of respect for and scientific evaluation of traditional building techniques is inspiring.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new theory in architecture by a famouce Egyptian architect, February 24, 1998

By A Customer

This book sets a new theory in architecture by the famouce Egyptian architect Hasan Fathy. Fathy argues that you can build fancy buildings without using expensive materials. He practiced his theory in Upper Egypt, Mexico, and many other countries.