Born March 23, 1900 Alexandria, Egypt

Died November 30, 1989 (aged 89)

Cairo, Egypt
Nationality Egyptian
Occupation Architect
Awards Aga Khan Chairman's Award for Architecture (1980)
Balzan Prize (1980)
Right Livelihood Award (1980)
 Introduction
• He was an Egyptian architect, artist and poet
who had a lifelong commitment to
architecture in the Muslim world.
• Early in his career he began to study the pre-
industrial building systems of Egypt to
understand their aesthetic qualities, to learn
what they had to teach about climate control
and economical construction techniques and
to find ways to put them to contemporary use
 Career
• Hassan Fathy was a cosmopolitan trilingual professor-engineer-
architect, amateur musician, dramatist, and inventor.
• He designed nearly 160 separate projects, from modest country
retreats to fully planned communities with police, fire, and medical
services, markets, schools, theatres, and places for worship and
recreation.
• He began teaching at the College of Fine Arts in 1930 and designed
his first adobe buildings in the late 1930s.
• In 1980, he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Architecture and
Urban Planning and the Right Livelihood Award.
• He held several government positions and died in Cairo in 1989.
•
 New goruna
• New Gourna
• New Gourna Project is one of his best known housing projects. This is due tothe international
popularity of his book, "Architecture for the poor" publishedoriginally in French, 20 years after the
beginning of the project, in which heexplained his vision for the village. This book details his
thoughts,processes, dealings with the politics involved, and his theories behind theform
• The idea was launched by the Egyptian department of Antiquities in 1946 tobuild a new town near
Luxor to relocate the inhabitants of the GournaVillage
• . Building Type: multifamily housing, village
• Construction System: mud brick and adobe
• Climate: hot, arid
• Context: rural village
• Style: Modern
• His designs depended on natural ventilation, orientation and local materials,traditional
construction methods and energy- conservation techniques. Hewent through detailed studies of
temperature and wind patterns
• • Hassan Fathy did not believe that the locals should be housed in similarhomes. Each had different
needs, tastes and comforts apart from the numberliving in the house.
• • Fathy worked with the villagers to tailor his designs to their needs with
• Fathy included an open air theatre, a school, a "Suq" (market) and a
Mosque, famousfor the unusual shape of its minaret. He also built himself
a house in the same spiritof the village, using the same materials.OPEN
THEATRE
• The "Gourna Village experiment" was not just an architectural experiment.
ToHassan Fathy it was more like the development of a town on a cultural,
social levelfollowing the regional traditions. Relating to the people and
knowing their needswhile asking them to participate in the construction of
their town was a major part ofthe project.
• The village was never completed. The locals did st
• art moving into their new homes,but eventually they did not settle down
.• The reluctance of the people to cooperate in the design and building of the
villagewas mistakenly understood as a sure sign of the inappropriateness
the project.Normally, the people resented the change and took every
opportunity possible tosabotage their new village in order to stay where
they were and to continue theirown secret ancient trading.
• • All what remains today of New Gourna is the
mosque, market, a coupleof houses and Hassan
Fathys. Even the school was demolished
andrebuilt in modern materials. As for the rest of
the houses, most of themwere rebuilt in a more
"suitable" way according to the peoples taste.• In
1967, he had another trial similar to Gourna
called the village ofBariz in Kharga. It didnt prove
to be a better success from theprevious because
of funding problems.
 Khalil al-Talhuni House
Shuna Janubiyya, Jordan
•
VARIANT NAME
SKhalil Talhouni House (Variant)
• DATE1988
• ASSOCIATED NAMES
Hassan Fathy (architect/planner)
Mahmoud Nasim (architect/planner)
Khalil Talhouni (client)
• BUILDING TYPE
Residential
• BUILDING USAGE
private residence
• ASSOCIATED COLLECTIONS
Hassan Fathy
 Khalil al-Talhuni House
Shuna Janubiyya, Jordan

This house is an unusually

fine example of Fathy's
consistent care for residential
space used for hospitality.
The outside area, enclosed by
arcades, is primarily given
over to this function, and
balances well with the more
private character of the
interior. (constructed)
plan
 Architectural perspectives

• Ancient design methods and materials

• Utilizing a knowledge of rural Egyptian economic
situation
• Space design suitable to surrounding environ-
ment
• Low cost construction without using R.C.C and
steel
• Training locals to build ones own house
 Design elements

• Mud brick (Adobe) walls

• Thick walls
• Wind-catcher and Qanat
• Decorative screens
• Building orientation and placement of
windows
• Domes and Vaulted roofs
• Courtyard
 materiaL PROPERTIES
• Mud brick – Low heat radiation, low cost, availability
Thick wall – high insulation
• Small windows not facing the sun.
• Windcatcher – Air circulation, a pressure gradient used
to get away with the hot air.
• Qanat – Used with windcatcher to cool the interior air
by deep cut canal in the floor filled with water.
• Screens – Restrict glare of light
• No use of R.C.C and Steel for high heat radiation
• Courtyard with partial greenery to screen dust and
sand in the prevailing wind.
 DESIGN CRITERIA
• Low cost construction
• Usage of local materials and vernacular architecture
• Training of local people in construction to reduce labor
cost
• Against western techniques and ‘Matcbox houses’
• Design development with energy conservation
technique, Study of temperature and wind patterns.
• Passive cooling