Riyadh - School of Architecture

ARCH 3424 l BUILDING TECHNOLOGY III l Gary, Yeung Ho Yin l 1155011552Location - New Gourna, EgyptArchitect/Planner - Hassan FathyDate - 1945 to 1948Century - 20thDecade - 1940sBuilding Types - residential, urban design anddevelopmentBuilding Usage - housing development, new townplanningEffect of Climate on Architectural FormIn the project of New Gourna, climate produces certain easily observed effects on architectural forms. In the case of theNew Gourna, the proportion of the window area to the wall area become less, as a response to solve the usually problemin warm area of over heat, people lives there are all trying to get away from the sun. Some other feature are also used, forexample, deep loggias, projecting balconies and overhangs casting long shadows on the walls of building are found.Notice, the gladded roof decreases in pitch as the rate of precipitation decreases. In hot countries, as u can see in the photo,the roofs become quite flat, in some areas provide a very comfortable area to relax.Hassan Fathy was against to build western techniques andmaterial, such as reinforced concrete and steel, which hebelieve that these type of technology it is inappropriate forEgypt climate.Building in Egypt built with reinforced concrete are likeMatchbox houses were too in the summer and too cold inwinter. The building in New Gourna village are encouragedto use ancient design methods and material, the ancientdesign methods influence his ideas a lot, craftsmanwere masters at constructing domed and vaulted roofs ofmud brick, which they also used for walls. The uses of thistype of structure are cheap, cool in the summer and thewall were heat store in the wall.New Gourna is a project that masterminded by Hassan Fathy, this is a projectthat try to re-housing the seven thousand people in Gourna, it is a villagethat built near the tomb of the nobles, in that area there are lot of oldhouse, since there is a part of the ancient cemetery of Thebes where it is nowLuxor of Egypt. This is a project that tries to combine the traditional techniques,materials and vernacular style, then carefully analysis how these factorbenefit generate an economic and ecologically sustainable building, so itwill ethos that was integral to the community that would occupy the village.After six year of hard work, the project was abandoned before complete, it isbecause due to bureaucratic backing problem among other. Villagers resistantto move from the start from the beginning, so the project was soon unsettledand many of this architecture have since been lost. But because of theeducation value of the project scheme and the knowledge and philosophiesembedded there, the project that have been overlooked for 60 years nowhelp been recently bring up by UNECO who is now beginning to preservethe remaining part of New Gourna.