Il ne suffit pas que Dieu soit avec les pauvres (1978) - full transcript
it's not enough for God
to be with the poor
on some reflections and experiences
of the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathi
Among so-called contemporary things
very little merits to endure into old age.
the least expensive architecture,
economically speaking
isn't the the architecture
that is poorest in art
each material has its own specific demands
mud, wood
marble, stone
cannot be classified
along an esthetic hierarchy
one must begin by building
with local materials
and not stubbornly insist
on importing them
otherwise one would only enrich
the globally dominant players.
songs: Sayd Darwich,
Cheikh Imam, Hassan Abouleila
sung by Leila Chahid,
Hadi Guella
Change is implicit, it's a sign of life;
and if it's not for the better, it's for the worse,
and each plan must be executed for the better.
The poor countries depend on the rich countries.
Thus, for their development,
they find themselves torn between occidental modernism
and a modernity, dominated by national values,
based on a scientific spirit
and a real trust in the people's potential.
Egypt, Arab country of the "Third World",
illustrates very well this contradiction.
With her prestigious heritage of more than 5000 years of civilization
and her actual political situation. HASSAN FATHI
In the domain of architecture and urbanism,
Hassan FATHI, Arab Egyptian architect, born with the century,
has been able to define clearly this contradiction.
Of the two roads,
he chose the road of Arab Modernity.
This is the traditional Fatimid Cairo
extending before you
horizontally, with minarets jutting,
aspiring towards the Divine
and the citys joins Heaven
with the appeal "God is great"
on the other hand, over there,
the modern city
congested and confused,
which joins Heaven with what?
with offices,
dining rooms
and bathrooms.
Hassan Fathi,
who are you?
I'm an architect
who has lost all points of reference
in his Arab society
I'm an Arab architect
who has lost all points of reference
in his Arab society
who has lost his "Arabness"
and I'm in the process of
searching anew in architecture and urbanism,
to find again, to regain
my lost "Arabness"
Hassan Fathi,
how did you arrive at architecture?
When I think back
it now seems to have been a predestination
because when I left my secondary school
I thought of entering the Agricultural School
I used to love the countryside,
and I still do
and I chose the Agricultural School
thinking I'd live in the country,
next to nature
nothing that shocks,
everything beautiful, God's creations
which are all beautiful,
a landscape, the mountains,
the trees, the clouds, everything
in perfect harmony
thank you
Thank you, Osmane.
but
unfortunately or not,
I wasn't admitted into the school
because there was an entry examn
and so I enrolled
at the Polytechnic School
and there I chose architecture
You're living in an Arab house right now.
Have you lived in other houses besides, in Cairo?
I've lived in different houses
in Cairo and surroundings.
But I admit that I didn't feel much at ease in those houses,
as I do in this Arab house.
Because here the void expresses itself,
the void isn't just an empty space.
A habitation is nothing else
but an ensemble of empty volumes, separated by walls.
The empty spaces of an Arab house
correspond to man's desires.
They harmonize with the shapes
and spaces to which man aspires.
That's why I feel totally at ease here,
much more than in any other house.
In an Arab house each room is given
its appropriate dimensions: height, length, width etc.
because this is a question of a certain rythmn.
When I enter a room and find that its height
doesn't correspond with its width, say,
when the ceiling is lower,
as we can see in many of today's houses,
each time I look at it
I have the impulse to push it up,
because it seems to fall down on my head.
I push it up, it comes down again,
I push it up, and I'm suffering,
psychologically speaking,
without knowing, unconsciously.
The Arab house is introvert.
And as soon as you enter an Arab house,
with its angular entrance
one is entirely cut off from the city.
(Sayed Darwish) I fell in love,
and now I am done for.
Do not blame one who mourns.
I fell in love,
and now I am done for.
Do not blame one who mourns.
The 3 functions of the window
1. to let the light enter
then the air,
and finally, to be able to look outside
those functions,
in Europe they're combined in the window.
Whereas in the Arab house,
the three functions
are separate from each other
ventilation, the movement of air,
this is obtained with the malqaf (wind-catcher)
and also with the mashrabiya.
Our love has no equal, even in dreams.
Thermic comfort depends also on the movement of air
the more you can have of an air draught inside
the better
but when you have great apertures
and if you allow hot air to enter,
and you'll also get the reverberation
the reflection from the other buildings
which let the heat enter
so the solution is
to put up the mashrabiya,
even over the entire façade of the room
you'll have augmented the ventilated surface
and you have wood, an organic fibre
has a hydrometric value
and absorbs humidity
the air passes first
and will be de-hymidified
and the absorption of the air's humidity
at the same time,
it re-evaporates
with the movement of air, it works against the heat
also, it tames the light
it distributes the luminosity around
in such a way
so that the contrast between dark and light
isn't very great.
The resolved this problem in an extraordinary fashion in the House of Suhaymi
where you have a mashrabiya
covering the entire façade of the room
looking out onto the garden
Our love has no equal, even in dreams.
I love her, even when we quarrel.
concerning thermic comfort
with movement of air
Ever since antiquity we have examples
of capturing air, the malqafs
in the tomb of Nebamun
there's a drawing of Nebamun's house
that has a double malqaf
one directed towards North
from where the wind blows
and the other one to evacuate it
this system has been employed by everybody
with the malqaf you have today a practical problem
because the surface of a malqaf is minimal
compared to the surface of the entire house
which obstructs the wind for another building
so you have things buried
like the minaret here
and that works much better
but an interesting thing:
you'll find the surface of the malqaf
differs in different countries
here we have it big,
in Egypt
because the air temperature at the higher levels
is much less than close to the ground
it might differ by 10 degrees
keeping its freshness
but in Iraq the air temperature,
even at higher levels, is immense
you might have 45° C
and if you have a malqaf to get some air
you're about to let in hot air, and that isn't a good idea
so they make their malqafs very small,
very narrow
like an organic exchange
take, for instance, the Africans
the temperature is about 37° C
and the humidity is great
it's like their body temperature,
that's why they have large nostrils
whereas in Europe,
if you let air enter
to the same extent as in Africa,
you'll get bronchitis at once
because the air is minus 2° C
and that's why people in Europe
have smaller nostrils
Our love has no equal,
most Arab houses, aristocratic and bourgeois,
degrade themselves
only a few have been restored
and are open to the public, as museums
admired by the tourists,
they are ignored by the people
the inhabitant of the quarter
walks past these constructions
without even suspecting their existence.
but it's here where he could discover
the riches of his heritage
1889: opening of the Suez Canal
From then on the Khedive Ismail inaugurates
the era of hegemony of the Occident
Cairo becomes a copy of a European city
The British Embassy
Hotel Parliament
From then on, national power
is seconded by colonial power
a French mansion
in classical style
Neo-Renaissance,
Italian style
a villa of the Garden City
the Post Office
there is one point one must mention:
when people turned towards the West
we became Europeanized
and when they drew up the new plan of Cairo
at the beginning of the century
they drew the plan of the new Cairo
as if it were a plan for the underground, the métro
and the city which continues to spread out towards the West
whereas it should normally
spread out towards the North and the East
it's as if somebody had a stiff neck at the time
aspects of modern Cairo
the Rihani troupe:
Mignonne doesn't play with fire
today you have air condition
air condition demands very narrow rooms
very low ceilings
and when it's out of order
one suffocates inside
modern buildings, like asphalt roads
they are covered with tarmac,
that's part of the car industry
Arab enterprises: Osman Ahmad Osman
today one builds on purpose rooms with low ceilings
and narrow rooms
because architecture has joined ranks
with the air condition industry
because we must, with our monetary system,
pay for everything, even for air
they make us pay for water,
they make us pay for air
not everybody has the money to pay,
but the untouchables,
economically speaking untouchables,
who suffer with every new invention
and it's the rich minorities who benefit
and the masses suffer all the more
and the gap between the rich and the poor
is about to widen, instead of closing in
I've never seen
a single building
designed and constructed by a European in the Orient
which can be considered accomplished, in the Orient
not a single one
and the same thing applies for us too,
if I were asked to construct a building in Switzerland
my rythm is very different
from the rythm of a Swiss
one must understand those things
those gentlemen, they are called for:
Le Corbusier for Chandigarh, Louis Kahn for Dacca
so there's no longer the tradition
which conserves the esthetic values
and the functional values
today, that is lost
one must replace it by discrimination,
and know-how
but that know-how is denied,
even to our local architects
because they've cut themselves off
from their tradition
and the knowledge they might have
through their heritage
they depend solely on the Occident
where they went to university
Two modern Cairos
a modern Cairo which is rich
a modern Cairo which is poor
# the flowers of the garden have grown
# they give off different perfumes
# yet, the plants grow from a single soil
# and the sown grains are watered with the same water
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished how two branches
# born of the same shoot
# one of them crawls down and buries itself
# and the other one raises itself
and spreads out
the people themselves
decide on their sacred space
the Mosque of Ibn Tulun
masterpiece of equilibrum and rythm
and rich in symbols
that mosque dating from the 9th century
is still intact
and yet, it's abandoned
# God, the living
# the supporter
# the creator
# the all-powerful
# the all-knowing
# the just
# the merciful
the Mosque of Sayyid Al-Husseyin, contemporary
imitation of neo-gothic
and build on the public square
here, the bad architectural taste
annihilates the sacred function of the place
the faithful arrive in masses
and aren't bothered by esthetics
# call to prayer
# God is greatest
# there is only one God
# the unique, the great, the living
# may God grant the praying man's wishes
# God is greatest
# God is greatest
# in the name of God,
the lenient, the merciful,
# praised be God,
master of the resurrection
# who loves the Prophet
and has faith
# who is generous towards the weak
# blessed are they who love the Prophet
# blessed are they
who are generous towards the weak
only 15 piastres, brother
the most beautiful gifts
from the Prophet's quarter
10 piastres, little one
attention!
3 piastres, that's enough
# support us,
oh messenger from God
# oh our lord Husseyin
aspects of the old city of Cairo
the dilapidated aspect of the old Cairo
doesn't date from today
it's due to a secular mentality
which abhorrs restoration
that mentality prepares the terrain
for the HLM (cheap rent apartment buildings)
response of the inhabitants
my child is dead
stung by beasts
people have fallen
they have brought down the mosque
upon our heads
- the mosque?
- yes, this is a mosque
Here we sit, abandoned
and it's freezing outside
we have babies
but we're crying out loud in the desert
there are many empty buildings,
but we must live in the streets
- and the Imam?
- he keeps silent. he's afraid.
we are numerous
- what did you do?
- we forced in the entrance door
if he had opposed us
we would have struck him down.
- why did you chose this mosque?
- it's in our quarter
each occupies his own mosque.
one doesn't invade elsewhere the mosque of others
Any mosque or medrese in your quarter:
occupy them!
Yes. the Socialist Union told us so.
Newspapers and magazines
took our photographs
when we did our washing
we've been living here for a year now
- How many are you?
- 22 families
# why, oh violet,
do you marvel?
# since you're a sad flower
the village installing itself on the city's roofs
the logical answer of the peasant
who came to look for work in a city of 7 million inhabitants
which can only give shelter for 3 million
a shelter is as necessary to man
as a shell is to an egg
thus, the wild occupation of space
becomes a vital necessity
one settles down where one can
one requsitions
and one moves house,
even if necessary, to the cemetry, to live there
here, in the city of the dead
it is here, among the rich mausoleums of the Sultans
and the modest tombs of the common man
that a population of several tens of thousands finds refuge
these are the inhabitants of the necropolis
thrown at the desert's doorstep
In Egypt, there's always behind the cemetery
the desert
one has always pretended
that Egypt was a gift from the Nile
one must rectify this:
Egypt is a gift from the peasant of the Nile
he's the principal driving engine of the country
guardian of the traditions,
he also holds the secret of the thousand-year heritage
the rural architecture
Since ages, the Niles has served as means of communication
between the Lower and Upper Egypt
the products of industry,
one must aquire them with money
one enters the monetary system
but money doesn't exist
with most of the people
the annual per-capita income in the Third World
varies between 20 et 30 pounds
and those are the people
we want to serve
and for whom we want to construct homes,
they are your clients, Mister Architect
if those gentlemen ...
would continue to live in the ancient system
they would be able to help each other
but they've cut themselves off from the benefices
of the traditional co-operative system
and at the same time they have no money
and I call them the untouchables, economically speaking
this is what we must bear in mind
and the architect, and the engineer
must subjugate technology and modern sciences
in the service of those poor devils
anyway, they aren't at all
customers for the products of industry
and the secret of the success
of the traditional co-operative system is this:
one man cannot construct a house
but 100 men can easily construct 100 houses
an example: there's a village called Jennah
at the Kharga Oasis
that village was submerged by moving sands.
the mayor of that villages showed me
his buried village
and the new village they built themselves
They all went to live in the new village
except a single house
where an old man lived who cherished his house,
he didn't want to leave with the others
even though half of his house was submerged,
he was left with two rooms
so I asked him:
"Mr. Mayor, what can one do,
that poor man will be buried with his two rooms soon"
"don't worry, we've already built him his own house over here"
when there's the tradition of co-operation
even without the guy asking for it
they took him into consideration
but if ever they introduced the monetary system
nobody would have looked him in the face
those poor peasants,
what they built for themselves
doesn't that have a monetary value?
they have satisfied all their needs
in their habitations,
without circulation a penny among them
what are we doing to ourselves, I wonder
when one has this potential
but doen't use it
and for the Third World, believe me,
there is no hope at all
except to go back
and modernize the traditional co-operative system
and to revive it today
under non-traditional conditions
which rule the contemporary society
daybreak on the Nile
life is resumed
the same as 5000 years ago
the child at his birth
already finds this water wheel
How old are you?
I? 50 ... 55 ...,
say, 60 years old
and this wheel?
Before my father was born,
it was already here.
- the same wood
- yes, the same
- what material
- sycamore
- who's the owner of the wheel?
- the collective
5. 6. 7. 8. associates:
every associate has a share
according to the surface he cultivates.
to solve a problem of habitation,
you need architects
who know how to design
using local materials
which the people can obtain without spending money
and then, one must use artisans, masons
carpenters, the other professions
who can handle those materials
and you need engineers too
who can assure us
the safety in the empoy of those materials
by subjecting them to the rules of modern science
like soil mechanics
which can give us all the qualities
physical and chemical
and mechanical
of the earth and raw mud
what each poor man could obtain
since the earth
it's beneath everybody's feet
we know the thermic qualities of all the materials
you know that the raw brick
is the best isolator
for two reasons:
the transfer of heat in those materials is 0,34
meaning, if you have on the surface here
10 kalories, a unit of 0,34 would traverse
whereas with cement,
the conductivity is 0,9
the thickness is minimal.
you augment the conductivity
from the outside to the inside by 9
you see, God is on the side of the poor
an 8th century Fatimide cemetery
the raw bricks still withstands
Upper Egypt
the ecological coherence
is the result of the peasant's experience
it's the same everywhere
water precedes cultivation
which precedes habitation
which precedes the cemetery
which precedes the desert
which opens toward the sky
never has the peasant disturbed that harmony
today, the intervention of the city architect
destroys that coherence
water
cultivation
habitation
the cemetary
the desert
the sky
Gharb Assouan
village constructed by the people:
coherence
# when the sun will have darkened
# when the stars will be tarnished
# when the mountains will move
# when the female camels full with milk
will be let lose
# when the beasts of prey will gather in groups
# when the seas will boil over
# when the souls will couple
Gharb Assouan,
village of Lower Nubia
extending over 12 km along the Nile
fresh shadow precedes the habitation
to the question asked of the population
we were answered
this house was built 35 years ago.
It's very well preserved.
on the other hand, the reinforced concrete buildings
which have cost thousands of Egyptian pounds
became cracked,
and have many deficiencies
so our brick is better than concrete
the rooms which we call "Kaboui"
are always open towards the South
and closed against the North
with just small windows for ventilation
the "mandaras", oriented towards the North
have apertures that are 6-7 m high
and are as wide as a door
those are the summer rooms.
totally open
the village of Abou Riche
open towards the North,
closed against the South
a courtyard leading to another courtyard
leading to the public square
one is lost
between the inside and the outside
at the end of the holidays
the new school year begins
the children go to school,
happy and content
friends reunite.
every pupil greets his friends
they tell each other
what they did in the holidays
and the school day begins
we line up
and the flag is raised.
we salute it and enter our classrooms
the school is the only concrete building
in the village
the start of the new school year,
lining up in the schoolyard,
saluting the flag
would it be wrong to say that concrete
brings along an entire mental structure
Gourna: experience of Hassan Fathi
intervention of the architect in the service of the poor
our problem with the habitation of the poor
it isn't the walls,
a wall, everyone can build it with raw bricks,
with anything, earth
with stones, anything.
but it's the roofing.
because roofing demands materials which can bear tensions,
that can bend with pressure
like wood, iron etc.
but those materials
can only be acquired with money today
but the ancients have solved the problem
once can make the ceiling, the roof,
not with those costly materials,
but give it resistance
by the geometrical form,
and not by the materials
because there are curves which are called "enchainette"
if you hold a chain like this
the rings pull on each other
and work entirely by tension
if you reverse it,
put the thing on top, instead of suspending it,
if can manage
each element will work in compression
you just change the tension to compression
the raw brick can take compression,
but it cannot take tension
and thus the ancients have solved,
since antiquity, we have examples since the 4th dynasty
the Colossi of Memnon
the port of ancient Thebes
separates the two villages of Gourna
the old Gourna covers 10 km
of the important archeological sites
The Valley of the Kings
and the Valley of the Queens
the new Gourna
built by Hassan Fathi in 1948
on arable land,
to re-settle the inhabitants of the old Gourna
the village has been flooded three times
by men unknown
all the same, it resisted
at the moment, it's fully inhabited
for its construction
Hassan Fathi has employed all his techniques and ideas
using local materials
he has undertaken to modernize the traditional
to satisfy the real needs of the peasants
without asking for help from outside
the mosque of Gharb Aswan.
the one of old Gourna
the one of new Gourna
it's in tradition
that the architect looks for his models
in repetition
he invents
it's the curse of the Pharaos
which mysteriously caused the inhabited buildings to burst
Hassan Fathi explains:
if I haven't succeeded at Gourna
it's because it was a very special project
it wasn't for a rural society
that needed habitation
those people were living on looting and raiding
and in each house
where there were one to three tombs
Pharaonic
what Hassan Fatih considers as failure
is simply the intervention of the peasant inhabitant
who readjusted according to his needs
his inhabited space
the local materials used
permitted adjustments at leisure
Thank God, I've been able to, after all,
despite my practical failures
but I've obtained results
almost certain
certain about many directions, many things
for example, the formation of masons
one master-builder has formed 46 boys
who used to beg in the street
and they became master-builders within 3 months
and once they realized ...
today a mason earns 2-4 pounds a day
they've trained among themselves,
and they've become 80
I'm Hassan Mohamad, mason
We used to work with Hassan Fathi
in the model village
We started out as apprentices
of the master-builders.
then we learned the trade
and we became master-builders
the masons of Nubia and Mahamid
have taught me the trade
While building with them
Later I've built on my own
exactly like any other mason
Those men, like father like son,
used to deal with antiques
They excavated
and found all sorts of things
but today, surveillance is very strict
there are search-lights,
they're very precise
there are patrols at night
who arrest every prowler
and shoot at those
who are likely to excavate
So the old methods are finished
today, they all want to live here
the visitors say "what a marvel"
the houses and the village are beautiful
there's plenty of water,
whereas over there, they had neither water nor even a door
# oh man of grapes
# my shirt comes from Suez
my underpants come from Suez
# Attention, my stomach,
oh man of grapes
# oh seller of grapes
# my stomach
# don't make me abort
when I'm with child
# his name will be Abdel Samed.
He'll go to school
These habitations are comfortable
but their only fault is
that most of them are very dark
the inhabitants are farmers
they're dealing with breeding
Well, the house consists of a living room
and of bedrooms
there's no place for the animals
at night, people are forced
to leave the animals outside
Hassan Fathi,
could he be the ideal architect for the poor peasants?
anyway, his experience has taught us
that it's the architect who has most to learn from the peasant,
and not vice-versa
in his architectural research
Hassan Fathi has striven to liberate the Egyptian peasant
from a dependance on materials and a technique
foreign to his environment
to his culture
and to his rythm of living
he has thus laboured in the sense
of an autonomy of the Egyptian peasant
and for the safe-guarding of his heritage
but the autonomy of the peasant,
isn't it itself the tributary for the countryside's dependance of the city
or the periphery's to the centre?
Kom-Ombo
the intervention of the exterior: incoherence
Arab enterprises
Osman A. Osman
in '33, Nubia was inundated for the 2nd time
the government gave as compensation for damages
to the Nubians only 750 pounds
all together
and they rebuilt in a single year
the entire region
I think 43 villages
in a single year
but each new village has its cachet,
its character
and each house is more beautiful than its neighbour
never has anything equal been done
it was a miracle
in our century,
but nobody noticed it
we built half of those houses
in '65
for 28 million pounds
under the so-called modern system
using reinforced concrete,
and those houses aren't habitable at all
Kom-Ombo: several villages built at a distance from the Nile
for the population
chased from Lower Nubia
because of the inondation
caused by construction of the Assouan hydro-dam in 1956
an inhabitant explains:
we came here, to this place
known only by God
our ancestors didn't live here,
our children won't live here
we don't know where we are
there's vermin,
sickness
nothing compared to the harvest,
the produce in our old place
a farm used to cultivate
60 different kinds of grain
all sorts of harvests
here, there's nothing but the wind
sweeping over us
now we all go to the hospital
we get injections
in our old place,
there were neither injections nor doctors
our doctor, that was a root
we chewed
in our old place,
our houses were very beautiful
and the wind agreeable
we could build our houses as we liked
the chicken run on one side,
the kitchen on another
the salon separate
the bedrooms separate
here, we're squeezed into three rooms,
like in a hen-house
as to the property,
I myself have been a land owner
since 14 years,
2 plots of land
they told us: "for one plot over there
you'll get one plot here"
"for one house over there,
you'll get one house here"
we came here and nothing!
neither plots of land, nor houses
it was just charlatanism
God shall judge them
This here is stone, true
but the houses in our old place
were made of bricks
half of stone,
half of solid bricks
the roof shaped like a vault
like the cuppola of a mausoleum
- forgive the comparison -
so when it rained
nothing bad could happen:
the water just ran down the walls
whereas here, the rain water stagnates
and stays on the roof
before, we could sleep peacefully
now life has become dreadful
- conclusion?
- what conclusion? there isn't one!
as long as you can move your tongue,
you'll have speech
a bird settled on a rock in the sea
a wave came,
it flew up, then it settled down again
You. Bedouin.
perpetual migrator
equip yourself
before you start out for the great desert
with a drop of water.
Muzaffar Al-Nawab
[Iraqi poet, born 1934]
Engl. subtitles: serdar202@KG 2017
to be with the poor
on some reflections and experiences
of the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathi
Among so-called contemporary things
very little merits to endure into old age.
the least expensive architecture,
economically speaking
isn't the the architecture
that is poorest in art
each material has its own specific demands
mud, wood
marble, stone
cannot be classified
along an esthetic hierarchy
one must begin by building
with local materials
and not stubbornly insist
on importing them
otherwise one would only enrich
the globally dominant players.
songs: Sayd Darwich,
Cheikh Imam, Hassan Abouleila
sung by Leila Chahid,
Hadi Guella
Change is implicit, it's a sign of life;
and if it's not for the better, it's for the worse,
and each plan must be executed for the better.
The poor countries depend on the rich countries.
Thus, for their development,
they find themselves torn between occidental modernism
and a modernity, dominated by national values,
based on a scientific spirit
and a real trust in the people's potential.
Egypt, Arab country of the "Third World",
illustrates very well this contradiction.
With her prestigious heritage of more than 5000 years of civilization
and her actual political situation. HASSAN FATHI
In the domain of architecture and urbanism,
Hassan FATHI, Arab Egyptian architect, born with the century,
has been able to define clearly this contradiction.
Of the two roads,
he chose the road of Arab Modernity.
This is the traditional Fatimid Cairo
extending before you
horizontally, with minarets jutting,
aspiring towards the Divine
and the citys joins Heaven
with the appeal "God is great"
on the other hand, over there,
the modern city
congested and confused,
which joins Heaven with what?
with offices,
dining rooms
and bathrooms.
Hassan Fathi,
who are you?
I'm an architect
who has lost all points of reference
in his Arab society
I'm an Arab architect
who has lost all points of reference
in his Arab society
who has lost his "Arabness"
and I'm in the process of
searching anew in architecture and urbanism,
to find again, to regain
my lost "Arabness"
Hassan Fathi,
how did you arrive at architecture?
When I think back
it now seems to have been a predestination
because when I left my secondary school
I thought of entering the Agricultural School
I used to love the countryside,
and I still do
and I chose the Agricultural School
thinking I'd live in the country,
next to nature
nothing that shocks,
everything beautiful, God's creations
which are all beautiful,
a landscape, the mountains,
the trees, the clouds, everything
in perfect harmony
thank you
Thank you, Osmane.
but
unfortunately or not,
I wasn't admitted into the school
because there was an entry examn
and so I enrolled
at the Polytechnic School
and there I chose architecture
You're living in an Arab house right now.
Have you lived in other houses besides, in Cairo?
I've lived in different houses
in Cairo and surroundings.
But I admit that I didn't feel much at ease in those houses,
as I do in this Arab house.
Because here the void expresses itself,
the void isn't just an empty space.
A habitation is nothing else
but an ensemble of empty volumes, separated by walls.
The empty spaces of an Arab house
correspond to man's desires.
They harmonize with the shapes
and spaces to which man aspires.
That's why I feel totally at ease here,
much more than in any other house.
In an Arab house each room is given
its appropriate dimensions: height, length, width etc.
because this is a question of a certain rythmn.
When I enter a room and find that its height
doesn't correspond with its width, say,
when the ceiling is lower,
as we can see in many of today's houses,
each time I look at it
I have the impulse to push it up,
because it seems to fall down on my head.
I push it up, it comes down again,
I push it up, and I'm suffering,
psychologically speaking,
without knowing, unconsciously.
The Arab house is introvert.
And as soon as you enter an Arab house,
with its angular entrance
one is entirely cut off from the city.
(Sayed Darwish) I fell in love,
and now I am done for.
Do not blame one who mourns.
I fell in love,
and now I am done for.
Do not blame one who mourns.
The 3 functions of the window
1. to let the light enter
then the air,
and finally, to be able to look outside
those functions,
in Europe they're combined in the window.
Whereas in the Arab house,
the three functions
are separate from each other
ventilation, the movement of air,
this is obtained with the malqaf (wind-catcher)
and also with the mashrabiya.
Our love has no equal, even in dreams.
Thermic comfort depends also on the movement of air
the more you can have of an air draught inside
the better
but when you have great apertures
and if you allow hot air to enter,
and you'll also get the reverberation
the reflection from the other buildings
which let the heat enter
so the solution is
to put up the mashrabiya,
even over the entire façade of the room
you'll have augmented the ventilated surface
and you have wood, an organic fibre
has a hydrometric value
and absorbs humidity
the air passes first
and will be de-hymidified
and the absorption of the air's humidity
at the same time,
it re-evaporates
with the movement of air, it works against the heat
also, it tames the light
it distributes the luminosity around
in such a way
so that the contrast between dark and light
isn't very great.
The resolved this problem in an extraordinary fashion in the House of Suhaymi
where you have a mashrabiya
covering the entire façade of the room
looking out onto the garden
Our love has no equal, even in dreams.
I love her, even when we quarrel.
concerning thermic comfort
with movement of air
Ever since antiquity we have examples
of capturing air, the malqafs
in the tomb of Nebamun
there's a drawing of Nebamun's house
that has a double malqaf
one directed towards North
from where the wind blows
and the other one to evacuate it
this system has been employed by everybody
with the malqaf you have today a practical problem
because the surface of a malqaf is minimal
compared to the surface of the entire house
which obstructs the wind for another building
so you have things buried
like the minaret here
and that works much better
but an interesting thing:
you'll find the surface of the malqaf
differs in different countries
here we have it big,
in Egypt
because the air temperature at the higher levels
is much less than close to the ground
it might differ by 10 degrees
keeping its freshness
but in Iraq the air temperature,
even at higher levels, is immense
you might have 45° C
and if you have a malqaf to get some air
you're about to let in hot air, and that isn't a good idea
so they make their malqafs very small,
very narrow
like an organic exchange
take, for instance, the Africans
the temperature is about 37° C
and the humidity is great
it's like their body temperature,
that's why they have large nostrils
whereas in Europe,
if you let air enter
to the same extent as in Africa,
you'll get bronchitis at once
because the air is minus 2° C
and that's why people in Europe
have smaller nostrils
Our love has no equal,
most Arab houses, aristocratic and bourgeois,
degrade themselves
only a few have been restored
and are open to the public, as museums
admired by the tourists,
they are ignored by the people
the inhabitant of the quarter
walks past these constructions
without even suspecting their existence.
but it's here where he could discover
the riches of his heritage
1889: opening of the Suez Canal
From then on the Khedive Ismail inaugurates
the era of hegemony of the Occident
Cairo becomes a copy of a European city
The British Embassy
Hotel Parliament
From then on, national power
is seconded by colonial power
a French mansion
in classical style
Neo-Renaissance,
Italian style
a villa of the Garden City
the Post Office
there is one point one must mention:
when people turned towards the West
we became Europeanized
and when they drew up the new plan of Cairo
at the beginning of the century
they drew the plan of the new Cairo
as if it were a plan for the underground, the métro
and the city which continues to spread out towards the West
whereas it should normally
spread out towards the North and the East
it's as if somebody had a stiff neck at the time
aspects of modern Cairo
the Rihani troupe:
Mignonne doesn't play with fire
today you have air condition
air condition demands very narrow rooms
very low ceilings
and when it's out of order
one suffocates inside
modern buildings, like asphalt roads
they are covered with tarmac,
that's part of the car industry
Arab enterprises: Osman Ahmad Osman
today one builds on purpose rooms with low ceilings
and narrow rooms
because architecture has joined ranks
with the air condition industry
because we must, with our monetary system,
pay for everything, even for air
they make us pay for water,
they make us pay for air
not everybody has the money to pay,
but the untouchables,
economically speaking untouchables,
who suffer with every new invention
and it's the rich minorities who benefit
and the masses suffer all the more
and the gap between the rich and the poor
is about to widen, instead of closing in
I've never seen
a single building
designed and constructed by a European in the Orient
which can be considered accomplished, in the Orient
not a single one
and the same thing applies for us too,
if I were asked to construct a building in Switzerland
my rythm is very different
from the rythm of a Swiss
one must understand those things
those gentlemen, they are called for:
Le Corbusier for Chandigarh, Louis Kahn for Dacca
so there's no longer the tradition
which conserves the esthetic values
and the functional values
today, that is lost
one must replace it by discrimination,
and know-how
but that know-how is denied,
even to our local architects
because they've cut themselves off
from their tradition
and the knowledge they might have
through their heritage
they depend solely on the Occident
where they went to university
Two modern Cairos
a modern Cairo which is rich
a modern Cairo which is poor
# the flowers of the garden have grown
# they give off different perfumes
# yet, the plants grow from a single soil
# and the sown grains are watered with the same water
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished
# I'm astonished how two branches
# born of the same shoot
# one of them crawls down and buries itself
# and the other one raises itself
and spreads out
the people themselves
decide on their sacred space
the Mosque of Ibn Tulun
masterpiece of equilibrum and rythm
and rich in symbols
that mosque dating from the 9th century
is still intact
and yet, it's abandoned
# God, the living
# the supporter
# the creator
# the all-powerful
# the all-knowing
# the just
# the merciful
the Mosque of Sayyid Al-Husseyin, contemporary
imitation of neo-gothic
and build on the public square
here, the bad architectural taste
annihilates the sacred function of the place
the faithful arrive in masses
and aren't bothered by esthetics
# call to prayer
# God is greatest
# there is only one God
# the unique, the great, the living
# may God grant the praying man's wishes
# God is greatest
# God is greatest
# in the name of God,
the lenient, the merciful,
# praised be God,
master of the resurrection
# who loves the Prophet
and has faith
# who is generous towards the weak
# blessed are they who love the Prophet
# blessed are they
who are generous towards the weak
only 15 piastres, brother
the most beautiful gifts
from the Prophet's quarter
10 piastres, little one
attention!
3 piastres, that's enough
# support us,
oh messenger from God
# oh our lord Husseyin
aspects of the old city of Cairo
the dilapidated aspect of the old Cairo
doesn't date from today
it's due to a secular mentality
which abhorrs restoration
that mentality prepares the terrain
for the HLM (cheap rent apartment buildings)
response of the inhabitants
my child is dead
stung by beasts
people have fallen
they have brought down the mosque
upon our heads
- the mosque?
- yes, this is a mosque
Here we sit, abandoned
and it's freezing outside
we have babies
but we're crying out loud in the desert
there are many empty buildings,
but we must live in the streets
- and the Imam?
- he keeps silent. he's afraid.
we are numerous
- what did you do?
- we forced in the entrance door
if he had opposed us
we would have struck him down.
- why did you chose this mosque?
- it's in our quarter
each occupies his own mosque.
one doesn't invade elsewhere the mosque of others
Any mosque or medrese in your quarter:
occupy them!
Yes. the Socialist Union told us so.
Newspapers and magazines
took our photographs
when we did our washing
we've been living here for a year now
- How many are you?
- 22 families
# why, oh violet,
do you marvel?
# since you're a sad flower
the village installing itself on the city's roofs
the logical answer of the peasant
who came to look for work in a city of 7 million inhabitants
which can only give shelter for 3 million
a shelter is as necessary to man
as a shell is to an egg
thus, the wild occupation of space
becomes a vital necessity
one settles down where one can
one requsitions
and one moves house,
even if necessary, to the cemetry, to live there
here, in the city of the dead
it is here, among the rich mausoleums of the Sultans
and the modest tombs of the common man
that a population of several tens of thousands finds refuge
these are the inhabitants of the necropolis
thrown at the desert's doorstep
In Egypt, there's always behind the cemetery
the desert
one has always pretended
that Egypt was a gift from the Nile
one must rectify this:
Egypt is a gift from the peasant of the Nile
he's the principal driving engine of the country
guardian of the traditions,
he also holds the secret of the thousand-year heritage
the rural architecture
Since ages, the Niles has served as means of communication
between the Lower and Upper Egypt
the products of industry,
one must aquire them with money
one enters the monetary system
but money doesn't exist
with most of the people
the annual per-capita income in the Third World
varies between 20 et 30 pounds
and those are the people
we want to serve
and for whom we want to construct homes,
they are your clients, Mister Architect
if those gentlemen ...
would continue to live in the ancient system
they would be able to help each other
but they've cut themselves off from the benefices
of the traditional co-operative system
and at the same time they have no money
and I call them the untouchables, economically speaking
this is what we must bear in mind
and the architect, and the engineer
must subjugate technology and modern sciences
in the service of those poor devils
anyway, they aren't at all
customers for the products of industry
and the secret of the success
of the traditional co-operative system is this:
one man cannot construct a house
but 100 men can easily construct 100 houses
an example: there's a village called Jennah
at the Kharga Oasis
that village was submerged by moving sands.
the mayor of that villages showed me
his buried village
and the new village they built themselves
They all went to live in the new village
except a single house
where an old man lived who cherished his house,
he didn't want to leave with the others
even though half of his house was submerged,
he was left with two rooms
so I asked him:
"Mr. Mayor, what can one do,
that poor man will be buried with his two rooms soon"
"don't worry, we've already built him his own house over here"
when there's the tradition of co-operation
even without the guy asking for it
they took him into consideration
but if ever they introduced the monetary system
nobody would have looked him in the face
those poor peasants,
what they built for themselves
doesn't that have a monetary value?
they have satisfied all their needs
in their habitations,
without circulation a penny among them
what are we doing to ourselves, I wonder
when one has this potential
but doen't use it
and for the Third World, believe me,
there is no hope at all
except to go back
and modernize the traditional co-operative system
and to revive it today
under non-traditional conditions
which rule the contemporary society
daybreak on the Nile
life is resumed
the same as 5000 years ago
the child at his birth
already finds this water wheel
How old are you?
I? 50 ... 55 ...,
say, 60 years old
and this wheel?
Before my father was born,
it was already here.
- the same wood
- yes, the same
- what material
- sycamore
- who's the owner of the wheel?
- the collective
5. 6. 7. 8. associates:
every associate has a share
according to the surface he cultivates.
to solve a problem of habitation,
you need architects
who know how to design
using local materials
which the people can obtain without spending money
and then, one must use artisans, masons
carpenters, the other professions
who can handle those materials
and you need engineers too
who can assure us
the safety in the empoy of those materials
by subjecting them to the rules of modern science
like soil mechanics
which can give us all the qualities
physical and chemical
and mechanical
of the earth and raw mud
what each poor man could obtain
since the earth
it's beneath everybody's feet
we know the thermic qualities of all the materials
you know that the raw brick
is the best isolator
for two reasons:
the transfer of heat in those materials is 0,34
meaning, if you have on the surface here
10 kalories, a unit of 0,34 would traverse
whereas with cement,
the conductivity is 0,9
the thickness is minimal.
you augment the conductivity
from the outside to the inside by 9
you see, God is on the side of the poor
an 8th century Fatimide cemetery
the raw bricks still withstands
Upper Egypt
the ecological coherence
is the result of the peasant's experience
it's the same everywhere
water precedes cultivation
which precedes habitation
which precedes the cemetery
which precedes the desert
which opens toward the sky
never has the peasant disturbed that harmony
today, the intervention of the city architect
destroys that coherence
water
cultivation
habitation
the cemetary
the desert
the sky
Gharb Assouan
village constructed by the people:
coherence
# when the sun will have darkened
# when the stars will be tarnished
# when the mountains will move
# when the female camels full with milk
will be let lose
# when the beasts of prey will gather in groups
# when the seas will boil over
# when the souls will couple
Gharb Assouan,
village of Lower Nubia
extending over 12 km along the Nile
fresh shadow precedes the habitation
to the question asked of the population
we were answered
this house was built 35 years ago.
It's very well preserved.
on the other hand, the reinforced concrete buildings
which have cost thousands of Egyptian pounds
became cracked,
and have many deficiencies
so our brick is better than concrete
the rooms which we call "Kaboui"
are always open towards the South
and closed against the North
with just small windows for ventilation
the "mandaras", oriented towards the North
have apertures that are 6-7 m high
and are as wide as a door
those are the summer rooms.
totally open
the village of Abou Riche
open towards the North,
closed against the South
a courtyard leading to another courtyard
leading to the public square
one is lost
between the inside and the outside
at the end of the holidays
the new school year begins
the children go to school,
happy and content
friends reunite.
every pupil greets his friends
they tell each other
what they did in the holidays
and the school day begins
we line up
and the flag is raised.
we salute it and enter our classrooms
the school is the only concrete building
in the village
the start of the new school year,
lining up in the schoolyard,
saluting the flag
would it be wrong to say that concrete
brings along an entire mental structure
Gourna: experience of Hassan Fathi
intervention of the architect in the service of the poor
our problem with the habitation of the poor
it isn't the walls,
a wall, everyone can build it with raw bricks,
with anything, earth
with stones, anything.
but it's the roofing.
because roofing demands materials which can bear tensions,
that can bend with pressure
like wood, iron etc.
but those materials
can only be acquired with money today
but the ancients have solved the problem
once can make the ceiling, the roof,
not with those costly materials,
but give it resistance
by the geometrical form,
and not by the materials
because there are curves which are called "enchainette"
if you hold a chain like this
the rings pull on each other
and work entirely by tension
if you reverse it,
put the thing on top, instead of suspending it,
if can manage
each element will work in compression
you just change the tension to compression
the raw brick can take compression,
but it cannot take tension
and thus the ancients have solved,
since antiquity, we have examples since the 4th dynasty
the Colossi of Memnon
the port of ancient Thebes
separates the two villages of Gourna
the old Gourna covers 10 km
of the important archeological sites
The Valley of the Kings
and the Valley of the Queens
the new Gourna
built by Hassan Fathi in 1948
on arable land,
to re-settle the inhabitants of the old Gourna
the village has been flooded three times
by men unknown
all the same, it resisted
at the moment, it's fully inhabited
for its construction
Hassan Fathi has employed all his techniques and ideas
using local materials
he has undertaken to modernize the traditional
to satisfy the real needs of the peasants
without asking for help from outside
the mosque of Gharb Aswan.
the one of old Gourna
the one of new Gourna
it's in tradition
that the architect looks for his models
in repetition
he invents
it's the curse of the Pharaos
which mysteriously caused the inhabited buildings to burst
Hassan Fathi explains:
if I haven't succeeded at Gourna
it's because it was a very special project
it wasn't for a rural society
that needed habitation
those people were living on looting and raiding
and in each house
where there were one to three tombs
Pharaonic
what Hassan Fatih considers as failure
is simply the intervention of the peasant inhabitant
who readjusted according to his needs
his inhabited space
the local materials used
permitted adjustments at leisure
Thank God, I've been able to, after all,
despite my practical failures
but I've obtained results
almost certain
certain about many directions, many things
for example, the formation of masons
one master-builder has formed 46 boys
who used to beg in the street
and they became master-builders within 3 months
and once they realized ...
today a mason earns 2-4 pounds a day
they've trained among themselves,
and they've become 80
I'm Hassan Mohamad, mason
We used to work with Hassan Fathi
in the model village
We started out as apprentices
of the master-builders.
then we learned the trade
and we became master-builders
the masons of Nubia and Mahamid
have taught me the trade
While building with them
Later I've built on my own
exactly like any other mason
Those men, like father like son,
used to deal with antiques
They excavated
and found all sorts of things
but today, surveillance is very strict
there are search-lights,
they're very precise
there are patrols at night
who arrest every prowler
and shoot at those
who are likely to excavate
So the old methods are finished
today, they all want to live here
the visitors say "what a marvel"
the houses and the village are beautiful
there's plenty of water,
whereas over there, they had neither water nor even a door
# oh man of grapes
# my shirt comes from Suez
my underpants come from Suez
# Attention, my stomach,
oh man of grapes
# oh seller of grapes
# my stomach
# don't make me abort
when I'm with child
# his name will be Abdel Samed.
He'll go to school
These habitations are comfortable
but their only fault is
that most of them are very dark
the inhabitants are farmers
they're dealing with breeding
Well, the house consists of a living room
and of bedrooms
there's no place for the animals
at night, people are forced
to leave the animals outside
Hassan Fathi,
could he be the ideal architect for the poor peasants?
anyway, his experience has taught us
that it's the architect who has most to learn from the peasant,
and not vice-versa
in his architectural research
Hassan Fathi has striven to liberate the Egyptian peasant
from a dependance on materials and a technique
foreign to his environment
to his culture
and to his rythm of living
he has thus laboured in the sense
of an autonomy of the Egyptian peasant
and for the safe-guarding of his heritage
but the autonomy of the peasant,
isn't it itself the tributary for the countryside's dependance of the city
or the periphery's to the centre?
Kom-Ombo
the intervention of the exterior: incoherence
Arab enterprises
Osman A. Osman
in '33, Nubia was inundated for the 2nd time
the government gave as compensation for damages
to the Nubians only 750 pounds
all together
and they rebuilt in a single year
the entire region
I think 43 villages
in a single year
but each new village has its cachet,
its character
and each house is more beautiful than its neighbour
never has anything equal been done
it was a miracle
in our century,
but nobody noticed it
we built half of those houses
in '65
for 28 million pounds
under the so-called modern system
using reinforced concrete,
and those houses aren't habitable at all
Kom-Ombo: several villages built at a distance from the Nile
for the population
chased from Lower Nubia
because of the inondation
caused by construction of the Assouan hydro-dam in 1956
an inhabitant explains:
we came here, to this place
known only by God
our ancestors didn't live here,
our children won't live here
we don't know where we are
there's vermin,
sickness
nothing compared to the harvest,
the produce in our old place
a farm used to cultivate
60 different kinds of grain
all sorts of harvests
here, there's nothing but the wind
sweeping over us
now we all go to the hospital
we get injections
in our old place,
there were neither injections nor doctors
our doctor, that was a root
we chewed
in our old place,
our houses were very beautiful
and the wind agreeable
we could build our houses as we liked
the chicken run on one side,
the kitchen on another
the salon separate
the bedrooms separate
here, we're squeezed into three rooms,
like in a hen-house
as to the property,
I myself have been a land owner
since 14 years,
2 plots of land
they told us: "for one plot over there
you'll get one plot here"
"for one house over there,
you'll get one house here"
we came here and nothing!
neither plots of land, nor houses
it was just charlatanism
God shall judge them
This here is stone, true
but the houses in our old place
were made of bricks
half of stone,
half of solid bricks
the roof shaped like a vault
like the cuppola of a mausoleum
- forgive the comparison -
so when it rained
nothing bad could happen:
the water just ran down the walls
whereas here, the rain water stagnates
and stays on the roof
before, we could sleep peacefully
now life has become dreadful
- conclusion?
- what conclusion? there isn't one!
as long as you can move your tongue,
you'll have speech
a bird settled on a rock in the sea
a wave came,
it flew up, then it settled down again
You. Bedouin.
perpetual migrator
equip yourself
before you start out for the great desert
with a drop of water.
Muzaffar Al-Nawab
[Iraqi poet, born 1934]
Engl. subtitles: serdar202@KG 2017