Further reading
Afghan Vaulted Domes
Reviving Al Nazlah Center: Oriental Group Architects + Hamdy El-Setouhy
The Al-Nazlah Center is a project designed by Oriental Group Architects in collaboration with Hamdy El-Setouhy to revitalize the Al-Nazlah area in Fayoum, Egypt.
Where is Al-Nazlah in Fayoum ?
Fayoum is a region, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Cairo. It is situated in a natural depression within the Western Desert of Egypt and is connected to the Nile River through the Bahr Yussef canal, which makes the area fertile and suitable for agriculture.
Fayoum is known for its rich history and archaeological significance important region during ancient Egyptian times and later under Roman and Islamic rule. The area is home to several important historical sites, including:
-Lake Qarun, one of the oldest lakes in the world.
-Wadi El Rayan, a nature reserve with waterfalls and wildlife.
-The Fayoum Oasis, known for its ancient temples and ruins, such as the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile god.
Fayoum is also recognized for its traditional pottery-making, a craft that has been passed down through generations, especially in villages like Al-Nazlah, making it a cultural hub for Egyptian artisans.
Who is Hamdy El Setouhy?
Hamdy El-Setouhy is an Egyptian architect known for his work in sustainable and community-focused architecture. He emphasizes designs that integrate local culture, materials, and traditional building techniques while addressing contemporary challenges such as environmental sustainability and community development.
El-Setouhy has gained recognition for projects that aim to improve the quality of life in local communities through thoughtful and contextually appropriate architecture. His work often centers on promoting traditional craftsmanship and supporting local economies by incorporating artisanal skills into his designs. This is evident in projects like the Al-Nazlah Center, where he collaborates with artisans to create a space that celebrates local pottery-making traditions while also serving broader social and cultural functions.
What was the design approach of the project?
The architectural approach blends contemporary design with vernacular architecture. It utilizes local building materials and techniques, helping the structure harmonize with its environment. This approach also reduces the ecological footprint of the building by minimizing resource-intensive imports.
The renowned district is home to pottery workshops that have been crafting unique pots used in construction since the time of Ancient Egyptian Civilization. To preserve this traditional technique, modern advancements in construction were made, enhancing the bonding materials by adhering the pots together through lab-tested methods. Additionally, new forms of roofing construction were introduced, allowing the local community to expand their architectural possibilities by using pots to build domes and vaults, enabling wider spans.
How does it work?
The innovative use of the traditional pot as a construction material. Each pot has a 25 cm diameter, a clay thickness of 7 mm, and a hollow interior. By interlocking the pots, a continuous arch is formed, creating a strong load-bearing structure. The repetition and variation of these elements result in diverse spatial configurations and unique roofing designs. The project’s environmental sustainability is highlighted by its zero-waste construction process. Visitors experience an eco-friendly climate within the building, where internal temperatures remain comfortable and in harmony with the surrounding environment.
The geometrical patterns used in the roof construction allow diffused sunlight to enter the space, significantly reducing interior temperatures. This design strategy minimizes heat transfer compared to conventional reinforced concrete and mud brick methods. The project has revitalized a heritage craft by preserving a nearly extinct construction technique, incorporating it into a contemporary architectural expression. It invites visitors to explore aesthetic and spatial innovations while honoring the cultural legacy of the region.
Recognition and Awards:
The project has been awarded the second prize of the Baku International Architecture Award) in 2019, Category A, with the support of the UIA (Union of International Architects) for creating a sustainable environmental development nucleus that has many positive impacts on the whole region.
The project was nominated to receive the Aga-Khan Award in the last cycle of 2022. Also, it was shortlisted for the Arab Association Award for the last cycle of 2022. Several media coverages and academic field trips have drifted local and international attention to the village to explore the project’s potential.
Shimba: Manhattan of the Desert
Yemen is located on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and the city of Shibam is renowned for its densely packed mudbrick buildings. These high-rise structures were built in close proximity as a defensive measure against Bedouin raids.
Shibam’s buildings are multistory (up to 11 stories), and the city is considered one of the earliest examples of vertical urban planning. The towers range between 5 to 11 stories, made primarily of adobe bricks reinforced with wooden beams.
The city is enclosed by a protective wall, with two gates serving as entry points. The compact clusters of five- to eight-story buildings create a unique skyline, with some homes connected by elevated corridors. These corridors allow residents to move between houses quickly, providing a means to defend against attackers. 
The buildings feature wooden window frames set into mud-plastered walls, with many windows carved into elegant arches. While Shibam’s history dates back to the third century, most of the existing structures were built in the 16th century. Regular maintenance is required for these earthen buildings, as the walls must be replastered periodically to combat erosion from wind and rain. And the roofs and the exterior of the mud towers had sustained the most damage.
The bricks used in Shibam’s buildings gradually decrease in size on the upper floors, resulting in thinner walls as the structure rises and giving the buildings a trapezoidal shape. This design helps to reduce the load on the lower floors, enhancing the overall stability and strength of the buildings. Typically, each building is occupied by a single family, with living spaces located from the third floor upwards. The first and second floors are often designated for food storage and livestock stables, allowing families to keep cattle inside during periods when the town was under siege.
Citations:
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “Old Walled City of Shibam.” Accessed September 2024. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/192.
- Al Sayyad, Nezar. “The Architecture of Mud: Construction and Repair Technology in the Hadhramaut Region of Yemen.” Environmental Design: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre, 1988.
- Serageldin, Ismail. Traditional Architecture: Shibam and the Hadramut Region. London: Academy Editions, 1991.
- Alhussein, Redhwan, and Tetsuya Kusuda. “Performance and Response of Historical Earth Buildings to Flood Events in Wadi Hadramaut, Yemen.” Built Heritage, vol. 5, no. 1, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1186/s43238-021-00044-8. Accessed 23 September 2024.
- DaliySabath. “Shibam: Yemen’s ancient ‘Manhattan of the Desert'”. Agencies. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/shibam-mud-skyscraper-yemen. December 17, 2020.
Majara Residence
Iranian practice ZAV Architects drew on the colourful landscape of the island of Hormuz for this holiday community that is housed in around 200 brightly colored domes overlooking the Persian Gulf.
The project is a multitude of small-scale domes built with the superadobe technique of Nader Khalili, the innovative and simple technique using earth and sand packed into bags. Domes are familiar structures in the region. Their small scale makes them compatible with the building capabilities of local craftsmen and unskilled workers, which have been prepared for this project with previous smaller projects. Today they are trained master superadobe masons, as if Nader Khalili multiplied exponentially.
Shibam, Yemen
ShamsArd: With Dirt And A Vision
ShamsArd is a young Palestinian architecture firm that has designed several buildings constructed of dirt that respond to both the environmental climate (keeping the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter), and the political and economic climate. An Israeli company that exports the vast majority of cement used in the occupied Palestinian territories, suddenly stopped the supply for almost a month because of cement shortages in the Israeli market. A few months later, the price of cement sold to the Palestinians also increased, making alternative construction techniques, a beautiful design solution. It also responds to history as Jericho, the location of their most recent design, is home to the oldest earth building traditions in the world. Hear and read more about ShamsArd on National Public Radio and in an Al Jazeera article.
Afghan Refugee Housing
Rai Studio and Architecture for Humanity Tehran, in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council, have recently completed an adobe construction prototype intended for Afghan refugees living in Kerman, close to the centre of Iran.
Built in an Afghan Refugee Camp in Kerman, Iran, the 100 meter square meter domed shelter is comprised of approximately 6,000 mud bricks.
Pouya Khazaeli, principal of Rai Studio and architecture professor at Azad University, Tehran and Ghazvin, notes: “Social sustainability in design is our main focus area here. It means to study how these refugees live, communicate, the meaning of privacy in their live, which materials they prefer and use for construction, which kind of construction techniques they use themselves, how much they spend normally to construct their own shelters….”
Read more at Domus
Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna
Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna from Oliver Wilkins on Vimeo.
The village of New Gourna was designed and built in the 1940s by the Egyptian Architect Hassan Fathy. He pioneered the use of sustainable materials and environmentally friendly design to build housing for low income families who were being relocated from their original village at Old Gourna.
60 years later, many of the now historic New Gourna buildings have fallen into disrepair and others have disappeared or been changed beyond recognition. A project is underway to safeguard the site, and World Monuments Fund (WMF) commissioned us to produce a film presenting the perspective of the residents…
For more information about WMF’s work at New Gourna, see wmf.org/project/new-gourna-village
Revealing the Potential of Compressed Earth Blocks
Revealing the Potential of Compressed Earth Blocks—A Study in the Materiality of Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB): Lightness, Tactility, and Formability, by Egyptian architect Omar Rabie, documents explorations of the potential of CEB while studying at MIT, The Architectural Association and Auroville.
In these two experimental mock-ups, Rabie explored the different possibilities of bondings using one block—specifically how the shape of the single block influences the block bonding patterns in a stack bond and running bond.
This portion of a wall was built of specially formed interlocking blocks to increase friction to test how high friction masonry wall will highly resist lateral loads in comparison to walls constructed with standard blocks. In this case, the blocks are interlocked in the long direction of the wall. This experiment proved that it is possible to freely form more complex CEBs and build walls with an unusual bonds, like this strong zigzag bond.
Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation
The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation is a private independent organization, financially autonomous and accountable, registered at the Office of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Hadramut Branch with goal to:
Design of new projects including public and private buildings and extensions, based on sensitive, challenging architectural concepts and use of building materials
Assist with organic and industrial waste management
For more information visit The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation website.