مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014 (ص 28)

غرض

عنوان

مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014 (ص 28)

المحتوى

From 2000 on, glimpses
of current trends
Dr. Khaled Asfour
Since 2000, the Egyptian economy has fluctuated dramatically.
From 2000 to approximately 2005 the economy's performance
was sluggish; from 2005 it improved, reaching its peak in 2008,
until the global recession caused a local slowdown during the next
few years. From 2011 until the present day, the political uprising has
caused dramatic economic decline. The combination of the dramatic
fluctuation coupled with the energy crisis has led to disillusionment
amongst architects on the issue of local identity versus modernity.
Architects increasingly look for real value behind design; as such they
no longer add components on the facade or sculpt forms so as to give
an “en vogue" impression, nor are they interested in superficial classi-
cal image making. Instead, architects seek green measures that offer
pleasant living while saving on energy. The following projects show
how this change of mood has started to materialize. They show new
trends that will further strengthen in the coming few years.
The Four Seasons Resort (Sharm El-Sheikh, 2002) redefines
local understanding on how to landscape a five-star resort yet main-
tain sustainable measures. Despite hilly terrain, Tarek Beshir planted
2,400 palms and 1,200 trees stretching over nine hectares in order
to create an oasis-like environment that offers a comfortable micro-
climate for its visitors. Contrary to local norms, only 20 percent of the
green area is covered by grass, the rest is groundcover, thus reducing
significantly the use of irrigation water.
Sustainable identity rather than pastiche was a key issue in
Al-Azhar Park, designed by Maher Stino (Cairo, 2004). Everywhere
in the thirty-hectare garden, visitors appreciate the open modern
courts as outdoor living rooms under tree canopies, The design of the
garden and its proximity to historic Cairo, put visitors into direct con-
tact with nature while nourishing simultaneously their strong sense
of heritage and feeling of contemporaneity.
Reviving heritage took a new trend with Emad Farid and Ramez
Azmi who built Albabenshal Hotel in the eight hundred-year old set-
tlement of Shali (Siwa Oasis, 2005). They adapted five old houses
to become a hotel of fourteen rooms around a courtyard. Everywhere
in the hotel, visitors might notice the gradual fading of its walls in the
midst of demolished Shali houses. Such blending encouraged local
inhabitants to revive their lost traditions as they saw the economic
rewards of the hotel's approach.
Anew attitude towards mixing climatically valid traditions is evi-
dent in Mohamed Awad’s work. He practiced the symbiosis of various
Mediterranean traditions in the design of the Fahmy villa (Alexandria,
2007). On the right side, heavy piers stacked together with cascad-
ing rooftops recall the temple of Hatshepsut. On the left side, the
vaulted roof recalls the Roman building tradition. In between is a
modern Mediterranean courtyard mediating between the two tradi-
tions of sustainable Alexandrian architecture. Behind the courtyard
is areception that has a double skin roof to achieve better ventilation
and soft illumination for indoor living.
Apioneering work by Abdel Halim Abdel Halim and Sasaki Associates
focused on creating an environmental plan for a campus that reduces
the energy load by 40 percent. They believed in modifying the micro-
climate in the new campus of the American University (Cairo, 2008)
by connecting variable sized courtyards through corridors so as to
induce favorable air currents inside spaces. This was practiced in
Abdel Halim’s design for the Humanities and Social Science Building
where multiple interlinked court designs foster AUC's liberal art
education. In this philosophy, free exchange of knowledge across
various departments of the school suggests different modes of gath-
ering. Interlinked courts with various patterns of light and shadow
encourage students to step outside classrooms and interact, moving
seamlessly from one department to another.
Legorreta's concern was to capture contemporary student lifestyle
by using an historic model, as seen by his design for student housing
in the American University (Cairo, 2008). He grouped apartments
using the morphology of medieval cities where large public spaces
mushroom into smaller ones. This gradual transition is agreeable with
students living on campus since it encourages social clusters whilst
retaining territorial privacy. Students living there prefer these smaller
spaces filled with intimacy and friendship. Legorreta understood this
tendency and added extra living rooms at the ground level overlooking
these smaller spaces so as to foster a familial atmosphere.
Educating local communities to reconnect with their traditions
without losing their modernist aspirations was a basic agenda
for Ramses Nosshi who built a Visitors Center in Wadi El Gemal
National Reserve (Marsa Alam, 2009). Local practice avoids using
traditional construction materials in favor of foreign unsustainable
ones, because of the modernity associated with the latter. With a
nod to both the traditional and to the modern, Nosshi made the bulk
of the building of bearing stone walls and columns, and the roof of
modular palm midrib panels, with a second roof on top composed
of corrugated metal sheets. This mixture of modern and local materi-
als inspired local people because they came to the realization that
the modern component not only projects a desirable image but also
improves the environmental quality due to the double roof system.
The design of the Pyramid Villa (Giza, under construction) by
Shahira Fahmy rejects the stagnant modernism offered by the rigid
villa formula. The site directly overlooks the Pyramids and this gave
Fahmy ideas for an unconventional layout. The formal reception is on
the upper floor rather than the ground in order to enjoy the spectacu-
lar view from above. The house splits into two volumes so that the
left volume containing the formal reception room can slightly rotate
so as to capture the exact view. Another unconventional solution is
the ramp which leads up to the formal reception, thus celebrating the
processional route leading to the view of the Pyramids.
Going for LEED certification is a concern in Egyptian architec-
tural practice that materialized during the last 3 years. The Egyptian
Consultant Group (ECG) together with Credit Agricole had the vision
to design headquarters (Cairo, under construction) with a serious
sustainable design. The bank is a strong advocator of “green bank-
ing" and supports renewable energy and energy saving projects. The
Bank's Headquarters in Cairo has a double skin fagade with a slim
U-shaped layout insuring good daylight and view. There is 30 percent
more fresh air intake than standard requirements. There are sensors
that monitor indoor levels of CO2, and others that monitor the num-
ber of occupants to manage air volume and light. Cooling depends
on absorption chillers that consume 30 instead of conventional
700 watt/hour. With these specifications, energy saving reached
sixty percent reduction in load. It is therefore not surprising that the
building is on its way to becoming the first platinum LEED certificate
holder in Egypt.
Arata Isozaki’s design of Egypt-Japan University for Science and
Technology (Alexandria, under construction) handles the issues of
environmental ethics and a strong visual presence aimed at educating
the public. He covered the campus with a 550 > 500 meter roof using
a technological membrane that is composed of photovoltaic cells,
movable sunshades, and permeable filters. A bold educational philos-
ophy lies under this bold roof redesign. The whole layout is a mixture
of academic buildings with student dormitories. This brings more life
and productivity to the campus as it depicts the vitality of Egyptian
street culture rather than an idealized academic enclave.
Through these ten pioneering projects, Egyptian architectural
practices are responding to the current hardships they face. A lack of
basic economic needs, of reliable power supply, of foreign currency,
combined with high inflation, all contributed to clients prioritizing
value for money over ideals of image-making. In this case, landscape
that provides visual comfort while saving on water consumption is
preferred. Projects setting new standards are the ones that educate
the locals on the value of their traditional architecture and show
them how to make best use of it ina contemporary context. They are
achieving high professional practices by searching for LEED certi-
fication and proudly showing how little energy is consumed. They
revise standard modernist clichés in villa design in favor of designs
which are more responsive to the surrounding environment. They
capture modern social habits and fuse them with traditional ideas.
These are the projects that will set the trend for Egyptian practice
during the coming years.
من العام
‎tes‏ إلى الو
‏قت الرأهن, ملامج أتجاهات ‎Leo‏
‏صرة

هو جزء من

مختارات من عمارة العالم العربي 1914-2014

تاريخ

2014

المنشئ

جورج عربيد