Today has been quite relaxing diving, catching up on readings, sketching, and even meeting and having a lengthy discussion about architecture with another architect that works in Poland.
In addition to readings about Islamic architecture in Cairo, I have really gotten into “Architecture for the Poor” by Hassan Fathy. It is a very easy to read book describing Fathy’s plan for building the new village of Gourna. Luxor, Egypt without using modern methods and materials such as the steel and concrete we so often see. It’s quite funny how us architects bond instantly upon meeting and start to talk about the built environment we are currently in at that moment.
Within the first 3 minutes, we instantly bonded with a discussion of a large and very tall man made palm tree and how it seems so out of place. The bonding continued to complaining about the long hours we put in and then to a more interesting topic, a comparison of architectural sites we have visited and explored, talking about our favorites and not so favorites.
I really miss working in architecture and cannot wait to start stimulating my creative side more when I return. All the empty unfinished concrete buildings here are giving me a headache.
It seems that here it is easier and less expensive to just abandon the buildings if there is no money to finish it. I can’t help but point out the code violations to my new ever so patient non architect friends I’ve met here.
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