Cities' Identity Through Architecture and Arts (original) (raw)
Architecture and Urbanism… A Smart Outlook
Book of Abstracts , 2019
Contemporary cities are characterised by the concentration of economic activities and intense human interactions. They continuously develop and transform, while impacting the Earth and reflecting the cultural choices adopted by successive generations. The International Conference “Architecture & Urbanism… A Smart Outlook” is hosted by the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, engaging renowned international keynote speakers from the fields of architecture and urban planning. As a prime location for solar and wind resources, Egypt would become a hub for hosting and exchanging innovative initiatives. The conference aims at addressing the challenges of unstoppable urbanization that gravely affect the world’s ecosystems. To become efficiently sustainable and regenerative, buildings and cities need to adopt smart solutions, which are instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. The conference discusses innovations of the built environment while depicting how such practices could transform future buildings and urban areas into places of higher value and quality. This book of abstracts consists of six tracks, namely: Smart Solutions; Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency; Regenerative Design; Inception and Evolution; Education; and People and Environment.
Architecture Re-Introduced: New Projects in Societies in Change, 2004
Salama, A. M. (2004). Contemporary Architecture in Egypt: Reflections on Architecture and Urbanism of the Nineties. In J. Abed (ed.), Architecture Re-Introduced: New Projects in Societies in Change. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland. PP. 80-101. ________________ At the end of the 20th century, and as we approach the beginning of the third millennium, a moment of reflection and contemplation is really needed. In the past decade there have been radical changes in architectural practices in Egypt. It has become common to observe that major shifts are occurring in the realms of architecture and urbanization. These shifts are dramatically changing the public face of Egyptian architecture. On the one hand, there have been changes that will definitely alter the role architects and planners can play. These are due to the emanation of new architectural services, complex building types and activities, and bilateral and multinational projects. It is evident that the profession in Egypt is being diffused into several new activities and roles. There emerge specialists in architectural programming, cost analysis/control, office and construction management, landscape architecture, client relations, research, real estate development and architectural marketing. On the other hand, we have witnessed more involvement of local architects and urban planners, together with international agencies, government, NGOs, and the private sector in urban development, historic preservation, and sustainable urban conservation projects. A wide range of innovative designs representing disparate trends can also be observed. Among these trends, movements toward green design and a more culturally and environmentally responsive architecture are implicitly and slowly dawning. Despite these honest attempts to tame architectural and urban development processes and the capacity of Egyptian architects to manage individual buildings, the overall built environment is increasingly mismanaged, and the process of architectural education has been slow to respond to these shifts. This chapter investigates the current status of architecture and urbanism in Egypt. It bases its argument on a survey of the recent developments in the field, linking these developments to socioeconomic contexts and the architectural trends in the nineties, and examining the role of different actors in these processes. The chapter relies heavily on presenting examples of projects that exemplify various architectural and design positions. Results of interviews with renowned Egyptian architects, and conclusions drawn from questioning architectural advertising in major newspapers are discussed and associated with the overall argument. The chapter ends with a conceptual vision for the future of architectural profession and the blinkered new paradigm. (This book is based on Regional Seminar organized by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) held in the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in November 1999).
In the recent decades, many approaches, trends, and visions had been introduced and applied for promoting and revitalizing cultural identity in the historic cities. The debates of interventions, policies, and implementation plans, are the essential community challenges. Most of strategies focused on local spines and main streets as the most priorities urban level for revitalizing action plans. Streetscape is an immediate vista of the city that people grasp and create the general image and identity of the city. A creative community vision can continuously evolve and embrace new ideas while balancing the inherent conflicting nature of past, present, and future community values and culture. Through this vision the paper adopts the streetscape redesign as an urban aspect to reinforce and embrace the cultural identity and urban character of the historic cities. The paper aims at analyzing the urban design principles for preserving and enhancing the local identity, uniqueness, and cultura...
Framing the Ancients: A Global Study in Archaeological and Historic Site Interpretation
Although rarely addressed in modern scholarship, over the last several decades, design implemented at archaeological and historic sites has become the organizing agent to present ancient cultures to the international public. Using topologies such as site museums, reconstructions, interpretive installation art, and comprehensive site planning, physical construction is now used to metaphorically guide visitors through the chronology and visual culture of a specific place while physically guiding them through the material remains. This dissertation examines the concepts of space, culture, and design and their junction as part of the overarching concept of “heritage interpretation.” Through a series of individual site studies, this document discusses how different types of intervention can affect visitor understanding, experience, and the interpretation of history and ancient cultures by the greater public. As a comprehensive study, the research examines what methods have been used and are currently being used to facilitate public engagement with ancient remains through design, specifically placing physical interpretations within an immersive theoretical and historical context. By utilizing a multi- disciplinary approach, the dissertation examines how the concepts of ancient art, cultural heritage, and modern construction interact at some of the most famous world historical sites, and how archaeological interpretation can affect a broader understanding of time, place, and culture.
Sustainable potentials and Limitations of Using Media Façades in Egypt
ARChive, 2019
Media Façade is expressed in many cities by providing new attractive city images. The term „Media Façade‟ is a façade that is functionally and aesthetically specific and thus it represents the integration of architecture, technology. This integration is applied to represent new form of modern art and communication (Haeusler et al., 2012). Implementing new technology such as " Media Façade "following the purpose of fashion trend or adding new stylistic feature without being well studied will cause a massive impact on architecture. This technology " Media Façade " started to be used in Egypt in various buildings with different functions. This paper will firstly illustrate what is Media Façade then state the social, cultural and environmental impacts of these techniques by analyzing local examples using SWOT analysis.
Preservation Laws: Saving Modern Egyptian Architectural Integrity
Resourceedings , 2019
Egyptian cities have witnessed a variety of impeccable architecture throughout centuries of civilization, which enriched the Egyptian society. Constantly rising to the discussion is a question of what constitutes value to architecture of different times. It is important to regard heritage conservation as a synthetic, complex topic that is open for interpretations and judgment. While some antiquities are protected by law, it is apparent how modern heritage is a matter of ambiguity when it comes to preservation and conservation efforts. Until the mid-19th century, architectural heritage was primarily concerned with the preservation of monumental architecture. Theorists like John Ruskin and Le-Duc were largely exploring the authentic expression of materials in architecture, establishing the foundation, that Cesare Brandi would later build on, that conservation authenticity is not limited to age, rather includes material, style and structure.It is appropriate to regard heritage buildings as capital assets, with a potential to raise fluxes of services over time. However, not only Cairo, but Egypt has been losing much of its valuable modern heritage; thus its identity in the process.This paper focuses on Egypt's modernist architecture, discussing the rise of modernism and its introduction to the Egyptian cultural scene while reflecting on the current cultural detachment from such heritage and the current tendency towards. It, also, explores the rise of Egyptian modernism as a national style that reflects social and economic prosperity, in contrast to its rise in the west primarily advocating minimalism, functionalism and social equality.In comparing Egyptian laws to international charters on heritage preservation; in particular modern heritage, case studies are used to explore the consequences. The research concludes by suggesting measures and acts that can, directly and indirectly, affect the decision-making process, as well as support efforts of preservation of Egypt's modern heritage.
THE ROLE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN SMART CITY CONTEXT
5th International Conference on New Trends in Architecture and Interior Design Istanbul/Turkey Published by the ICNTAD Secretariat , 2019
Smart cities promise solutions to sustainable development and a high quality of life (QoL) with a smart management of city resources, cultural heritage considered as an existing resource that should be protected, preserved and promoted to be a part of the components of a smart city, which is built on economic, tourist, and recreational aspects; heritage term can be transformed into smart heritage beside smart city strategies by using new technologies and generating innovation to create revolution in heritage cities. This paper will shed light on opportunities and strategies adopted by the smart cities in approving heritage in the smart city context. Analytical descriptive approach was adopted in addition to previous studies. The paper concluded that reaching smart heritage city is based on and it helps to create new and effective solutions, implementing information & communication technology (ICT) tools in the smart cultural heritage enable citizens to participate in making decisions as well, and creating open urban systems which is working on the principle of partnership.
International Journal of Cultural Policy, 2020
This study investigates the genealogy of rescaling the cultural armature of heritage in the Global South rooted within the colonial culture and postcolonial aid programs. Taking the case of historic Cairo, it explores how policies have developed through experimental practices of conservation to scale up authority, control, and power over residents and neighborhoods from the 19th century to the present. The paper theorizes two paradigmatic approaches of conservation practices—by aesthetics and development—which have expanded Cairo's inventory of monuments. The infatuation of heritage experts (the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe and Aga Khan Trust for Culture) with old neighborhoods has fostered accumulation by dispossession, disrupting people’s environments to generate a worlding image of heritage. The paper concludes with the metaphor of conservation practices as re-construction sites, as they repurpose the relationships between heritage, people, and their means of governmentality.
Archaeological landscapes are a growing world trend, initiated by the increasing commercialism of culture heritage. Recently, Egypt has seen major overdevelopment of historic sites, culminating in aesthetically oppressive urban spaces that force the relocation of local populations for the purpose of increasing revenue from associated archaeological sites. In an effort to accommodate more visitors, the Temples at Karnak and Edfu, have seen extensive overdevelopment to define new, urban archaeological "spaces," intended to the circulation flow of the site and accommodate more individuals. Each begun as part of a nationalistic movement to reclaim cultural patrimony, the construction of these landscapes resulted in the displacement of local and financially poor populations, at the expense of the poorly planned "public" areas, often featuring heat islands and desolate urban plazas. In some cases, the new spaces are not only unpleasant for visitors, but also environmentally detrimental to the ancient remains, creating problems with water seepage and pollution.
ARChive, 2019
Globalization contains new areas of research that still under development. Among these research is urban branding. It’s an alternative for countries to promote and rebuild their image in order to attract business and tourism. The public mental image is the first engine to, attract develop and improve the place in consumer mind. It is a catalyst picture of urban design and manufacture of urban branding. The paper will study Advertising Campaigns on the Egyptian cities that carries distinctive mental image of its urban (physical, cultural, social, economic and urban elements) at the whole city. The city contains urban elements those elements are not individual, but related to each other creating the city limits physically and symbolically.
Performance Evaluation of Wind Utilization in Persian Vernacular Architecture
Book of Abstracts for ICCAUA-2018, 2018
Due to increases in human population and in following increases on demanding the energy in any types and also after energy crisis in 1970s, finding ways in order to reduce usage of fossil fuels or decreasing destruction of forests getting extra importance. In other word, finding best ways in order to optimize the usage of the clean energies such as wind, solar and etc. is one of the first considerations in field of architecture. Studying and evaluating the utilization of the clean energies is not limited to contemporary architecture but also there are remarkable examples in vernacular architecture which can highlight the utilization of the clean energies for providing ventilation, cooling and etc. such as some parts of Iran. Iranian vernacular architecture is one of the considerable examples for getting benefit of clean energies. This study is evaluating performance of Persian vernacular architecture in terms of utilization of wind. In this manner it is tried to achieve brief review over Iran climatically regions which are effected by different types of wind, thus, it was a struggle to control and at the same time getting benefit of this clean source of energy. In this paper it has been tried to understand this problem, and pointing out the found solutions in order to provide comfort for users. To follow this goal, wind catchers (BADGIR) and mills which are two alternatives answers to this problem in Persian vernacular architecture were studied and evaluated more in details.
Approaches to the conservation of Islamic cities: the case of Cairo
This book examines in depth the conservation history of a pearl of Islamic built heritage, the historic city of Cairo, to offer guidelines for cultural heritage professionals and students. The author, Hossam Mahdy, a former ICCROM fellow, presents an alternative view of the relationship between Islam and heritage, asserting that is a tenet of every Muslim’s faith and outlook to hold a deep respect for heritage. The author’s nuanced conservation history of Cairo traces Western and Islamic views that over time have given rise to decision-making frameworks with varying effects on the local communities. The book offers approaches to understanding the complex reality in Islamic cities today and the different layers of meanings, factors and stakeholders, explaining why measures that have successfully worked in some contexts do not work in Cairo and other Islamic cities. In support of this, he applies a range of conservation theories to resolve the hypothetical conservation of a medieval Islamic gate structure in a modern city setting. The exercise is designed to help conservation specialists think through the possibilities for sites, in full awareness of the cultural and other assumptions that underlie those decisions. ISBN Number: 9789290772668
Proceedings of Science and Technology Prevailing Value System Based Context, Adaptive Reuse
Ierek’s International Conference “Conservation od Architectural Heritage (CAH), 2nd Edition 5-8 February 2018, Luxor and Aswan, Egypt. , 2018
The local problem in Egypt concerns the absence of balance between benefiting the community throughout the buildings' new uses and conserving them. As in many cases, either the concept of museamizing buildings within the absence of visiting museums culture, or reusing the building in a vital function to the community such as schools. Within the second case a lot of destruction is caused due to absence of reuse codes, lack of awareness of cultural value for both users, and the administrative practices and vision. The research conducted a number of analytical stages. Through the analysis, it is concluded that there is a more comprehensive context than the known ones representing the generally prevailing value system in the community and its continual changing of the other contexts and their direction of change. An Adaptive Reuse Classification of 6 types will be reached after the analysis of a number of cases, in which every type is identified and ways of how to achieve the purposed balance is concluded. A methodology is formulated in order to reach a balance between getting the benefit of the heritage building and conserving it. Finally, a case study will take place.
Conservation of Historic Areas
Is Areas with features historical excellence are structurally and architecturally either had its origin in old ages as medieval Coptic or Islamic, or those which have arisen during the century IX and the beginning of the century XX.
iaste is an interdisciplinary forum where scholars from various disciplines and countries can exchange ideas, discuss methods and approaches, and share findings. As opposed to disciplinary associations, iaste is a nonprofit organization concerned with the comparative and cross-cultural understanding of traditional habitat as an expression of informal cultural conventions. iaste's purpose is to serve as an umbrella association for all scholars studying vernacular, indigenous, popular and traditional environments. Current activities of iaste include the organization of biennial conferences on selected themes in traditional-environments research, a public outreach program which includes supporting films and documentaries, and the publication of the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series, which includes all papers presented at iaste conferences and accepted for publication.
Prevailing Value System Based Context, Adaptive Reuse
Resourceedings, 2018
The local problem in Egypt concerns the absence of balance between benefiting the community throughout the buildings' new uses and conserving them. As in many cases, either the concept of museamizing buildings within the absence of visiting museums culture, or reusing the building in a vital function to the community such as schools. Within the second case a lot of destruction is caused due to absence of reuse codes, lack of awareness of cultural value for both users, and the administrative practices and vision. The research conducted a number of analytical stages. Through the analysis, it is concluded that there is a more comprehensive context than the known ones representing the generally prevailing value system in the community and its continual changing of the other contexts and their direction of change. An Adaptive Reuse Classification of 6 types will be reached after the analysis of a number of cases, in which every type is identified and ways of how to achieve the purposed balance is concluded. A methodology is formulated in order to reach a balance between getting the benefit of the heritage building and conserving it. Finally, a case study will take place.