Regional Architecture Collections

The archive of Hassan Fathy (1900-1989) at the RAC documents the life and work of Egypt’s most prominent 20th century architect. Fathy was best known for advocating environmentally sustainable and affordable shelter in Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East, and globally.  A classically-trained architect, Fathy proposed an innovative vision for modern, attractive, and affordable structures using traditional, local building materials and adaptable indigenous styles such as mud bricks and Nubian domes. Fathy’s projects (which included private residences, mosques, schools, tourist and cultural structures, among others) were designed for and built in Egypt and countries around the globe.  He is particularly remembered for the New Gourna Village Project (1945-1950s), designing a new model village to rehouse inhabitants of the Nile’s west bank near Luxor.  His book about this experience, Architecture for the Poor, first published in 1973, made him a household name in architectural circles and beyond.

In addition to reflecting his own architectural works and ideas, the Fathy collection addresses the architectural profession in Egypt and worldwide, Egyptian and Middle Eastern cultural life, and the activities of government institutions and other organizations in the areas of urban and rural planning, economic development and tourism, and social and cultural policy.  The collection also provides a visual and written record of the built environment (both historical and contemporary) of Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa. Contents include architectural drawings and plans, photographs, documents like project files, writings, and correspondence, Fathy’s personal library, and artifacts.

Ramses Wissa Wassef (1911-1974) was an architect, artisan, artist, and teacher whose ideas and work had significant influence on 20th century Egyptian arts and architecture. The Ramses Wissa Wassef Collection at the RAC contains more than 800 architectural plans and drawings related to about 40 projects he designed between 1935 and 1969.  These projects, all located in Egypt, include houses, churches, schools, museums, and other structures. Substantial documentation is associated with the art center designed by Wissa Wasssef in the village of Harraniyah near Giza (1950s-1960s), where his sponsorship of the artistic work of villagers-turned-weavers became well known.  Many of the project plans and drawings reveal Wissa Wassef’s emphasis on applying domes and other traditional elements of Egyptian architecture to contemporary buildings, but other designs in other styles like art deco are also present. Other drawings by Ramses Wissa Wassef indicate his interest in and teaching of architectural and art history, and designs for art projects like stained glass windows. The collection also contains photographs related to Wissa Wassef’s career and life.

The collection of leading modernist architect Sayed Karim (1911- 2003) is housed at RBSCL’s RAC. Like other architects of his generation, Karim studied in Europe after his education in Egypt, and upon his return from Switzerland in 1938 he began his architectural practice in Cairo, designing the headquarters for a number of media organizations and residential buildings. From the mid-1940s Karim was engaged in planning for cities in the Arab region like Baghdad, Damascus, Jeddah, and Riyadh; projects in Saudi Arabia became a major focus of his work in the 1950s.  From 1954 Karim designed high profile buildings in Egypt, and became involved in major city planning projects, most notably Nasr City, a government-sponsored mass housing initiative on the outskirts of Cairo, which Karim began developing in 1958. A clash with government project supervisors led to Karim’s exclusion from practicing architecture in Egypt for several years, causing him to shift to projects in other Arab countries, including city and tourist facility planning. Resuming work in Egypt, in collaboration with his son Ibrahim, Karim designed a number of cultural, leisure, and tourist projects in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, such as seaside resorts and the Merryland area in Heliopolis. The extensive plans and drawings in Sayed Karim’s collection at RAC reveal his prolific work, typically in the internationalist style, and other material reflects his role as a thinker, such as his writings (he founded the significant but short-lived Majallat al-Imara (“The Architectural Magazine”) on architecture as well as subjects like ancient Egypt.

The collection of Egyptian-born Kamal Amin (1928-2020) at the RAC documents his career, pursued mostly in the western United States. Amin moved to the U.S. in the 1950s to study with Frank Lloyd Wright, whose style influenced Amin’s designs. The collection includes design drawings for projects ranging from homes to commercial buildings and places of worship, as well artwork and associated documentation.

The collection of Gamal Bakry (1931-2006) at the RAC documents a prolific architect considered a visionary by many who, from the 1960s through 2000s, bridged the gap between modernism (challenging that approach) and heritage revitalization. Combining avant-garde forms with functionality, his work generally defied categorization under any one style. Having written several books and taught at various universities in Egypt, Bakry’s influence extended beyond his projects to a generation of architects who studied or worked with him. The more than 12,000 plans and drawings in Bakry’s collection (fewer than one-fifth which were actually built) at the RAC cover a wide range of project types, such as governmental buildings, commercial and industrial structures, educational and medical institutions, tourism facilities like hotels and museums, and residences from private residences to multi-story living units. Notable projects include Villa Badran (1970) in Giza known for its organic and curved form, the Gezira Tower in Zamalek (1974), Sadat Chalet in Alexandria (1974), Maadi Hotel in Cairo (1975), Saridar office building (1997), Mummification Museum in Luxor (1997), Akhnaton Museum in Minya (2001), and Science City Museum in Giza (2001). 

A collection of architectural drawings reflecting the work of architect Ahmad Hamid is maintained by the RAC. From the late 1970s through mid 1980s Hamid collaborated with Hassan Fathy, about whom he has written, and from whom his architectural works have taken inspiration. Among the projects depicted in the collection’s plans and drawings are villas and other residences (many in areas outside Cairo like the Fayoum), and hotels and other tourism developments.

Renderings of monuments and other buildings of Islamic architectural style are available at the RAC. The archive for Salah Lamei’s (1935-) Centre for Conservation and Preservation of Islamic Architectural Heritage (1984-2016) documents the preservation studies made by the organization for restoration projects throughout Egypt and the Middle East. Another resource is the collection of drawings and ground plans by Christel Kessler that document historic Islamic monuments in Egypt.