[in]Formal Pattern Language© - A Guide to Handmade Improvi-tecture©

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© 2015 Nada Nafeh. All Rights Reserved.

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including translation, photocopying, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, recording, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other electronic or mechanical methods, and storage in data banks, without the prior written permission of the author.

For participation, collaboration and more information about the [in]formal Pattern Language© initiative, please visit: www.informalpatternlanguages.com A copy of the M.Arch thesis submitted to the University of Waterloo, in 2015, is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10012/9849

More extracts from the [in]formal Pattern Language© manual can be requested

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[in]FORMAL PATTERN LANGUAGE© - A GUIDE TO HANDMADE IMPROVI-TECTURE©

A pattern language for and from [in]formal communities and the improvised built environment

www.informalpatternlanguages.com

by Nada Nafeh

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DEDICATION To the improvisers in [in]formal settlements and marginalized communities around the globe

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USING THIS MANUAL: ON THE [IN]FORMAL As unpacked in this publication, informality is a unique and debatable topic as it is highly ‘organized’ with its own modes of operation and unlocked set of rules, becoming an explicit form of urbanization in our cities. To represent this ambiguity and as part of introducing an alternative language and glossary for informality, the project reframes the formatting of the informal as [in]formal. Every time this word is encountered, it should provoke readers to reflect on a redefinition of, and restore their relation to, the [in]formal.

Throughout the publication, references to global and local patterns, which are unlocked in the [in]formal Pattern Language manual in chapter 3, are provided on the side of each page. The intention is to offer readers with a theoretical framework and allow them to draw connections to the compiled patterns in the manual.

Figure 1.1 A girl in an [in]formal area in Cairo, ©Yasser Alaa Mobarak 5

ABSTRACT Rapid urbanization, undirected informal growth and rising inequality are some of the biggest challenges of our time.

Moreover, cities increasingly struggle with the growing juxtaposition of formal and informal urban patterns and practices.

Citizens improvise for access to social justice and resources, and strive for a share in ‘their right to the city”. Conventional modes of practice fail to direct unplanned informal growth and lead to marginalization of self-organized communities.

In the context of informality becoming an inevitable part of cities around the globe, but still misunderstood, the project introduces a new typology: Improvi-tecture©. As the architecture from and for [in]formality, this hybrid of improvisation, improvement and architecture urges for a reform of binary views of urbanism, and the practices and policies that come with these perceptions. The proposed model re-stiches traditional dichotomies in architecture, such as formal/informal, built/unbuilt, complete/incomplete, planned/improvised, etc. Improvi-tecture© thrives to defrost and mutate adopted architecture typologies taken for granted, and the pre-conceived roles of architects and citizens. [in]formal settlements offer a unique toolkit and lessons for designers and architects to learn from, with their own modes of operation and endless forms of improvisation, complexity, and patterns waiting to be unlocked.

Revisiting and expanding upon Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language1, the project proposes the adaptation of the pattern language thinking to document, analyse and design for [in]formal communities. The project, therefore, presents an open source, replicable and transferable process and a manual, which empower citizens to take ownership of their built environment and optimize their socio-cultural, economic and environmental patterns with sustainable practices, in the hope of achieving more resilient communities.

The project investigates Cairo, a city governed by extreme informality. Within the framework of an open-source website*, mapping-design-build workshops, collaborative sessions, community days and exhibitions in [in]formal areas, community members, architecture students and experts jointly documented and optimized patterns presented here in the manual.

To further compile patterns for the manual, the wider community is encouraged to take part in this on-going open process by completing a pattern template and/or posting geo-tagged images of patterns to the website, which will appear on an interactive map and catalogue that, in essence, would communicate the identify of [in]formal areas around the globe, both within the community and beyond. website | www.informalpatternlanguages.com

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The [in]formal Pattern Language publication and replicating the project for its 2nd cycle in Moatamadeya, in 2019, were made possible with the generous support from Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction in the framework of the Research in Practice Grant (RPG). My gratitude extends to the academic committee at Holcim Foundation for their insightful guidance, and especially to Professor Marc Angelil, for the dedicated mentoring during the RPG. The work presented here, was initially conceived in fulfillment of the M.Arch thesis at University of Waterloo, in 2015, under supervision and continued invaluable support from Professors Mona El Khafif, Magda Mostafa and Adrian Blackwell. The fieldwork and exhibition in 2015 were funded by the University of Waterloo and the American University in Cairo (AUC). Many thanks to Schaduf, for donating the urban farm prototype Many thanks to following local partners, NGOs and experts: Hamdi Reda from Artellewa, Omar Nagti, Beth Stryker and Hanaa Gad from CLUSTER, Raghda Momtaz from Save the Children, Sebastian Drabinski and Mr. Nabil from EDAM and Mr. Moody from El Salam School for collaborating and facilitating access to community networks. I would also like to acknowledge the generosity of Schaduf, for donating the urban farm prototype and delivering an urban farming workshop to the participants.

Special mention to the following contributors to the [in]formal Pattern Language project, who dedicated their time and fed this manual with their patterns, urban narratives, photographs, creative input and improvisation: workshop participants | community members + urban planning and architecture students + almuni | 2015 Ahmed Leithi Azima Mohamed Bakar Nancy Renat Belal Mariam El Tayeb Mohamed Hammad Hussein Hawazen Mona Dina Kawsar Youssef Fatma Youssef Fatma Sabry

Karim Hossam Wesam Nada Ahmed Fawzi Youssef Mohamed Ehsan Abushadi (AUC) Heba El Sawy (AUC) May Mahmoud (Cairo University) Mirette Khorshid (AUC) Nadia Abotaleb (AUC) Mounir Youssef (AUC)

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workshop participants | community members | 2019 Students from El Salam School Octavia Salama Martina Hani Sherry Farah Jumana Amir Marina William Justina Kasban Mariam Gamal Martin Milad Pola Samri Guirguis Atta Toni Anwar Mona Mahrous Jumana Anwar Kermina Sabri

Sebastian Drabinski - EDAM NGO Mr Nabil - head of EDAM NGO Mr Moody - school principal Miss Suzy - head of sewing workshop Miss Nahed - kindergarten teacher Mr Mina - teacher Miss Mona - teacher Miss Telmiza - teacher Mina - Toktok Driver Mina’s Father women from sewing workshop Om Shawki Am Mina

completed pattern templates Maya Kazamel Youssef Foad Salwa Afifi Mariam Gazzaz Mai Mahmoud

Perhian Sharaf Heba El Sawy Mariam Tawfik Ehsan Aboushadi Maya Abdelhalim

Mariam Tawfik Nadia Abotaleb Mirette Khorshid

local partners | 2015 Artellewa Save the Children CLUSTER local partners | 2019 EDAM (Environmental Developmental Association Motamadeya) El Salam School Nakheel Sewing Workshop assistance with the exhibition | 2015: AUC Architecture Students Association (AA) website developers Taher El Shafei and Tarek Samy from Silverkey Technologies The website informalpatternlanguages.com serves as an open-source and dynamic version of the [in]formal Pattern Language manual.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS i. ii. iii. iv.

Using this manual Abstract Acknowlegments Preface

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Introduction Context Rapid urbanization and global informality De-marginalization of architects Cairo’s informality - Potentials, problems and a critique on conventional modes of practice Theoretical Framework Analogy: A Pattern Language - the Building Ceremony informal settlements as the “contemporary vernacular” Application of the pattern language in decoding, designing for and with [in]formal communities Redefining the [in]formal, the role of architects and citizens through Improvitecture©

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Methodology The process (Mapping, Mobilizing, Modelling, Making) Replicable tools and platforms of participations

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[in]formal Pattern Language The 101 [in]complete Pattern Matrix Improvitecture tool-kit A catalogue of [in]formal patterns - Analysis and design proposals

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Reflections Framing the [in]formal pattern language as a replicable transferable method for global [in]formality Bibliography

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PREFACE Informality is, globally, the focus of interest of many planners, designers, and socio-economists, such as, Teddy Cruz, UrbanThink Tank, Robert Neuwirth, and Mike Davis, to mention but a few. When it comes to Cairo, however, informality requires a special investigation because circumstances make it highly ‘organized’ and the prevailing form of urbanization. Yet, in most cases it is still ignored, ill-defined and mal-treated.

The [in]formal pattern language project intends to create a platform for community members, architects, and officials to operate responsively in the context of governing informality and marginalized communities with reduced means.

Participants in the [in]formal pattern language and I invite you to adopt multiple perspectives, rethink existing urban typologies taken for granted and look for the in-between and leftover spaces – embrace the [in]complete, the [un]planned, and the improvised.

The Project does not aim to present urban wonderland renderings but portrays snapshots from reality, raw data from site and untold urban narratives in the hope of doing justice to the complexity of [in]formal communities and mediating between bottom up and top-down expertise. We ask you to lose control and learn from the everyday improvisors. Be prepared for alternative aesthetics and messy outcomes of ‘doing urban planning and architecture’ on site, but most importantly breaking down walls, not only built ones, but also professional, and ideological walls of delusion and privilege, in determination to push the envelope beyond what contemporary architectural design has to offer.

Whatever is written here, about Ard El Lewa and [in]formal settlements in Cairo, is based on what we observed and learned from site. Every participant inspired and contributed to the process in a unique way. [in]formal Pattern Language won the Next Generation 3rd Prize Award, in 2017, and the Research in Practice Grant (RPG), in 2018, offered by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. Additionally, the initiative received the honorable Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medal for Leadership and Professional Promise in Architecture in Canada, in 2016. The awards not only validated the importance of the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative but allowed it to be further developed into a comprehensive research-design-build methodology, which could be easily transfered to other [in]formal communites and design studios around the globe.

The [in]formal Pattern Language and Improvitecture© model were presented and exhibited worldwide, including the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, University of Virginia, Holcim Next Generation Lab in Mexico, the International Urban Issues Conference on Informality (CUI) in Dakam, University of Waterloo and The American University in Cairo.

Additional extracts from the [in]formal Pattern Language manual are available upon request.

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Figure 1.2 [in]formal fabric in Cairo, ©Hamed Mostafa

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01 INTRODUCTION 12

INTRODUCTION CONTEXT | GLOBAL [IN]FORMALITY Rapid urbanization and its constitution of undirected informal growth, expanding at an unprecedented scale and speed, is becoming one of the greatest urban challenges across the globe. Approximately 70% of current urbanization is taking place outside of the formal planning process putting pressure on urban systems and challenging environmental and social justice.24 In 2050, 3 billion people are expected to be living in informal areas, a number reaching almost half of the world’s urban population.25 Moreover, cities increasingly struggle with the growing tension between the juxtaposition of formal and informal urban practices and patterns. A global call to this growing juxtaposition and resulting inequality was brought up by the Unequal Scenes Project: “We live within neighbourhoods and participate in economies that reinforce inequality. We habituate ourselves with routines and take for granted the built environment of our cities. We’re shocked seeing tin shacks and dilapidated buildings hemmed into neat rows, bounded by the fences, roads, and parks of the wealthiest few…But it’s the very scale and unerring regularity across geographic regions which points to the systemic nature of inequality. This is not organic – this is planned and intentional disenfranchisement”.26 Despite informality becoming an inevitable part of cities and in many cases the prevailing form of urbanization, this phenomenon is inadequately studied and greatly misunderstood. Many existing literature and conventional approaches tend to view and deal with informality as a dichotomy, one the one hand as a problematic unregulated and unplanned reality that must be addressed via elimination or regulation and, on the other as a celebration of self-organized initiatives of marginalized groups who exist amidst social, economic, political, and geographic segregation.

In Design with the other 90%, it is mentioned that the needs of 90% of the world’s population remain unaddressed by the design community.27 As framed by Magda Mostafa, co-author of Learning from Cairo, the statement implies that despite our ever-growing global urbanization, architects, designers and planners as experts still have little understanding of, and impact in, Cynthia Smith’s “other 90%”.28 One cannot help questioning how architectural practice and education should respond to such reality and approaching future where designers are marginalized from the production of such modes of urbanization.29 Research Study by FIG Commission 3, “Rapid Urbanization and Mega Cities: The Need for Spatial Information Management”, (Copenhagen: The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), 2010).

25 UN-Habitat, Habitat III Issue Papers 22-Informal Settlements, (New York: UN Habitat, 2015).

26 Johnny Miller, “Unequal Scenes”, last modified June 2018, https:// unequalscenes.com.

27 Cynthia Smith, Design with the Other 90%: Cities, (New York: Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and United Nations, 2011).

28 Magda Mostafa, Mona El Khafif and Nada Nafeh, “[in]formal Pattern Language – An Analysis and Guide of Handmade Improvitecture© in Cairo”, Contemporary Urban Issues Conference CUI’15 (Istanbul: DAKAM, November 2015).

29 Ibid.

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Figure 1.3: Unequal Scenes, ©Johnny Miller

MUMBAI

NAIROBI

DURBAN

MEXICO CITY

DURBAN

JOHANNESBURG

DAR EL SALAAM (BOTTOM)

PARAISOPOLIS, SAO PAULO

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MEXICO CITY (BOTTOM)

In LafargeHolcim Foundation 6th Forum “Re-materializing Construction”, it was further discussed that in order to tackle current challenges, improve conditions on the ground and redefine sustainability for the coming generation, there is an urgent need for multi-disciplinary research that expands the traditional understanding of architectural praxis.24 Dina Shehayeb argued in Learning from Cairo that “urban planners set wrong planning, because they don’t know how people live, and then we blame people, because they live in slums and abandon formal building...

Our way of learning must be changed; it must be multi-disciplinary and humble; we have to learn from the people”.25 In response to this global call, the main purpose of the presented [in]formal Pattern Language project is to propose and test an alternative approach that engages with the formal-informal juxtaposition by mediating and negotiating between bottom-up community-based efforts and top-down expertise.

The project investigates Cairo, a city governed by extreme informality. It is estimated that 12 million people, representing 6070% of the population in Cairo is living in informal settlements.26 Cairo‘s informality transcends, however, the boundaries of these areas and manifests itself daily in spatial appropriations in formal urban pockets and Downtown Cairo by citizens improvising their way through the battle for resources and social justice, and claiming their “right to the city”.27 In contrast to many misconceptions, informal settlements in Cairo are intelligent and highly organized structures that respond to the needs of the lower-middle class. They are homogeneous and modular reinforced concrete and red brick structures, with a strong framework to support future additions. Informal areas offer a housing solution, are self-financed and demand-driven, grow incrementally, provide close work-home proximity, have low energy demands, and strong communal ties as analyzed in Learning from Cairo.28 [In]formal settlements in Egypt are not only homes to poor and rural migrants, but also offer affordable housing to low-middle class residents, university students and low-government employees.

To avoid the pitfall of romanticizing informality in Cairo, one has to consider its negative consequences on the environment. The uncontrolled expansion of informal settlements on the remaining 3% of scarce agricultural land in Egypt, constitutes a nation-wide environmental and self-sufficiency problem.29 This is explained

LafargeHolcim Foundation, 6th Forum “Re-materializing Construction”, (Cairo, April 2019).

25 Omar Nagati, Beth Stryker and Magda Mostafa, Learning from Cairo: Global Perspectives and Future Visions, (Cairo: CLUSTER and The American University in Cairo, 2013),135.

26 Ibid., 125.

27 David Harvey, “The Right to the City” (London: New Left Review 53, 2008).

28 Omar Nagati, Beth Stryker and Magda Mostafa, Learning from Cairo: Global Perspectives and Future Visions, (Cairo: CLUSTER and The American University in Cairo, 2013),136.

29 Hassan El Ramady, Samia El Marsafawy and Lowell Lewis, “Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Changes in Egypt,” in Sustainable Agriculture Review (Springer Netherlands, 2013), 41.

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Figure 1.4 Construction on agricultural land,©David Sims

don’t blame the farmer unplanned growth loss of agricultural land legal illegal

by the rigid agricultural laws and taxation imposed on farmers by the government, as well as insufficient infrastructure and lack of affordable housing. When struggling to find shelter and making ends meet, agricultural land is sold for construction. Moreover, the unplanned urban growth triggers the following issues: lack of open green space, insufficient infrastructure, accessibility and garbage accumulation. Forced eviction and partial relocation of informal communities, undertaken by the government, despite its failure to provide adequate housing, basic infrastructure and services result in the displacement and marginalization of thousands of inhabitants, loss of vitality and lack of communal responsibility. In general, participatory programs in Egypt have the pitfalls of offering short-term solutions without a holistic planning strategy, where main roles are still played by experts.30 Participation, therefore, becomes a performed process rather than a self-generated process.

The government announced in January 2019 measures to tackle ‘Egypt’s ubiquitous red-brick buildings’ being framed as an ‘uncivilised image’ of the country.31 The first decree dictated that all red-buildings should be painted according to a colour scheme: ‘dusty colours’ in the cities and blue for buildings by the coast. Other decrees introduced a freeze in construction and the ‘building violation reconciliation law’, forcing building owners to pay fines for building violations, affecting most of the ‘legal illegal’ [in]formal housing units or else face demolition. These measures can be seen as a double-punishment, as framed by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, but also as a seed of hope. On the one hand, they are a problem for those who allocated all their life savings in their residential units and already self-finance the most basic services, such as water, sewerage and electricity, and are now being further burdened with substantial charges to acquire legality of tenure. On the other hand, these measures could be considered as the first steps towards legitimization, overcoming the formal / informal dichotomy and including [in]formal areas as an integral part of the city.32 In this context, where the informal has become the mainstream, conventional modes of practice no longer seem to work, the project raises the following questions: 1. How can the [in]formal be redefined?

2. What is the role of the architect in self-organized communities?

3. How can we use the Pattern Language to rethink the understanding and the analysis of marginalized [in]formal communities, in order to optimize current and future sustainable urban growth, while empowering them and celebrating their improvisation?

Elena Piffero, “Struggeling for Participation: Experience of a 10-year Development Program, Boulaq el Dakrour, Egypt,” Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (Cairo:GIZ, 2009).

14 Charlotte Malterre-Barthes. “Housing Cairo: Self-initiated urbanism”, The Architectural Review, https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/housing/ housing-cairo-self-initiated-urbanism 15 Ibid.

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Urban growth in Cairo

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Figure 1.5 Seven Large Informal Agglomerations in Greater Cairo, ©Séjourné & Sims, 2009

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[in]formal urban fabric and density in Cairo

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An introductory chapter sets the local context and a theoretical framework for the [in]formal Pattern Language© project. In response to the raised questions, the first part of this publication introduces Improvitecture© (improvisation + improvement + architecture) as alternative to the formal / [in]formal dichotomy and redefines the [in]formal and the role of users and architects.

The second chapter presents and tests the proposed process and methodology to document, analyse and optimize patterns for the [in]formal Pattern Language© manual, which includes designing open-source and transferable tools and platforms of participation, a website, collaborating with local partners, and conducting collaborative sessions, geo-tagging and mapping workshops and exhibitions with experts, community representatives and architecture students in Ard El Lewa. The third chapter unveils the [in]formal Pattern Language© manual. It starts by zoomingin on the compiled pattern matrix, followed by an overview of the community generated Improvitecture toolkit. A catalogue of architectural interventions is then presented, that sensitively optimize, using the tactics of informality, locally documented patterns through adaptation of existing typologies and urban acupuncture. Finally, the publication presents a synthesis of optimized patterns, an optimistic but realistic catalogue of possible design interventions. This section contains reflections on the process and a summary of lessons that frame the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative as a replicable method. The aim is to inspire future designers and community members to take the initiative forward and empower other self-organized communities around the globe.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Critical to the investigation of informality is the term itself as supported in Housing Cairo: The Informal Response.24 In Arabic, [in]formal areas are referred to as “ashwa’iyyat”. This term when translated means “haphazard”, “chaotic” or “unplanned” carrying a negative connotation that does not do justice to the complex reality of urban [in]formality in Egypt, being, in fact, highly organized and a self-initiated ‘smart’ response to the state’s inability to provide infrastructure and services for its inhabitants. In response, the project, seeks to present an alternative language and model to the either-or perceptions of [in]formality and redefine it without any pre-judgements.

In Learning from Cairo, the authors discussed that defining the [in]formal is challenging because it depends on the perspective from which it is being evaluated.25 While the question arises whether defining the [in]formal is about legality, ownership, structure, audience or their combination, the project strives to find a definition through architectural design and from the perspective of the ordinary.

In terms of investigating where design can operate in redefining the [in]formal, Lindsey Sherman, Project Architect at U-TT, discussed in Learning from Cairo that “informality exists as layers of informality within formality, and that we designers can learn from this hybridity where it exists. Appropriation and adaptation can be learned as processes and constructs for iterative interventions.”26 With conventional modes of practice no longer being a common language between authorities and citizens, an alternative multi-disciplinary design approach needs to emerge that resolves the tension between the two extremes.

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storage space on top

building

circulation store extensions

praying area

fruit + vegteable display

building

Figure 1.6 Prayer time in Cairo, ©David Lazar 16

Marc Angelil and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Housing Cairo: The Informal Response (Berlin: Ruby Press, 2016) Omar Nagati, Beth Stryker and Magda Mostafa, Learning from Cairo: Global Perspectives and Future Visions, (Cairo: CLUSTER and The American University in Cairo, 2013), 130.

18 Ibid., 126.

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The Analogy: A Pattern Language – The Building Ceremony – [In]formality as the ‘contemporary vernacular” The works of Christopher Alexander and Aga Khan Award-winning Abdelhalim Ibrahim serve as the main theoretical framework for the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative in terms of redefining the role of the architect, users and designing the process to operate in selforganized communities. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction offers a vocabulary of elements, which can make people’s experience in towns, neighbourhoods and buildings easy to understand, thus enabling them to participate in the development of their built environment.27 According to A Pattern Language, every town, community and building has its own set of recurring patterns.28 Each one of these patterns is linked to a spatial logic and is defined as a “morphological law, which establishes a set of relationships in space”.

Together all 253 compiled patterns form an interconnected language that communicates the identity of a region. In order to achieve longterm development, implemented interventions have to be in-line with existing patterns. For this to happen, Abdelhalim argues that “the task of a designer is to disentangle the patterns of a community and discover their underlying geometry”.29 The statement implies, that in order to operate in self-organized societies, the architect needs to decode the hidden social, cultural, and economic forces governing those communities; in other words, the orders of informality.

Abdelhalim proposes “The Building Ceremony” concept as a tool to link between the built environment and the community. According to Abdelhalim, Building Ceremony is where “the order of the community is identified, the creative energy of the people is released, and the community resources and skills regenerated”.30 Taking this theory into account, one can say that Building Ceremony is the driving mechanism for how [in]formal communities are governing and financing themselves. Forming a language of their own, [in]formal areas embody a set Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).

20 Alexander, A Pattern Language, xi.

21 Abdelhalim I. Abdelhalim, “A Ceremonial Approach to Community Building,” Theories and Principles of Design in the Architecture of Islamic Societies (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Agha Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1988), 143.

22 Ibid.

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A PATTERN LANGUAGE, TIMELESS WAY OF BUILDING

Christopher Alexander

Figure 1.7 Timeless Way of Building, Christopher Alexander

THE BUILDING CEREMONY

IMPROVISATION IN [IN]FORMAL AREAS

Abdelhalim Ibrahim

Residents in [in]formal areas

Figure 1.8 Great Mosque of Djenné repairs by the community, Mali

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of recurring improvised solutions, repetitive modularity and an honesty in modes of operation. One can say that these communities could be considered the ‘contemporary vernacular’ because they are a true manifestation of people’s immediate needs, skills and available resources. In fact, certain repetitive building techniques, typologies and aesthetics now characterise the architecture of informality. This contemporary ‘man-made’ architecture, carried out incrementally, has become, through selfacquired accumulated knowledge, an urban adaptation of formal housing tailored to the climate, socio-cultural needs and values, and financial situation of low-income families. The material is locally sourced and construction is done by small contractors from the community or landowners becoming builders then residents. Historically, our cities grew following similar patterns and the resulting urban fabric is now legitimate and accepted as part of the ‘formal’. We look at vernacular from a positive lens and admire urban growth that is organic and dynamic, perhaps, if the project manages to shed light on the positive aspects of [in]formality, it will help [in]formal areas to be recognized and included into the mainstream practice.

Architecture is an essential component in developing and structuring communities. It is, by definition, a physical manifestation of ideas and needs. Architecture gives form to forces, and formalizes forces that contributed to its creation. In response to the growing juxtaposition of formal and informal urban practices, the project introduced a new typology: Improvitecture©.31 This hybrid of improvisation, improvement and architecture was proposed as the architecture from, and for, informality and a catalyst for sustainable development.

Application of the pattern language in decoding, designing for and with [in]formal communities Revisiting and expanding upon A Pattern Language the project proposed the adaptation of the pattern language to document, analyse and design for [in]formal communities. The project, therefore, presented a process and a guide that empower citizens to take ownership of their built environment and improve their socio-cultural and economical patterns with sustainable practices. [In]formal Pattern Language© should act as a guide to operate within the introduced Improvitecture© model.

Redefining the [in]formal through Improvitecture© Improvitecture is about discovering and optimizing the potentials of self-organized processes and patterns. It creates a platform, which allows planning and improvisation to coexist. Improvitecture© seeks to change perception and redefine ‘unplanned’ and ‘informal’ to self-organized and ‘improvised’. The proposed model intends to create an alternative to binary, ‘eitheror’ perceptions of informal and formal fabrics, and the policies and practices that come with that perception.Improvitecture© re-stiches traditional dichotomies in architecture, such as formal/ informal, built/unbuilt, complete/incomplete, planned/improvised,

Nada Nafeh, “[in]formal Pattern Language© - A guide to Handmade Improvitecture© in Cairo” (Dissertation) University of Waterloo, 2015.

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needs

architecture

etc.

Redefining and Expanding the Role of Architects and Users though Improvitecture© Improvitecture not only transforms community members into active agents, but also expands the role of the architect into a facilitator, mediator and invisible choreographer of forces. The project challenges informality’s “architecture without architects” and re-engaged the architect in the production of these areas.

Architects should, in addition to the traditional professional profile, be designers of processes, tools and new forms of representation. The expertise of the architect lies in designing a process and replicable tools that empower people to participate and improve their environment with their own resources and skill set when the architect leaves the site. Design in self-organized communities should change its typology to allow agency and new forms of representation.

Improvitecture© improvisation + improvement + architecture

Figure 1.9 Improvised shed

“Give me the license to build and an architect with standardized drawings to preserve the harmony.”

- Resident in an [in]formal area

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Figure 1.10 Exhibition in an [in]formal area

02 METHODOLOGY

THE PROCESS The project was designed as a replicable, open-source, transferable and flexible process and a long-term monitoring method for sustainable development. It triggered an exchange of tools, knowledge and skills between community members, architects and architecture students.

As the [in]formal Pattern Language manual is an assembly of patterns, it mediates between top-down expertise and bottom-up perspectives, propositions and evaluations. The project therefore, engaged individuals from different backgrounds, gender and age range throughout its life cycle. Architecture students and experts from the informed urban community participated in the compilation of the manual by completing a pattern template. Local urban patterns were documented by local partners, architecture students and children from the community in the framework of geo-tagging and mapping workshops on site. Community members contributed to the manual by revealing their urban narratives and needs through interviews and community days.

The proposed process, comprised of 4 phases, created an opensource continuous loop of interrogation and refinement: 1. Mapping Geo-tagging and mapping workshops, engaging community members, architecture students, and experts were conducted to produce maps and document patterns from buildings, rooftops, urban voids, incomplete structures, informal transportation networks and street activities.

2. Mobilizing Patterns were filtered and analysed to create a comprehensive pattern matrix.

3. Modelling Improvitecture tools were applied to patterns for sustainable insitu design proposals.

4. Making High impact selected proposals were constructed on site and injected through urban acupuncture in interstitial spaces to re-appropriate the area into a plug-in system for needs and a coherent network of sustainable patterns. Prototypes were monitored and feedback on impact sought while being handed over to the community to operate.

MAPPING

MAKING

PATTERNS

MOBILIZING

MODELING

Figure 1.11 The Process 29

“To work our way towards a shared and living language, once again, we must first learn how to discover patterns which are deep, and capable of generating life” - Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building

experts

Figure 1.12 Replicable collaborative open-source process to compile patterns and tools for the [in]formal Pattern Language manual

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SELECTING A SITE | ARD EL LEWA To test the proposed process, Ard El Lewa, a typical [in]formal settlement on agricultural land in Cairo, was selected. Ard El Lewa’s location on the border between formal and [in]formal Cairo, presented itself as an interesting boundary condition for the Improvitecture© model to negotiate between the formal and [in]formal interface. The boundaries of Ard El Lewa are defined by 3 major transportation corridors: 26th July Corridor from the North, The Ring Road from the East, and the railway from the West, making it highly visible for daily commuters and travelers from and to the city. These corridors, as stated by Omar Nagati and Noheir El Gendy, paradoxically contribute to Ard El Lewa’s misfortune and potential development opportunities.24 While they limit accessibility and lead to its disenfranchisement, they offer great visibility and public attention to Ard El Lewa.

The first cycle of testing the process, which was performed in 2015, investigated the following 3 urban conditions in Ard El Lewa: The ‘formal [in]formal’ border with the railway crossing and market, the very dense urban fabric, described here as ‘urban x urban’ and the ‘endangered edge’ with some remaining agricultural land.

For the second cycle, in 2019, the project was replicated in El Moatamadeya, an area located in the north-eastern part of Ard El Lewa.

Active communal engagement, the provision of NGOs, schools, and communal initiatives as a clear local handing-over partner for conducting the workshops, and the maintenance and operation of the proposed prototypes made the site a perfect case.

A striking aspect about Ard El Lewa, and [in]formal areas in general, is their rapid development, changeability and adaptability to new circumstances. The site appears to never be the same.

Different times of the day reveal different uses of space, programs and new stakeholders. Urban voids appear in the morning as no man’s land, but during the night they are transformed into street cafes. Street vendors are not present on pedestrian bridges before 10 in the morning, and are replaced with other types of street vendors at night.

The site experiences rapid horizontal and vertical development.

The majority of buildings are able to expand vertically. Some of the agricultural land, mapped in the first cycle of project in 2015, have been already transformed into urban voids, or are being prepared for construction, when revisited in 2019. The pictures on the left portray some changes experienced in Ard El Lewa during three weeks of fieldwork, confirming that patterns should be constantly updated through an on-going process. After reopening the pedestrian bridge and closing the railway crossing, street vendors immediately changed their location in order to maximize exposure to pedestrians. A new layout for the market was negotiated among vendors. The former site of the market became a new, still unclaimed, urban void.

24

Omar Nagati and Noheir Elgendy, “Ard Al Liwa Park Project: Towards a New Urban Order and Mode of Professional Practice”, Planum. The Journal of Urbanism, no.6, vol. 1 (January 2013).

31

MAJOR TRAFFIC JUCTURE

URBAN X URBAN

FORMAL [IN]FORMAL BORDER

26th OF JULY CORRIDOR

EL MOATAMADEYA

PUBLIC COALITION OF ARD EL LEWA

ENDANGERED EDGE

ARTELLEWA RAILWAY

RING ROAD

[IN]FORMAL CAIRO

32

FORMAL CAIRO MOHANDESSIN DISTRICT

site during site analysis

site during the workshop (2 - 3 weeks later)

[in]formal construction dynamics, before and after

Market condition before and after closing the railway crossing

Site condition before and after re-opening the pedestrian bridge

97,292 m2 WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND

306,475 m2 URBAN VOIDS

Occurrence of selected patterns

33

1, 370,000 m2 ROOFTOPS

waiting agricultural land appropriated urban void privately owned urban void community owned urban void Vacant land in Ard EL Lewa

34

MAPPING OWNERSHIP ALONG THE FORMAL [IN]FORMAL BORDER state-owned Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation

state-owned Ministry of Transportation

road

former canal

state-owned Ministry of Endowment

unclear ownership

state-owned Ministry of Transportation (railway)

undefined street edge

community-owned negotiations between street vendors state-owned Ministry of Transportation (roads + bridges)

privately-owned rented / owned legal illegal

privately-owned rented as amusement park privately-owned rented as parking lots unclear ownership privately-owned rented / owned [IN] FORMAL CAIRO UNCLEAR SECURITY OF TENURE

community-owned appropriated urban void

infilling canal by community initiatives

state-owned Ministry of Transportation

road

?

former canal

state-owned Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation

35

FORMAL CAIRO CLEAR SECURITY OF TENURE

Collaborating with Stakeholders and Forming the Agents of Change Committee The project’s author collaborated with local partners to facilitate access to community networks and gain community’s trust.

Local partners on site included representatives, in the first cycle, Artellewa and Save the Children NGO and, in the second cycle, Environmental Development Association Moatamadeya (EDAM), the sewing workshop and El Salam School.

The project managed to establish new networks between the following different stakeholders; local partners, architecture students from the American University in Cairo (AUC), experts like CLUSTER, and finally Schaduf, an urban farming enterprise in Cairo engaged in low-cost rooftop farming. As the leaders of the future, students from other academic backgrounds should also be included for a multi-disciplinary approach. Together with local partners, experts and university students should form an Agents of Change Committee, who would be mainly responsible for conducting the mapping workshops, the construction of prototypes on site and pushing the continuity of the project for a long-term development.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS + LOCAL PARTNERS

1ST CYCLE OF PROCESS | 2015

school teachers + NGO representatives + community members

school students + community children

women from sewing workshop

2ND CYCLE OF PROCESS | 2019

36

community representatives

Designed tools and platforms of participation Several tools and platforms for participation were designed to document and filter patterns for the manual and promote opensource collaboration: Pattern Template The pattern template is designed as a tool for experts, architecture students and trained local partners to participate in the compilation of the manual. There are three main objectives behind the format of the pattern template: First, to homogenize the analysis process for convenience and clarity.

Second, as Alexander formulated, to present how each pattern is connected to other patterns and comprehend all compiled patterns as a holistic language.

The third objective trains participants and manual users to adopt multiple perspectives before imposing a strategy or a selfgenerated intervention, and to recognize that a pattern can be a hybrid of both a potential and a challenge.

In designing the format of the pattern template, the thesis adopted the same sequence of analysis as A Pattern Language but added new layers such as key players, gender, rate of repetition and importance rank. The pattern template and a step-by-step guide is provided in the appendix for future participants.

Open-source Website The website is designed as a tool for encouraging open-source collaboration and transparency. It should operate as an online and interactive version of the manual, where users can upload and download geo-tagged patterns and/or completed pattern templates with design proposals. The main goal of uploading geotagged patterns is to create a dynamic map and catalogue that brings to the surface bottom-up and top-down layers of analyses, patterns and needs. An interactive design allows patterns to filter into the categories, importance rank, involved key players and the related problems and potentials.

PATTERNS

An assembly of narratives and photo essays, linking people’s microscopic needs to urban and environmental issues, is also available on the website. It communicates the voices and the identity of the marginalized, and restores misrepresented relations to the [in]formal. The website is thus a tool to empower the vulnerable in [in]formal communities and unite bottom-up and top-down data for an unbiased process in the hope of validating development plans. It should offer community members simple design solutions that empower them to optimize their patterns with their own resources and skills. For architecture and urban design students, architects, planners and hopefully policy makers, the website is not only a reference on how to understand the complexity of, design for and operate in [in]formal communities with deep-rooted contextual and social sensitivity, but also an invitation to collborate and take the project forward to other [in]formal areas around the world.

PLATFORMS OF PARTICIPATION TO DOCUMENT + FILTER PATTERNS 37

THE PATTERN TEMPLATE [IN]FORMAL PATTERN LANGUAGE

A PATTERN LANGUAGE potential / problem rate of repetition key players name of participant

context for the pattern

gender number of pattern problems potentials

illustration of improvitecture tools improvitecture tools new key players

evidence of validity of pattern / different manifestations of pattern solution as an instruction + diagram

existing diagram / layout / map

problem / potential

solution / tool(s) to optimize this pattern: illustration

illustration

illustration

tool 1

tool 2

tool 3

description

description

description

new key players

new key players

new key players

category importance rank location on page indicating category

new diagram / layout / map / design / photographs of a 3d model

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2015 © Nada Nafeh 2015

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2015 © Nada Nafeh 2015

38

39

INTERVIEWS WITH COMMUNITY MEMBERS Community members revealed their patterns and urban narratives through interviews and community days. Every aspect in the community is coordinated through personal informal networks and negotiations between stakeholders. The architect is an outsider, who has to win community members’ trust first, in order for the process to start.

40

TALK + TRAINING SESSIONS Margo Veillon Gallery, The American University in Cairo Tahrir Campus, June 2015 experts + community representative + architecture students The talk brought architecture students, experts and a representative from Ard El Lewa into conversation to collaboratively respond to the questions raised in this publication. The event launched the [in]formal Pattern Language project and the website as an open-source initiative.

The talk hosted two panels, followed by a discussion and an exhibition, displaying crowd-sourced pattern templates, patterns and urban narratives collected from site. In the first panel the Improvitecture model and [in]formal Pattern Language were presented. Local partners; Omar Nagati, Beth Stryker and Hanaa Gad from CLUSTER, proceeded in the second panel with shedding light on bottom-up mapping and communal initiatives, as well as alternative ways of practise that aim to engage the city in different ways. The talk was moderated by Magda Mostafa, who framed informality as an alternative mode of practice, and the necessity to generate a pedagogical and research shift in Architecture.

The recognition, shared among attendees, of how formal and organized [in]formal practices actually are, consolidated the importance of the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative and the need to decode those patterns. The talk fulfilled part of the responsibilities of becoming a mediator, in the hopes of generating a sustainable critical discourse for the future, and a multi- disciplinary approach of looking at our cities.

*The talk was sponsored by the University of Waterloo and the American University in Cairo (AUC)

PANEL 1 [in]formal Pattern Language Nada Nafeh

PANEL 2 Mapping Informality Omar Nagati, CLUSTER Beth Stryker, CLUSTER Hanaa Gad, CLUSTER & Public Coalition Ard El Lewa

MODERATION Magda Mostafa The American University in Cairo

41

Figure 2.1 Exhibition in Margo Veillon Gallery, AUC

42

MAPPING - DESIGN- BUILD WORKSHOPS MAPPING | MOBILIZING | MODELLING | MAKING

MAPPING A 5-day workshop – comprised of the phases of mapping, mobilizing, modelling, and making – engaged architecture students from AUC and Cairo University, experts, and community members to produce maps for 3 urban conditions: formal [in]formal border, urban x urban and endangered edge, and document local patterns from buildings, rooftops, urban voids, incomplete structures, informal networks and the street. Mapping is a great visualization technique that empowers people to reveal and filter patterns and urban narratives. It not only required collaboration among the group, in terms of cross-referencing data with photographs, sketches, personal experience and observations from site, but also made participants develop an analytical approach towards their own built environment and patterns.

45

Mapping 3 urban conditions in Ard El Lewa

46

MOBILIZING

Map for urban condition: urban x urban

47

M BUILDING CLUSTER

BUILDING

URBAN VOIDS

[IN]FORMAL NETWORKS

ROOFTOP

MARKET

SERVICES

S STREET

S ELEMENTS

48

MOBILIZING - THE 101 [IN]COMPLETE PATTERN MATRIX Workshop participants then extracted, filtered and analyzed patterns from their community drawn maps to create a comprehensive pattern matrix, what they called the ‘incomplete’ Pattern Matrix. The pattern matrix maps relations between patterns and identifies potentials and problems. It was named as incomplete to highlight that it is not a fixed end result but an invitation to be filled with new patterns. The matrix frames documented local patterns ranging from the scale of the individual to the community and connects them to global urban patterns operating on the city and country scale. As seen in the matrix, patterns are interconnected. Connecting the physical built environment to the socio-cultural realm, local patterns are divided under 4 main categories: the built environment, voids, [in]formal networks, and services. The matrix thus portrays a holistic composition for [in]formal areas and contemporary urbanity allowing its users to generate infinite combinations when optimizing a pattern.

49

THE [IN]COMPLETE PATTERN MATRIX

compiled pattern matrix

50

MODELING | IMPROVITECTURE TOOL-KIT Equipped with the documented patterns, produced maps and pattern matrix, workshop participants came up with improvitecture tools and were guided on how to optimize their patterns using the pattern template.

Improvitecture tools are actions to optimize current and future [in]formal practices, while empowering communities and celebrating their improvisation.

Optimization occurs in the sense of rearranging and making the most effective use of existing patterns and typologies, while providing general regulations that make patterns more sustainable.

Like the compiled patterns, Improvitecture tools need to be constantly updated. They are ordered in four main categories: legalise and secure, cultivate, re-appropriate and reuse, celebrate and maintain. These categories are designed to guide community members, designers and planners during the whole process, from preparing for a participatory intervention to design and operation. One of the most important aspects about the Improvitecture tool-kit is the fact, that it was not imposed but self-generated mainly by community members and architecture students. Every tool is inscribed with the name of its creator and has a number, an instruction, an illustration, and finally a short a description.

A detailed overview of the improvitecture tool-kit is provided in chapter 3 with the [in]formal Pattern Language manual.

51

the improvitecture tool-kit 52

MAKING Participants optimized a rooftop by building a seating corner and a small library from recycled wood pallets, tires and fruit boxes with few available resources.

On the last day of the workshop, workshop participants installed a micro urban farm on the rooftop, which was handed over to the community to operate.

rope 14 x recycled wood palettes 30.LE / each

tires

fruit baskets rented drill 5. LE / each 20 L.E / day or found on street

TOOL 4 green roofs by law DESIGN ELEMENTS

timber joists 2x 2.0 m 2x 1.5 m

waterproof membrane

drill

nails

nylon thread

filter fabric

hose

STEP 1 Clear the site of obstructions.

Arrange 4 timbers in an outline of the planned bed, butting each timber’s end against the next timber’s side. Using the drill nail the timber joists to one another.

Check the frame for level and square as you proceed.

STEP 2 Add waterproof membrane and nail it to the timber joists from the top.

STEP 3 Create a grid by wrapping the nylon thread around the nails. The grid serves as a substructure for the filter fabric.

STEP 4 Cut holes in the filter fabric.

Overlay the filter fabric on top of the grid.

STEP 5 Pass the hose through one of the holes.

Nail the filter fabric to the timber joists.

STEP 6 Fill the planter bed with water.

55

DESIGN ELEMENTS

growing media with nutrients

planting cups

wicks

STEP 7 Pass the wick fabric through the planting cup. The wick is composed of the same material as the filter fabric and supplies water to the plant using capillary action.

STEP 8 Fill planting cups with growing media containing nutrients.

Make sure the wick is extended all the way through the planting cup to ensure supply of water.

STEP 10 Store planting cups in a safe place until assembly of the planter bed is completed.

STEP 11 Place planting cups in the holes of the filter fabric.

56

seeds

STEP 9 Compact the growing media.

Fill planting cups with more growing media and seeds.

Schaduf offers training sessions on the benefits of urban farming by setting up a roof top farm and weekly markets for low-income families.

EXHIBITION ON SITE The workshop ended with a 3-day exhibition in Artellewa showcasing community-produced patterns, maps, photographs, and pattern templates. The main objective of the exhibition was to reach out to the wider community and create awareness for the initiative. Designed as an interactive street exhibition, each component was displayed to gather new patterns, opinions and narratives. Viewers became contributors to the exhibition and part of the process. They fed the maps and matrices with more patterns. The exhibition was not an end to the fieldwork, but rather an important part of the process and an additional opportunity to gather patterns.

01 farmers “I wish that agricultural land doesn’t get sold for construction”

02 students ` “I wish for a better education”

03 children “we need green spaces”

04 university graduate “I hope to find a job that suits my field of education”

05 unemployed “health services”

06 housew “better transpor

wives

rtation”

07 “I wish Ard EL Lewa was clean and not defined as an informal area”

08 delivery man / vendor “wants to own a shop to sell chicken”

09 breadwinner “I hope that people clean the streets”

10 girl “ I wish I could walk freely without being harassed”

11 toktok driver “I wish there was no traffic congestion”

in formal Pattern Language a guide to Handmade Improvitecture© in Cairo

03

[in]FORMAL PATTERN LANGUAGE© MANUAL

The [in]formal Pattern Language© manual is composed of all compiled data from the site, the website and received pattern templates. The manual unlocks 101 [in]formal patterns and presents a catalogue of unlimited possible design interventions for the [in]formal and improvised.

63

BUILDING CLUSTER [m+w]

1 H` F P A D T C I R

1. BUILDINGS FOLLOW AGRICULTURAL PARCELS [m+w] landowners, farmers, district employees, government officials, builders biogas + urban farming firms, restaurant owners , NGOs, donors, potters

When buildings follow agricultural parcels, the majority of patterns, portrayed in this manual, follow. The pattern is responsible for the formation of the typological patterns, building methods and aesthetics that now characterize the architecture and built environment of [in]formality in Cairo. Rigid taxation and agricultural laws, the need for affordable housing and President Nasser’s Agrarian Land Reform in 1961 followed by the Infitah policy tempted landowners to convert or sell their farmland for construction. The diagram on the next page, traces [in]formal urbanization patterns and the morphology from rural agrarian to the dense urban fabric with regards to the building typology produced at each stage.

The original agricultural grid, of feddans and hierarchized irrigation system, serves as the base layout and a clear planning principle to the ‘spontaneous’ urbanization that occurs. Main canals are turned into roads, smaller channels and inner ditches become streets. By mutual agreement, a 2 m setback is taken from each side of the feddan, which later gets, legally or illegally, sub-divided into smaller plots. Plots are then, entirely built following the typological incremental construction patterns and become a “forest; of buildings with practically no trees. Thousands of buildings push for a place on the ground and struggle for a share in its sky” - Abdelhalim Ibrahim , El Houd El Marsoud, Cairo larger patterns don’t blame the farmer, loss of agricultural land, laissez-faire policy, [in]formal sprawl in close proximity to the formal and services, dense urban fabric, legal illegal, tenure and ownership rights, unplanned growth smaller patterns waiting agricultural land, shared walls, cantilevered facade, lightwells, limited openings, [in]complete structures, urban voids, co-nnected roofs, staircases, animal breeding, roof gardens, repetitive building addresses, unpaved streets, dead ends, credit system, construction networks, work parnterships potentials H homogeneous construction F self financing P close work home proximity

64

problems A loss of scarce agricultural land D density, lack of open and green spaces C accessibility T traffic congestion I adapting to social injustice R sanitary problems

[IN]FORMAL URBANIZATION PATTERNS THE MORPHOLOGY FROM RURAL AGRICULTURAL TO DENSE URBAN FABRIC 1940s THE GRID 1

original grid of agricultural land and hierarchized irrigation system forming a base layout for rural to urban morphology

4 2

3

1 agricultural land (feddan) max. 200 x 30 m 2 main irrigation canal 7 - 21m long borderd by 3.5m wide paths 3 irrigation channel bordered by trails (60cm - 1m wide) 4 central ditch small landlords renting their farmland to farmers

1960s Nasser’s Agrarian Land Reform

SUBDIVISION + FRAGMANTAION of agricultural land and ownership due to agrarian land reform & inheritance 2 hectars per household FC

R

BUILDING TYPOLOGY SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE ‘bayt’ footprint: 75 - 125 m2

1960s - 1970s SMALLER SUBDIVISIONS + BEGINNING OF LANDUSE CONVERSION farming became less manageble and profitable.

Agricultural land is further subdivided and turned into residential use

mutual agreement: 2m setbacks from each side of feddan to form a street

FC [IN]C R C BUILDING TYPOLOGY MULTI FAMILY HOUSE ‘omara’ as an extension of the ‘bayt’ footprint: 75 - 125 m2

C commercial M mixed use (offices, production, storage etc.)

R residential [IN]C incomplete FC open to future construction

seperate buildings are connected to form dense urban clusters for the market

1970s-1990s Sadat’s ‘Infitah’ Policy

THE URBAN ‘BOOM’ The economic liberalization policy, flux of investment, returning skilled labour from gulf with income, population growth and rural migration multiplied land value and urged struggeling farmers to sell their farmland to brokers & developers.

[IN]C

R

legitimization of the area through construction of official governmental building (school) + provision of public infrastructure

irrigation channel central ditches

street pedestrian street

C

BUILDING TYPOLOGY MULTI FAMILY HOUSE ‘omara’ footprint: 75 - 125 m2

1990s REVOLUTION ARAB SPRING

1 2

neglected agrarian land to become unsuitable for farming

+

HYPERDENSITY

illegal subdivisions agrarian land transformed into urban void and rented as a parking lot unitl resources become available

Construction on remaining agricultural land and urban voids continues.The area goes through vertical densification and until saturation is achieved

3

vertical densification 1 replacing low rise buildings (bayt) with high-rise, mixed-use and profitable buildings 2 adding floors to existing structures (vertical incremental development) 3 infilling incomplete structures (floor for the next generation)

[IN]C

[IN]C R

R

C C

C

BUILDING TYPOLOGY SHOWROOM TOWER TYPOLOGY ‘borg’ footprint: 250 - 450 m2

entrepreneurial take-over optimized landuse height foot print for maximum market value

irrigation canal main road main road named after canal

POTENTIAL / PROBLEM With its homogeneous incremental construction, honesty of materials, resource efficiency and functionality in addressing a variety of needs, the [in]formal housing production could be seen as the contemporary form of vernacular. The uncontrolled expansion of [in]formal construction on scarce diminishing agricultural land constitutes, however, a nation-wide ecological, environmental and self-sufficiency problem. Moreover, unplanned [in]formal growth causes the following issues: lack of open green space, unclear ownership and tenure rights, insufficient infrastructure, accessibility and garbage accumulation.

Therefore, Reverse the pattern so that agriculture follows buildings and they no longer compete for the same plot.

Introduce land and environment restoration mechanisms that relink human beings to animals, to buildings and to the environment and bring back economic gain higher than residential use.

For existing agricultural land Preserve existing agricultural land by law that forbids residential and commercial construction.

For existing buildings Pass a law that requires each building to have a green roof or wall as a compensation for the lost agricultural land. Unfinished shared walls with limited openings are ideal canvases for hydroponic edible green plantation. Our ‘concrete jungles’ need edible greenery for self-sufficiency, environmental and aesthetic purposes.

For [in]complete structures and urban voids Think of your building as an oyster mushroom farm, a biogas plant or a combination of both to form an ecosystem. Use the special environmental conditions needed for oyster mushroom farms to repair deficiencies in our hot dry climate in Cairo and for your building to become a passive ventilator, humidifier and air filter for the community.

Experiment with slight aggregation of [in]formal building methods, to introduce an optimized building prototype, that once replicated will have a huge impact on the entire urban scheme and offer more public spaces, ventilation and improved air quality that are currently absent.

Don’t evict farmers or servicemen and their families when transforming your land into the proposed building typology but designate parts of a floor, a whole one or two for them to live in, grow, and manage the ecosystem.

67

PROPOSED BUILDING PROTOTYPE REVERSING THE PATTERN THROUGH OYSTER MUSHROOMS | AGRICULTURE FOLLOWS BUILDING

LO

WS AGRICULTURAL P ARC FOLLO G N EL I LD ND + ENVIRONMEN A I L L U A B R T U A T L DE CUL GR GRI AD A F AT O ION S S

HE RA GR IC

ND +

OT AN

EN V

IRO NM

EN T

REVERSING THE PATTERN

ULT URE

TIO RA O T R ES

+

FL NO

A

G DIN URB L I U B AN A GRICULTURE FOLLOWS OYSTER MUSHROOMS

HIGH NUTRITIONAL + MEDICINAL VALUE

MYCELLIUM: BIODEGRADABLE CONSTRUCTION + BONDING MATERIAL

WASTE MANAGEMENT

fast,organic, easy, low-cost material for agricultural waste reduced waste, energy and carbon mushroom stems are fed to animals emissons

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INCOME + EMPLOYMENT GENERATION alternative income for landowners other then renting units for residential / commercial no eviction of farmers

RESTORING LOST AGRICULTURAL LAND + THE ENVIRONMENT OYSTER MUSHROOM CULTIVATION CYCLE BIOGAS CYCLE 1

2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 18 19

drop-off area (agricultural waste, animal manure, organic waste collected by [in]formal garbage collectors) sorting area chopping + shredding of agricultural waste (rice / wheat straw) sterilization units powered by in-house produced biogas spawning + bagging (indoor + outdoor in courtyard) pulley system to move bags to incubation room + packaging area growing units and incubation area (dark + humid) with misting through water storing clay walls harvesting + packaging area (stems are fed to animals or dried) drying rack for mushroom stems to create dehydrated mushroom powder delivery to restaurants + supermarkets (1 kg = 50 EGP) urban farming hydroponic fences for passive ventilation + air filtration residential unit for family operated facility /resting area for workers animal breeding on rooftop

1

13

14

15

16

17

drop-off area (agricultural waste, animal manure, organic waste collected by [in]formal garbage collectors) biogas digestion tanks with CHP unit (gas motor + generator) and desulfurizer and dehumidifier tank to purify and dewater biogas digestate used as bio-fertilizer for hydroponic urban farming and agricultural land (farmers trade their organic waste and crops for bio-fertilizer) weather resistant biogas storing balloons moving up and down in response to the production of biogas and serving as a visible icon for the community to portray the cycle of consumption, waste and energy biogas trading. System can be easily packed and transported to sell energy biogas grid powering adjacent household

RESTORING THE ENVIRONMENT + THERMAL COMFORT THROUGH OYSTER MUSHROOMS BUILDING AS A PASSIVE VENTILATOR, HUMIDIFIER AND AIR FILTER FOR THE COMMUNITY A

water storing clay module wall (closed water cycle) (check pattern: balcony drapes) + passive evaporative cooling + increasing air humidity needed for mushroom cultivation + regulating air circulation + ventilation + shading / light control

B

double windcatcher facade with movable wetted fabric louvers (closed water cycle) (check pattern: balcony drapes, [in]complete structures) + shading needed for mushroom cultivation + natural ventilation + passive evaporative cooling + air filtration + increasing air humidity needed for mushroom cultivation + air flow control

C

hydroponic green fences (closed water cycle) + shading + natural ventilation + air filtration

E

courtyard + open air staircase replacing shafts + regulating air flow control+ natural ventilation

69

PROPOSED OPTIMIZATION ACCORDING TO URBAN CONDITION RESTORING THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH A CRADLE TO CRADLE OYSTER MUSHROOM -BIOGAS CYCLE OPTIMIZATION OF EXISTING STRUCTURES

2 PRODUCTIVE GREEN ROOFTOPS BY LAW

COMPENSATING LOST AGRICUTURAL LAND

3

OPTIMIZATION OF EXISTING IN COMPLETE STRUCTURES BORROWING SPACE

INTRODUCED OPTIMIZED TYPOLOGY

1 AGRICULTURE FOLLOWS BUILDING E

15 C 11 12

19 9

7 A

B

6 17 18 8 5 3

4

2

14

13 16

1

10

4 5

OPTIMIZATION OF URBAN VOIDS REPLICATE INTRODUCED TYPOLOGY

6

OPTIMIZATION OF REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND PRESERVE REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND

70

OPTIMIZATION OF EXISTING LOW DENSITY STRUCTURES CARVE BUT OFFSET

Figure 4.3 Residual agrarian practices, Ard-el-Lewa, Cairo ©Lorenz Bürgi

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VOIDS REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND

+ 32. WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND [m+f] landowners, farmers, builders, government officials, district employess, urban farming + solar energy firms, women, NGO, donours Lack of infrastructure and rigid taxation hinders farmers from cultivating their land. Remaining agricultural land is therefore waiting land, in the process of being prepared for construction or left until ownership problems are resolved and the means become

larger patterns the big city is a magnet, public housing doesn’t respond to needs, shortage in resources, laissez faire policy, don’t blame the farmer, buildings follow agricultural parcel, activity nodes, smaller patterns [in]formal construction dynamics, 33. main roads follow canals, shared urban pockets, co-nnected roofs, small roof gardens, pigeon towers, animal breeding, market a meeting point for community, shading as boundary definition, credit system, negotiations between vendors, learning networks, children everywhere, NGO and community, work partnerships, micro-economies around the corner potentials M micro-economies E low energy demands + resource efficiency P close work home proximity S strong communal ties E+ positive response on the environment

problems D density, lack of open and / or green spaces G garbage accumulation

82

[ m + f]

32 M P S A G 0

REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND

35 WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND + -

POTENTIAL / PROBLEM “A particular class of rituals and ceremonies has arisen around certain buildings and productive operations in which the technical act of building or production is integrated with the symbolic and social dimension of the culture. It is this class of ritual which appears to link and address acts of building and landscaping to the social and cultural life of the community” 677 - Abdelhalim I. Abdelhalim Therefore: Transform passive waiting land into a communal hub that provides the residents with economic, socio-cultural, farming, energygenerating and educational activities. Re-build a farming community that serves as catalyst and prototype for other waiting plots. This is an alternative income-generating use of land for the owner that should substitute residential construction.

97,292 m2 MAP: WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND Figure 4.4 Occurrence of waiting agricultural land in Ard El Lewa

Figure 4.5 Waiting agricultural land at the formal [in]formal border

Figure 4.6 Preparing waiting agricultural land for construction

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Figure 4.7 Land subdivision

REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND

35 WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND + -

GREEN BRIDGES Bridges connect rooftops and are transforms into shared urban farms with hydroponic fences

GREYWATER REUSE

COMMUNITY WALL WASTE COLLECTION

COMMUNAL FARMING

Figure 4.8 Improvitecture tools and operation of small parcels

84

REMAINING AGRICULTURAL LAND

35 WAITING AGRICULTURAL LAND + -

PROPOSED OPTIMIZATION / NEW DESIGN

Figure 4.9 Optimized waiting agricultural land

85

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

CLASSROOMS

Solar panels provide energy for waste management plant, classrooms and kindergarten

co-op students and volunteers educate community members on farming, help children with school work and teach adults skills.

GREYWATER REUSE

COMMUNAL DINNING

Greywater is collected from households, recyled on site and reused for irrigation of the community park. Water is infiltrated into the ground to avoid contact with the plants,

Day: Communal Dinning Operated by women and provides dinning and socializing opportunities for vendors, elderly and neighbourhood residents Night: Cultural cafe Operated by men (street cafe owners) and acts as a gathering space for local artists and neighborhood residents.

PARCELIZATION Module 3.2 x 3.2 m COMMUNITY FARMING Parcels and rooftop urban farms are rented by neighborhood residents (mainly women) as an additional source of income.

Products are sold in the market or to the communal dinning cafe.

WASTE MANAGEMENT organic waste recyclable waste

Toktoks collect waste from vendors and buildings and bring it to the waste management plant on site Figure 4.10 Improvitecture tools and operation of optimized waiting agricultural land

Figure 4.11 Urban void as a car parking lot, by Hammad

Figure 4.12 Urban void as a car parking lot

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URBAN VOIDS | PRIVATELY OWNED

50 LARGE URBAN VOID AS A CAR PARKING LOT [m] land owners, urban void renters, servicemen, vehicle owners, vendors Urban voids are yesterday’s agricultural land and tomorrow’s buildings.

When disputes on land ownership and/or a shortage in resources delay construction, plot owners temporally transform their waiting vacant land into parking lots for cars, either self-managed or rented to others, to maximize their monthly profits. Perceiving their land as an investment for the future, other owners choose not to proceed with construction until the value of their land increases. Urban voids as a parking lot are usually equipped with repair and car wash services, and offer their parking services to car, truck, micro-bus and cab owners. Parking fees are EG£ 5/day and EG£150/month, excluding extra services. Servicemen live in small rooms located at the entrance of urban voids to protect the vehicles during the night and operate the facility during the day. Some unused areas of the urban voids still have spontaneous vegetation growth. larger patterns shortage in resources, legal illegal, ownership and tenure rights, [in]formal activities in the formal, [in]formal construction dynamics, don’t blame the farmer, claimed territoriality of no man’s land smaller patterns shared walls, incomplete structures, street as an extension of the workplace, micro-economies around the corner, work partnerships, good will water, network for the marginalized, transportation networks, roba bekya, negotiations between vendors, potentials M micro-economies F self financing S strong communal ties P close work home proximity

problems D density, lack of open and green space O overburdened services I adapting to social injustice Q adapting to poor spatial + environmental quality V vandalism

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50 [m]

M F E P A O G

POTENTIAL / PROBLEM Urban voids contain few activities in extremely dense residential areas, which is not an efficient use of space. They have the potential to be used as a flexible plug-in system for the missing infrastructure in the community, creating a network of communal hubs and micro-economies, as well as maximizing landowners’ monthly profits.

Therefore: Learning from the example, located in the intersection of El Zomor Canal and Hossam El Din Serag Street, strive for a vertical distribution of economic, socio-cultural, urban farming and educational activities on top of existing program. Vertical distribution increases efficiency and profit, while maintaining open space.

Figure 4.13 Location of case study

Activities:

residential

parking lot + car services

street

Ownership:

privately owned / rented

privately owned / rented

community owned

Figure 4.14 Case study of an urban void in Ard El Lewa Figure 4.15 Extracting patterns and tools from the case study (right)

vertical assembly

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borrowing spacelegal sprawl

shared walls

secure an open space ratio

shading devices as a boundary definition

incompleteness

reclaim vacant lot with what neighbours’ needs

car wash and services

unfinished facades

community watch

balcony drapes

hierarchy of structural elements light

solid

wood + fabric

masonary concrete columns construction

light weight construction materials define territoriality and maintain visibility to the street.

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EXISTING DIAGRAM / MAP / LAYOUT 4

3

23

17 16

15

14

13

18 22 19 12 21

20 11 6

10 8

5

9

2

7 24

Figure 4.16 Exisiting layout for an urban void

1

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Main entrance to parking lot Dead-end + tree Dead-end Streets leading to the parking lot Morning: Vegetable vendor [f] / Night: Watermelon vendor [m] Plants protected by a steel mesh Morning: Chicken vendor [f] Guard room 1 + shaded sitting area Guard room 2 Car wash + services Washroom Parking lot: cars + cabs + trucks + toktok Wild plants Dump of old carts + racing cars + wheels Truck loading bricks for construction Building under construction Incomplete structure Artellewa gallery + library + artists residence + studio Save the Children Center + Artellewa workshop + gallery Unfinished facades with no openings Building in danger of falling Rooftop of a low rise building Artspace founded by Shadi El Noshokaty Main Street: El Shoda Str.

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Figure 4.17 Main entrance to parking lot Figure 4.18 Dead end and community members Figure 4.19 Dead end Figure 4.20 Building under construction and street Figure 4.21 Vegetable vendor around the corner Figure 4.22 Guard’s room and sitting area Figure 4.23 Car wash services Figure 4.24 Wild plants Figure 4.25 Dump of old carts Figure 4.26 Building under construction Figure 4.27 Incomplete structure Figure 4.28 Rooftop of a low rise building

Figure 4.45

Figure 4.46

02

01 + 08

04+16

05

Figure 4.48

Figure 4.49

10

13 + 14 Figure 4.52

Figure 4.51

15 + 16

17

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Figure 4.47

03

09 Figure 4.50

14 Figure 4.53

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PROPOSED OPTIMIZATION / NEW DESIGN

STRUCTURE 2 INCOMPLETE STRUCTURE

STRUCTURE 1

Figure 4.29 Proposed layout

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Figure 4.30 Improvitecture tools and optimization of urban void as a parking lot

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ROOFTOPS

+15. SANDWICH CITY © [m+w+c]

15 M E P S N G [m+w+c] building residents, landlords, pigeon breeders, urban farming + solar energy firms, donours As a result of the dense urban environment and confined apartments, residents have created a parallel world to the street on their rooftops to accommodate their needs. Incomplete structures, light-weight extensions, pigeon towers and satellite dishes are the typical infrastructure found on rooftops, and dominate the skyline of [in]formal areas. Activities on rooftops range from micro-economies and animal breeding, to dwelling and storing unused items. During the day, rooftops are programmed by women hanging laundry, feeding animals, socializing or making bread. Children use rooftops as ‘free-of-charge’ playgrounds, and as an escape from densely populated streets. Men occupy rooftops in the evening to train their pigeons, and during the night for socializing. larger patterns dense urban fabric, building heights, shared walls smaller patterns co-nnected rooftops, vertical extensions, residential shacks, micro-economies on rooftops, rooftop as an extension of the home,rooftop as a playground, rooftop as a garbage dump and storage, breeding animals on rooftops, pigeon towers, small roof gardens, satellite dishes, laundry theory.

Figure 4.31 Sandwich City, ©Jesse Sharratt

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POTENTIAL / PROBLEM Every building has a rooftop. Adding all the rooftop space within a community offers unlimited opportunities for improvement.

Optimizing rooftops can therefore become an alternative option to ground-up development. Unclaimed areas on rooftops are subjected to dumping of garbage, leftover construction material and old furniture, which is an enormous waste of space in such a dense built environment. Not separating animals from spaces for laundry and micro-economies causes poor hygiene.

Therefore: Add more layers to the sandwich city and co-nnect roofs.

Optimize rooftops by creating hybridized systems merging existing program with urban farming.

Check sacred roofscapes for an alternative optimization

EXISTING DIAGRAM / MAP / LAYOUT

1, 370,000 m2 ROOFTOPS

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endangered edge

urban x urban

Figure 4.32 Analysis of rooftop typology in relation to urban condition

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formal [in]formal border

EXISTING LAYERS

IN C FC IN C

R

R C

C

BUILDING TYPOLOGY MULTI FAMILY HOUSE ‘omara’ as an extension of the ‘bayt’ footprint: 75 - 125 m2

BUILDING TYPOLOGY MULTI FAMILY HOUSE ‘omara’ footprint: 75 - 125 m2

IN C

IN C R

R

C C

C

BUILDING TYPOLOGY SHOWROOM TOWER TYPOLOGY ‘borg’ footprint: 250 - 450 m2

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C commercial M mixed use (offices, production, storage etc.)

R residential IN C incomplete FC open to future construction

ACTIVITIES ON ROOFTOPS OCCUPYING THE TOP LAYER OF THE SANDWICH CITY

Figure 4.33 Sitting corner in a pigeon tower

Figure 4.34 Pigeon tower

Figure 4.35 Rooftops in Ard El Lewa

Figure 4.36 Installing a satellite dish

Figure 4.37 Garbage dumps

Figure 4.38 Lightweight structures

Figure 4.39 An extension of the home

Figure 4.40 A small roof garden

Figure 4.41 Breadmaking on rooftops

Figure 4.42 A rooftop garden, ©Hanaa Gad

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PROPOSED OPTIMIZATION / NEW DESIGN incomplete rooftops

no program rooftop

PARCELIZATION

+ GREEN SPACES

green fence urban farming circulation

01 hydroponic fence 02 rooftop urban farms

03

SUSTAINABLE 01 ENERGY 03 solar panels 02

+ GREEN SPACES SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MICRO-ECONOMIES

+ GREEN SPACES 01 hydroponic fence 02 rooftop urban farms

01

02

02

Figure 4.43 Proposed optimization in relation to rooftop typology

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defined spaces

pigeon tower and program

hybridized pigeon tower hydroponics system 03 02

03

02

102

Figure 4.44 Proposed hybrid system combining micro-economies and urban farming

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Figure 4.45 Optimized Prototypes

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ROOFTOPS

+ 28. PIGEON TOWERS

[m]

28 H M F P S D G I

[m] building residents, landlords, pigeon breeders, urban farming firms, donors, designers, NGOs

larger patterns shortage in resources, shared walls, incomplete structures, light weight extensions, sandwich city, co-nnected roofs, residential shaks, micro-economies on rooftops, rooftop as an extension of the home / playground / garbage dump and storage, animal breeding, small roof garden, smaller patterns credit system, recycling networks, construction networks, children everywhere, NGO and community, work partnerships, roba bekya (collection and reselling of leftover material)

potentials H homogeneous construction F self financing M micro-economies P close work home proximity S strong communal ties E low energy demands + resource efficiency

Figure 4.46 Rooftop Refuge, © Greg Maka

problems D density, lack of open and / or green spaces G garbage accumulation

PIGEON BREEDING male dominated activity entry restricted to owners

pigeon droppings used as a fertilizer for flower boxes hanging herbs to dry

HYDROPONIC SYSTEM Used PVC pipes are attached to the pigeon tower structure.

Plants absorb nutrition through their roots from constant flowing water. Water runs in

PULLEY SYSTEM facilitates harvest and delivery of tools

FLOWER BOX

a closed cycle

women educate their children on urban farming

WATER CULTURE Edible plants sit on a platform made of styrofoam and float on the nutrient solution.

Water is filled manually with a hose to reduce costs and energy

WASTE COLLECTION

Edible plants are either consumed or sold in the market

organic waste recyclable waste

waste collected by toktok twice a week

SITTING AREA Figure 4.47 Operation of optimized pigeon tower during daytime

an extension for microeconomies + socializing (optional light weight space divider: fabric / wood)

SPACE FOR MICRO-ECONOMIES income generating opportunities for women in close proximity to their homes and children.

OPTIMIZED PIGEON TOWER DURING EVENINGS + NIGHT

OPERABLE NET Operable net at the 4 corners and on top to catch foreign incoming pigeons

FEMALE PIGEONS + SQUABS

MALE PIGEONS Every pigeon breeder trains his pigeons at a negotiated time every day. Making circular motions with a red flag, male pigeons are trained to navigate, circle the neighbourhood then come back. Part of the training is to keep male pigeons away from females until a certain age.

Breeding female pigeon is only for consumption and reproduction.

WATCH TOWER Hiding place for breeders to observe foreign incoming pigeons without scaring them. The tower is provided with a small pulley system to control closing and opening of the nets.

Figure 4.48 Operation of optimized pigeon tower during evenings & night time

FEEDING AREA STRUCTURE

top: reused door frames base: reused scaffolding and decking wood members

SITTING AREA

EVENING CLASSROOM

outdoor informal classroom or sitting area

young adults and co-op students help children with their school work or teach adults about urban farming and income generating skills.

Figure 5.49 In the coops of Cairo, ©Rania Matar

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05 REFLECTION

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REFLECTION “There is a school of thought that suggests that informal settlements don’t actually exist”.24 Although, sounding like like a day dream and a slogan to eliminate informal settlements by the end of 2030, it is not. Ironically, the statement is true, in the sense that the formal / informal dichotomy is no longer relevant to the reality of our built environment and outdated. Michael Sorkin argues that “the utility of a Manichean distinction between formal and informal sectors is increasingly unproductive, a clear line between the realms impossible”.25 When, already 1 billion people live in, what we still call ‘informal’, are marginalized although they are the majority, labelled as the “other 90%”, and when the ‘mainstream’ urbanization and city building occurs outside formal planning without the engagement of architects and urban designers, but is still ignored and misunderstood, there needs to be a wakeup call for the architecture profession and academia.26 Ironically, ‘team self-organized’ and ‘team architect’ both experience marginalization in our current built environment.

A state-imposed marginalization for ‘team self-organized’ and a chosen self-imposed one for the later. In response to this global call, the project proposed the Improvitecture© model, as a form of responsive architecture, that re-stiches the formal / informal dichotomy, re-inserts the architect in self-organized communities and recalibrates conventional modes of practice to accommodate contemporary urban challenges. The [in]formal Pattern language© manual presented here, with its collection of patterns, stories, photographs and design proposals, attempts to play a small role towards “demystifying” Cairo’s informality, as portrayed by David Sims.27 Architecture has the power to constantly renew our reality even with the slightest changes in the repetition of the ordinary. The work presented here, confirms that informal urbanism is actually “an intelligent and optimized answer to planning incapacities, with its own flaws and strengths” that with some design innovation could drastically improve the quality of its residents, as framed by MAS Urban Design Studio.28 Joining the design ethos of Lacaton & Vassal "never demolish, always transform", the project, therefore, proposes a toolkit, by which citizens can take ownership and governance of their own built environment, within a framework of good practice, and with the engagement of architectural expertise to ensure sustainability, safety, hygiene and structural viability.29 With this line of thought, [in]formal Pattern Language© may be an effective tool towards negotiating a middle ground between status quo and forced eviction for the millions of inhabitants of Cairo’s informal settlements.30 At the times when governments fail their people and are not capable of offering affordable

Michael Sorkin “Informal Formality”, LafargeHolcim Foundation, https://src. lafargeholcim-foundation.org 26 UN-Habitat, Habitat III Issue Papers 22-Informal Settlements, (New York: UN Habitat, 2015).

27 Marc Angelil and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Housing Cairo: The Informal Response (Berlin: Ruby Press, 2016) 28 Ibid.

29 LafargeHolcim Foundation, 6th Forum “Re-materializing Construction”, (Cairo, April 2019).

30 Magda Mostafa, Mona El Khafif and Nada Nafeh, “[in]formal Pattern Language – An Analysis and Guide of Handmade Improvitecture© in Cairo”, Contemporary Urban Issues Conference CUI’15 (Istanbul: DAKAM, November 2015).

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26

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housing and adequate infrastructure, when bureaucracy in topdown practices delays desired outcomes on the community, and where citizen-participation remains misunderstood and ignored, the project hopes to empower residents of informal areas to document their own patterns and change their fate with their own hands and resources.

Patterns were documented, urban narratives recorded, and design proposals were developed by different stakeholders to include multiple perspectives. Interventions intended to sensitively improve conditions on the ground without destroying existing patterns, but yet producing a familiar architecture to be accepted by informality remains a huge responsibility and needs constant updating. The challenge was not about producing pristine utopian architectural drawings to convince a client, but about doing justice to the complexity of the pattern and offering more then what the intelligence of informality and the everyday improvisor have to offer. The key to the optimization of a pattern is playing by the rules of the game and, ironically, asking ourselves as experts: What would informality do? The answer lies in adopting the design vocabulary of informality, uncovered here in the manual, reversing a perception, defrosting an existing typology taken for granted, adapting material capabilities to a larger structure, pooling moral values and community’s resources as a source of financing and / or proposing micro- economies as a tool for social responsibility, to name a few. The possibilities are endless as presented in figure.

Reflecting back on the application of the pattern language in the [in]formal context, the project highlights the following lessons that frame the [in]formal Pattern language© as a transferable method: These lessons are presented according to their compliance to the “Informal City Manifesto”, developed during the design charette, organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).31 Develop a new lexicon for a non-binary urbanism The project highlights the need to develop a new lexicon that informs and influences the narrative towards informality before proposing any design intervention. In support of the Improvitecture© model presented here, to re-stich the formal/informal dichotomy, the manifesto called for “a shift towards spectrum thinking as opposed to binary-ism” that needs to mitigate to urban space.32 Improvitecture, thus, calls for a non-binary contemplation of urban conditions that could help reposition informal urbanism as one of the many existing legitimate processes contributing to city building. Moving forward, formalize the [in]formal and informalize the formal.

31

Magda Mostafa, “The informal city and the future of our cities: towards a manifesto”, Archnet-IJAR, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 416-433. https://doi.org/10.1108/ ARCH-04-2020-0063 32 Ibid., 417.

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Redefine the role of the architect as a double agent, a mediator, a choreographer of processes, inventor of tools, a facilitator and an empowerer. [in]formal Pattern Language provides a way for architects to insert themselves both as agents and participants in self-organized communities. This duality allows architects to be involved in alternative, parallel and informal practices without prejudice or prejudgement. Alejandro Aravena supports the expanded role of the architect and reveals that “finding a balance between becoming an expert and remaining an informed citizen is the greatest challenge and strength of today’s students and young practitioners”.33 The architect needs to become a mediator, a facilitator, an inventor of tools, a choreographer of processes and an empowerer for the community.

Train the younger generation as the ‘improvisors’, designers and policy makers of the future Mohamed El Shahed argues in Housing Cairo: The Informal Response, that “while much of today’s Cairo is shaped by “architecture without architects”, the vast majority of Egypt’s young architects are trained to cater to a small minority of potential clients. This chasm between architectural pedagogy and Egypt’s urban reality has made matters worse: students don’t have the tools to productively engage with the informal response to decades of economic exclusion and political marginalization”.34 In response to this gap, it is the intent of the project to train architecture students and the young generation from the community, as leaders of the future, to start acting upon their own built-environment and take the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative forward. A global need for attention to education and open-source architecture was brought up by Francis Kere and Anna Heringer at the LafargeHolcim Foundation "Re-materializing Construction" Forum.35 The work presented here, takes a small step towards answering that call.

The proposed process triggeres an exchange of tools, knowledge and skills between community members, architecture students and experts. “Breaking the architectural profession out of its existing mold”, architecture students were re-inserted in the [in] formal realm.36 They were trained to record urban narratives, and document building typologies and local design vocabulary, not given to them by starchitects, but by the everyday improvisors as the real experts in the self-organized built environment. As tested from the conducted geo-tagging and mapping workshop on site, community members proved to have the ability to document their

LafargeHolcim Foundation, 6th Forum “Re-materializing Construction”, (Cairo, April 2019).

34 Marc Angelil and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Housing Cairo: The Informal Response (Berlin: Ruby Press, 2016), 281.

35 LafargeHolcim Foundation, 6th Forum “Re-materializing Construction”, (Cairo, April 2019).

36 Marc Angelil and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Housing Cairo: The Informal Response (Berlin: Ruby Press, 2016), 281.

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patterns and feed the architect and architecture students with local perspectives. In return, the architect and architecture students passed on tools that allow community members to re-shape their built environment with sustainable values. These tools are the designed pattern template, the self-generated improvitecture tool-kit, and the website for an open-source architecture.

Although strongly based on a small-scale and local intervention, the [in]formal Pattern Language initiative has great potential to be scaled up to identify a common language across different forms of [in]formality around the globe. It also provides the tools for young architects to look at our city through different layers, bottom-up initiatives and other participatory models. The [in]formal Pattern Language can therefore be transferred to develop the formal built environment and create, through the same collaborative process, languages for rural and desert territories.

The future of informal settlements and bottom-up parallel initiates lies in the education of the younger generation. Training young minds, whether students of architecture and politics, or young community members, to think differently will make it hard for policymakers, who “decide the fates of informal areas from the comfort of their air-conditioned offices” to continue with their war on informality.37 The project was deeply rooted in testing the proposed process on site and including multiple voices. As a direct consequence of ‘doing urban design and architecture’ on site, the project encountered few limitations, which need to be discussed.

Working in [in]formal areas, one must accept that no universal and definite solution can be reached but rather an optimization of existing and in some cases contrasting conditions; key players’ rights, needs and responsibilities, environmental concerns and inadequate resources. Abdelhalim Ibrahim predicted that “designing in such a community must strive a balance between analysis, abstraction, and rationality, on the one hand, and faith and submission to the community’s ideas about order, on the other.”38 With this acquired knowledge, the process has been updated to include cycles of design development and a verification of patterns from the community. The outcome of the work is therefore, not be a completed guide but an example of the endless possibilities available to create a more robust environment.

Designed as a cyclical and open-source process, the project allows citizens to constantly generate new patterns, and avoid freezing decisions into permanent facts. It should not be considered as a fixed end product but as an initiator for a replicable process and a monitoring method for long-term development. It is the intent of the project to connect between bottom-up and top-down

Abdelhalim I. Abdelhalim, “A Ceremonial Approach to Community Building,” Theories and Principles of Design in the Architecture of Islamic Societies (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Agha Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1988), 143.

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generated data, but at the same time act as a catalyst for future research, collaborations and practice.

There is, however, a tendency for bottom-up practices to remain isolated and incidental due to their dependency on institutional good will, the project can’t help raising the following questions for further investigation: How do parallel, alternative and interdisciplinary initiatives become the mainstream rather than the exception? Why are many creative experiences in architecture being developed outside the rules? How can boundaries, adopted models and existing typologies, and status quo be changed in order not to limit architectural innovation and possibilities for the future of our cities?

Today’s urban voids and remaining agricultural land are tomorrow’s dense unsustainable buildings. It’s time to act. The project is only a snapshot of what’s to come.

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