Reactivating Downtown Cairo Reaktivierung von Downtown Kairo
إعادة تنش يط وسط إلبدل Master thesis Omar El Mekati 03653479
TUM Studio Krucker Bates
Chair for urbanism and housing Professors: Prof. Bruno Krucker & Prof. Stephen Bates Assistant: Claudia Düll-Buchecker
Reactivating Downtown Cairo Reaktivierung von Downtown Kairo
إعادة تنش يط وسط إلبدل Master thesis Omar El Mekati 03653479
TUM Studio Krucker Bates
Chair for urbanism and housing Professors: Prof. Bruno Krucker & Prof. Stephen Bates Assistant: Claudia Düll-Buchecker
English
Deutsch
Downtown Cairo has been one of the most vibrant districts in the city since its foundation in the late 19th century. But since the 1950’s it has witnessed a steady decline in aesthetics and appeal. The ironic contradiction of the rising land prices and an archaic rent control law has led to disinvestment in the district and its buildings. As a direct result, people have been slowly moving out of the area, turning it into a ghost town. In the past few years however, start-up companies and SMEs have slowly been coming back to the neighborhood, moving into the apartments left behind and turning the district into a creative hub for the entire city. At the same time, young entrepreneurs and job seekers are getting together to save on the cost of living but also to seek space away from their families that would allow them to further explore themselves. Therefore, Downtown Cairo would be an ideal location for an apartment building concept: The project would be familiar to its new residents through the implementation of vernacular building elements such as multiple courtyards and middle rooms in the design. By combining them with facilities that would serve the residents as well as the neighborhood around the building, it would be woven into the social and cultural fabric of the city.
Seit ihrer Gründung in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhundert war die Innenstadt von Kairo einer der begehrtesten und dynamischsten Viertel der Stadt. Allerdings sinkt seit den 1950iger Jahre die Lebensqualität und Ästhetik extrem. Der Wiederspruch zwischen den hohen Grundstückspreisen und eine veraltete Mietspreisbremse führte dazu, dass sich die Besitzer nicht mehr um ihre Gebäude gekümmert haben. Die finanzielle Unausgeglichenheit zwischen den viel zu niedrigen Mieten aufgrund der obsoleten Mietspreisbremse und den unverhältnismäßigen Instandhaltungskosten, führte zu einem starken Verfall der Gebäude. Infolgedessen verlassen viele Einwohner die Innenstadt – schrittweise entsteht eine Geisterstadt. In den letzten paar Jahren haben sich jedoch mehrere Startups und neue Bürogemeinschaften in den zurückgelassenen Wohnungen angesiedelt und lassen dadurch wieder ein lebendiges und kreatives Viertel entstehen. Gründer und junge Arbeitnehmer, die ihr Elternhaus verlassen möchten, ziehen in die bereits bestehenden Wohnungen ein, um Geld zu sparen und gleichzeitig einen Schritt in die Unabhängigkeit zu wagen. Die Kairoer Innenstadt ist deswegen der ideale Ort für ein bezahlbares Wohnkomplex, der durch die Nutzung von vernakulären Bauelementen wie mehreren Innenhöfen und zentralen Aufenthaltsräumen ein Zugehörigkeitsgefühl für die neuen Bewohner schafft. Um das Gebäude in der Stadtstruktur und im Geflecht des Viertels stärker einzuweben, werden im Erdgeschoss allgemein nützliche Anlagen wie Handwerker oder Cafés eingeplant.
02 The architecture transports the district to one of Europe’s capitals 01 A view down one of Downtown’s Streets
04 similar language used in contemporary housing
03 16th century roofed fabric market
03 mashrabiyas played a crucial role in filtering sunlight
04 integrating loggias into apartment a translation of the mashrabiya?
Sherif-Pasha Str.
Olwi Str.
dy sh
u Ro a sh Pa r. St
Covered spaces Courtyards
Reactivating Downtown Cairo The Inspiration: My fascination with the vernacular architecture of Egypt started when I visited a handful of 16th-century courtyard houses in Cairo’s old quarter. One of the first things I noticed was the entrance of the buildings. Never was there a straight path leading from the front door to the courtyard, rather one always had to make a turn around a corner to be baffled by the peacefulness of a private oasis within a building. The act of navigation through the turns within a building created a culturally appropriate buffer between the indoor and the outdoor space while maximizing the privacy levels for the residents within. The same experience remains the principal theme of exploration throughout the building. For example, one must access the private quarters of a residential space via an indirect passage or must climb a short flight of stairs. The offset of the private spaces was primarily to ensure that no direct view of the private quarter was afforded to anyone who wasn’t its owner. From ancient times, solar geometry played a vital role in the Egyptian as well as the Middle Eastern architecture. The geographical location and the climatic conditions of Egypt predominately dictate avoidance of long and direct exposures to the sun. The vernacular Arabic architectural practice perfected the art of avoiding direct sun exposure through the use of “Mashrabiyas”. Mashrabiyas are a type of oriel windows which protrude from the façade of a building from the second story or higher. They are traditionally enclosed with carved wooden latticework or stained glass and are comparable to a bay window of a European family house. Through the analysis of the contemporary architecture of Cairo, parallels can be easily drawn between the historic and modern-day interpretation and use of Mashrabiyas within present-day residential buildings. Given the change in lifestyle of urban residents of Cairo, the current use of Mashrabiyas may be debatable. The possibility of avoidance of direct sunlight may be one of the benefits of a modern-day Mashrabiya. Still, it is highly probable that including balcony spaces into apartments add an extra room to address the issue of space scarcity in a densely populated megapolis such as Cairo. Through the course of this semester, the premise of the study was to maximize the lessons of vernacular architecture and create an optimal architectural language that was suitable to deal with challenges of modern-day life in contemporary Cairo. The Aspiration: Downtown Cairo has always been one of the most vibrant, colorful and lively districts within the city. But since the 1950s, it has witnessed a steady decline in aesthetics and appeal. The ironic contradiction of the rising land prices and an archaic rent control law has led to disinvestments in the district and its buildings. The resulting impact is that the people have slowly started to move away from the heart of the city, turning it into a ghost town. In the past few years however, start-up companies and small &medium sized enterprises have slowly begun their return to the neighborhood, moving into the
apartments left behind and transforming the district into a creative hub for the entire city. At the same time, young entrepreneurs and job seekers are convening to afford a good yet reasonable cost of living while seeking an independent space away from their families that would allow them to have a sense of autonomy. Therefore, Downtown Cairo would be an ideal location for the subject of this design project: an affordable apartment building concept. The project would be designed using facets which are familiar to its new residents through the implementation of vernacular building elements such as multiple courtyards, mashrabiyas and central living rooms in the design. The project scheme aspires to be woven within the social and cultural fabric of the city through the combination of its ethnic and relatable architectural language and its utilitarian and beneficial use of public spaces (on the ground floor). The Locale: The site is located off Talaat Harb square, the second most important square in Downtown Cairo, between Sherif-Pasha and Roushdy Pasha Streets in the former financial block. Low-rise, turn-of-the-century apartment buildings are to the west of the plot on Olwi Street, while high-rise structures from the 60s and 70s border it in every other direction. There are two housing complexes to the North; the first is a four-story tall neo-classical building and the second is an 11-story tall tower whose form provides for ideal integration to the volume of the design project. The Configuration: The massing of the design acts as a mediator between the low-lying structures and the high-rise buildings that surround the project. It rises gradually from the 8th to the 11th floor acting as a visual bridge between the pre-existing structural landscape surrounding the site. Three courtyards puncture the stepped mass while effectively diffusing the amount of direct sunlight entering the building and apartments on each level. Much like the 16th century houses, the courtyards are wide enough to preserve the privacy of their residents by obstructing direct view into the houses. The three courts are connected at the ground floor, which facilitates cool air to easily flow in and warm air to flow out through the courtyards’ stacks. An insitu concrete frame acts as the load-bearing structure while traditional red bricks are used for the wall construction. There were three design considerations aimed to break the external façade’s monotony. Firstly, the horizontal application of Travertine, a native Egyptian stone, as a cladding throughout the base of the building breaks its verticality and is adjusted in height according to the vertical profiles of the surrounding buildings. Second, large sections of the western and southern facades have been offset inside by half a meter. This creates a visually dynamic façade which is both aesthetically appealing and serves to provide additional shading to the apartments within the offsetted frame. Finally, beginning on the 9th story and mirroring the volumes of the building’s opposite, façades have been pushed inwards by 2m on three sides, creating a roof terrace for some apartments. Story 10 and 11 only rise around the central and eastern courts, creating a roof garden which is accessible for all residents and their guests.
The window sizes decrease from 1.4m x 2.6m on the lower floors to 1.2m x 2m as the building ascends in height. This design measure was implemented to control the amount of direct sunlight entering the apartments due to lack of shading from surrounding buildings. Furthermore, depending on their location on the façade, the windows are either aligned on the left or the right to create a visual variation as opposed to the conventional central placement. One of the key design considerations for additional self-shading for the façade openings, was the positioning of the windows within the 50 cm thick external walls. The windows on the external façade were positioned flushed to the internal surface of the wall while windows on the internal façade (facing the courtyard) were positioned flushed to the external surface. The positioning of windows on the internal façade created an opportunity to integrate the vernacular and functional element of the Mashrabiya. Beyond these special windows, the general windows throughout the apartment allow the user additional seating niches within the space. There are three entrances to the building. The eastern entrance, located on Sheriff-Pasha Street and the entrance on the southwestern corner of Roushdy Street serve as the main entrances for residents and visitors alike, while the third western entrance on Olwi Street remains somewhat hidden and acts as a backdoor which is intended to be used by the residents only. This entrance is also the access to the waste collection bins. The sequence of traversing through the ground floor remains the same when using any of the three entrances. One first arrives in a big hall which leads to one of the three courtyards where the elevators and staircases are located. This sequence of moving through covered and uncovered spaces experienced within the ground floor’s design is reminiscent of the cellular city structures of the Middle Ages. The Travertine on the external façade continues its path along the courtyard walls, however now taking a human scale. Using the same stone to cover all the floor and combining it with water fountains in the middle of the courtyards, create a cooling refuge away from the scorching outdoor temperatures. Alongside the halls on the ground floor are two apartments for the security personnel. Other services such as a gym or a communal kitchen are designed to help strengthen the neighborly bond within the residents of the apartment complex. There are a couple of ways to reach the apartments on the upper floors. One can either take one of the three elevators located next to the courtyards, or one can take the flight of stairs which lead to the first floor. One arrives in a semi-public hallway along with the main staircases and entrances to the individual apartments. This vertical sequence is designed to slow the transition from the public spaces to the private dwellings. On every floor there are ten variations of a modularly designed apartment, each being adjusted to fit into the volumetry of the building. The smallest studio has an area of about 41m2 and the largest apartment has an area of 125m2. To safeguard the privacy of the residents, the apartments are planned to prevent any direct view through the front door into the living spaces. The central living room acts as a middle room from which bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms and the Mashrabiya are connected and orients the entire apartment towards the courtyards where possible. The Mashrabiya can be opened and connected with the living room to create one continuously large space when needed. All apartments possess deep loggias facing the external façade, allowing indirect light to penetrate deeper into the space. Acting as a transitional space between inside and outside,
the loggias and Mashrabiyas both have a honed travertine floor, thus connecting the apartments with the overall material concept. The southern faรงade along Roushdy-Pasha Street is offset into the structure by 2.5m to create an arcade for pedestrians. The benefits of this design are three-fold. Firstly, the arcade creates a shaded thermally comfortable passage for pedestrian walking through the building. Secondly, the arcade space is designed to host a variety of artisanal and utility shops boosting local businesses. Finally, through the integration of a cafe and bar the arcade will provide a space for people to socialize and interact with their community. The Epilogue: From the research undertaken for the design project a few inferences were made. It appears Egyptians have forgotten about their rich cultural heritage. Rather than looking for inspiration within the region and learning from their ancestors, modern day Egyptian architects draw their inspiration from the western architecture scene. While vernacular architecture has been perfecting itself throughout the centuries, finding the most suitable solutions to fit its regional climatic conditions, most present-day architecture is devoid of such sensitivity. It is not uncommon for example to see gable roof family houses sprawling up in the middle of the desert, ignoring the actual goal of such architecture in their native climate. It appears they are simply designed for visual appeal. This thesis was an attempt to try and illustrate the importance of finding a balance between the vernacular architecture and the contemporary requirements of an Egyptian household. A compact, affordable apartment building complex seamlessly merges itself in the surrounding landscape using a similar material palette and architectural language commonly found in Downtown Cairo. Finally, the most important attempt of the design project was to revive the implementation of traditional Egyptian architectural elements and illustrate their efficient and effective use for a modern-day interpretation.
Omar El Mekati Masterthesis TUM Studio Krucker/Bates Chair for urbanism and housing