Leila el-Wakil teaches the history of architecture and architectural conservation at the University of Geneva."

"[A] richly illustrated ode to Fathy's life and career."— AramcoWorld

• Introduction by Leila el-WakilFrom `sidereal emptiness' to fertile ground: an `appropriate' architect`Guru' and polymathThe right critical distanceThe state of the matterMultiple authors throwing light on Hassan Fathy1. Education and training by Leila el-WakilThe apogee of studies the Western way2. A family passion for music by Jessica Stevens-CamposFathy, the musician and music loverMuhammad Fathy and oriental musicArchitecture through the prism of Western classical music3. The first commissions by Leila el-WakilThe Talkha school project (1928)The early years, in collaboration with Ahmad Hosni OmarProject for the Azmi Building in ZamalekThe Bosphore CasinoProject for Hassan Pasha Madkour (1934)An exhibition pavilion for a tobacco company (1937)The other modern housesFrom the Hayat Muhammad Villa (1938) to the Hussein Farid izba (1941)4. The early steps of a `romantic' in a liberal Egypt by Mercedes Volait The first drawingsEgyptian modernismRevolutionising rural architecture5. The qa`a and the Arab house by Leila el-WakilThe shift towards the `inward-looking' house: the qa`a, the centrepiece of the typologyFathy's art de vivre: refined ambiguityCairo houses in the years around 1950The Neo-Mamluk house of Tusun Abu GabalTwo villas for Aziza Hassanein (1938 and 1949)Compositional eclecticism6. The arts and craftsmanship by Nadia Radwan Hassan Fathy: an `artist'?Fathy and Habib Gorgi: architecture without architects and schools without teachersFathy and Ramses Wissa Wassef: art and craft at the heart of the model villageThe `Friends of Art and Life' and Hamed Said's `eco-studio'From Gourna to the `House of the Arts': Fathy among Artists7. Colourful reveries by Ola Seif The pre-Gourna phaseThe Gourna phasePost-GournaThe paintings of a fantasist visionary, an architect or a dreamer?8. Envisioning architecture by Ahmad Hamid 9. The great transformation of the Egyptian peasantry by Samir Radwan 10. The model izba by Leila el-WakilLiterary renewalArchitectural renewal and model villagesThe Fathy family farms (late 1930s)Mud brick : the modern invention of a `heaven-sent' materialThe model farm experiments at BahtimThe Anhouri farm project at MazghounaThe writings of Mirrit Boutros-GhaliA model farm for the Fayoum Real Estate Corporation (1943)Izbat al-Basri (1945)Hafiz Afifi and Lulu'at al-Sahara (1950)11. New Gourna by Leila el-WakilThe tools of the model village's inventionNew Gourna: the African HellerauUsing tradition to build the presentThe project's launch and failureThe projects to save Gourna12. A narrative in the form of a sonata by Jessica Stevens-Campos Prelude: Dream and RealityChorale: Man, Society, and TechnologyFugue: Architect, Peasant, and BureaucratFinale: Gourna Dormant13. The villages of the fellahs by Leila el-WakilPlans for an Institute for RuralismThe Kom Ombo rehousing projectHarraniya: from the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre (begun 1952) to Fathy's renovation project for the village (1964)New Bariz, the masterpiece brought down by the Six-Day WarAn attempted collaboration with the United Nations: the development of the oasis of Dar`iyaThe concept of the vegetable-garden village for SoharThe Sadat Village in Aswan14. Choisy / Fathy: from constructive rationalism to bioclimatic architecture by Joseph AbramTradition/ConstructionPhysical environment / MaterialsSolar protection / Ventilation15. Clarke / Fathy: reviving traditions by Nicholas WarnerThe antiquarian and preservationistThe influence of Coptic architectureThe Use of Mud BrickBuildings for archaeologistsA new vernacular architecture?16. Doxiadis Associates: the nerve centre by Camille AbeleFirst encounters and exchangesThe Doxiadis Associates firmTwo characters face to faceGreater MussayibResidential blocks and a neighbourhood for New Baghdad (1959)Korangi: a model extension of Karachi (1959)17. From ekistics to `appropriate urbanism' by Remi BaudouiFrom the countryside to the city: anthropology of the evolution of an active processOpera minora: the modern city of a Cairene dandyReconsiderations between 1937 and the Doxiadis period: abandonment and rediscovery of the city and its implicationsThe urban projects for Iraq and PakistanThe `City of the Future' (CoF) projectThe foundations of a theory of `appropriate urbanism': the case of the Arab city18. Touristic villages by Leila el-WakilPioneering ideas for the North CoastA model tourist accommodation unit at Sidi KrierThe Hammamet Conference (1974)The proposal to convert New Gourna into a touristic villageAl-Mashrabiya Tourist Centre: a cultural centre for the capitalThe Nile Festival VillageDeveloping cultural tourism in al-Fayoum and elsewhereA utopia for Sinai and a controversial posthumous project19. A love of heritage by Leila el-WakilEgyptian heritage institutionsContributing factors to an infatuationTale of the Mashrabiya, an autobiographical storyNubia submerged: a World Heritage Site (1959-64)The Hell of Reinforced ConcreteThe confrontation with heritage leaders at PistoiaThe International Conference on the History of CairoAppraising Cairene heritageThe mosque of Abbasiya20. Between materiality and spirituality by Leila el-WakilSymbolism versus anthroposophyThe influence of the Groupe de Louxor's spiritual and esoteric studiesReligious architecture in search of symbols21. East and West by Leila el-WakilThe champions of modernity called into questionScientific research at the service of art`Appropriate' beautyAn architect on a quest for appropriatenessAcknowledgments Glossary SourcesGeneral bibliography