Title

Learning from the Informal: Designing a New Housing Typology for Informal Development in Cairo

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Cherif Farid

Document Type

Thesis, Senior

Degree

B. ARCH

Date

Spring 2017

Keywords

housing, informal settlement, Cairo, urban planning

Language

English

Disciplines

Architecture | Urban, Community and Regional Planning

Description/Abstract

This thesis examines what to design when designing for the informal and questions the role of the architect. The project combines the inherent qualities of the informal; self-built, incremental construction, and flexibility of spatial uses, with alternative urban design strategies.

The design strategy is to control the ground plane and roof scape, while leaving an open frame in between to be incrementally filled with housing. This frame allows residents to voice their identity by physically constructing their homes. It introduces an urban system that is composed of blocks that consist of an aggregation of identical units. The blocks are connected through a nodal point; the public court. This system allows for repetition and infinite growth beyond the boundaries of the site.

Additional Information

This thesis was nominated for the 2017 Thesis Prize Jury and ultimately received the Jury Prize award, one of the three James Britton Memorial Awards given each year at Convocation.

Thesis Advisors: Francisco Sanin with Daekwon Park

Recommended Citation

Farid, Cherif, "Learning from the Informal: Designing a New Housing Typology for Informal Development in Cairo" (2017). Architecture Senior Theses. 383.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_theses/383

Source

local input

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.