Site: Hassan Fathy

A selective biography

• 1900 Born in Alexandria to an Upper Egyptian father and Turkish mother
• 1926 Graduated from Cairo University, where he started studying agriculture but switched to architecture
• 1928 Talkha Primary School, first recorded project Fathi completed after graduation; neo-classical style with engaged columns, pediments and acrotyrion executed in precise detail
• 1938 Hayat Villa, for famous artist Hayat Mohamed
• 1940-41 Rural Hospitals, built using the Nubian construction techniques Fathy discovered in Upper Egypt
• 1946 New Gourna, Luxor, Commissioned by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to solve the problem of tomb-robbing in the Valley of the Kings, Queens and Nobles nearby
• 1950 Mosque, Punjab, India
• 1957 Harraniya weaving village, Imbaba
• 1957 Arab Refugee Housing, design for a prototype of temporary housing for Palestinian refugees
• 1967 New Bariz Village, Kharga, Fathy's best known community project
• 1971 Nasser Mausoleum
• 1973 Chicago Press publishes Architecture for the Poor (variation from French Architecture with the People), which catapulted Fathy's work to international fame
• 1980 Dar Al-Islam Village, Abiquiu, New Mexico
• 1980 Received Aga Khan Award for Architecture
• 1984 Received Medal of the Union of International Architects
• 1984 Received first-ever honourary Doctorate awarded by AUC
• 1989 Died