The Guru: Hassan Fathy's Late Career

Hassan Fathy returned from Athens to live in Cairo in 1962. He was thoroughly depressed at the thought of having to live among the noisy, crowded streets of modern Cairo. However, he lived in a flat in the Aly Labib house, a Mamluk house built in the 18th century and was known as Beit Al-Fan (home of the art). Not surprisingly, Fathy’s belief in the value of tradition was still strong. His primary concern was to develop his mud-brick style and the self-help building approach, which he had b...