Interventions libres sur une maison originale                         La cour de la Maison de Hassan Fathy

Free interventions on an original house                                 The court of Hassan Fathy's House

L'Association Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy s'est rendue à Nouveau Gourna à la fin de décembre 2011. Malheureusement la situation générale du village s'est rapidement et gravement détériorée durant l'année. Trois maisons ont encore été détruites. La maison de Hassan Fathy est sur le point de s'écrouler, le contrefort soutenant l'un de ses murs de façades et le dôme de la qa'a étant maintenant réduit à un tas de pierres. Par ailleurs les nouveaux intervenants et propriétaires locaux ont réalisé des interventions de Disneylandisation très regrettables. Ce phénomène de gentrification ne respecte aucunement l'esprit du travail original de Hassan Fathy et ce sont encore deux maisons qui ont été totalement dénaturées. Il ne suffit pas de construire en briques de terre crue pour avoir compris l'intérêt et la philosophie de ce village unique au monde dont les plus pauvres pendant longtemps n'ont pas voulu et que les plus riches maintenant pervertissent.
L'Association Save the heritage of Hassan Fathy réitère ses appels à la communauté internationale et aux experts égyptiens avisés pour la sauvegarde et la restauration dans LES REGLES DE L'ART du village modèle qui a impressionné le monde entier et qui est un patrimoine mondial.

The Association Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy has been to New Gourna at the end of December 2011. Unfortunately the general situation of the village   has rapidly deteriorated during the past year. Three houses have been demolished. The house of Hassan Fathy is on the verge of collapse, the buttress supporting one of its facades and walls of the dome of the Qa'a is now reduced to a heap of stones. Moreover, new local owners have made very unfortunate "Disneyland" interventions. This phenomenon of gentrification does not respect the spirit of Hassan Fathy's the original work and  two houses have been completely denatured. It is not enough to build in mud brick to understand the value and philosophy of this worldwide unique village, which the poor long did not want for a long time and that is now perverted by the richer ones.
The Association Save the heritage of Hassan Fathy reiterates its calls upon the international community and Egyptian experts for the safeguarding and restoration in THE STATE OF THE ART  of the model village which has impressed the world and remains a World Heritage.

•   mobilizing specialists in mud brick architecture on an international level

•  referring the emergency of rescuing New Gourna to Unesco, convincing to undertake restoration and revitalization of the model village of New Gourna
  

•  Carrying out the renovation of the khan’s portico with very little means. See articles:
•  http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/arab/ahram/2011/9/21/voy2.htm 
• http://www.lecourrier.ch/hassan_fathy_sort_de_l_oubli

The recent events in Egypt have unfortunately stopped an ongoing process. The relationship between Unesco and the Egyptian institutional partners was interrupted, but time will come to reestablish the dialogue. In the meantime the Association needs financial support to continue undertaken emergency operations – stabilization, restoration and renovation, to avoid that this extremely rich educational world heritage disappears forever.

We thank you in advance for support and donations for the STABILIZATION OF HASSAN FATHY'S HOUSE in New Gourna!

Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy

Swiss Post - PostFinance

Nordring 8

3030 Bern

Switzerland

Compte : 12-232436-0

BIC /SWIFT : POFICHBEXXX

IBAN : CH9509000000122324360 

Constituée depuis bientôt quatre ans l’Association internationale Save the heritage of Hassan Fathy peut se féliciter d’un bilan qui n’est pas négligeable. Parmi ses nombreuses ections, elle a en effet réussi à :

•  mobiliser l’attention internationale des architectes spécialisés dans la terre crue

•  à porter le dossier du sauvetage de Nouveau Gourna devant l’Unesco, à convaincre du bienfondé d’entreprendre une restauration-revitalisation du village modèle

•  à mener à bien avec très peu de moyens financiers la rénovation du portique du khan. Voir les articles :

•  http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/arab/ahram/2011/9/21/voy2.htm 
• http://www.lecourrier.ch/hassan_fathy_sort_de_l_oubli

Les évènements récents en Egypte ont malheureusement stoppé une dynamique en marche. Les relations établies entre l’Unesco et les partenaires institutionnels égyptiens ont été rompues, mais nous savons que l’heure viendra de rétablir le dialogue. Dans l’intervalle l’Association a besoin de soutien financier pour pouvoir continuer de mener à bien des opérations ponctuelles de restauration-consolidation-rénovation, afin d’éviter que ce patrimoine mondial riche d’enseignement ne disparaisse à jamais.    

Merci de soutenir par vos dons pour la CONSOLIDATION DE LA MAISON DE HASSAN FATHY à Nouveau Gourna !

Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy

Swiss Post - PostFinance

Nordring 8

3030 Bern

Switzerland

Compte : 12-232436-0

BIC /SWIFT : POFICHBEXXX

IBAN : CH9509000000122324360 

Hassan Fathy, an Egyptian Ambition

Organized by the Institut Français du Caire

Gezira Art Centre, Zamalek, Cairo

18 December 2011 - 21 January 2012

http:// www.hassanfathyambition.com/

par SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY

ARCHI FATHY P.2

par SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY

Since Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy's emergency mission to New Gourna in March 2011 carried out in accordance with UNESCO, emergency stabilization measures have been implemented on the Khan arcades to prevent its ruin and collapse. These measures have been carried out thanks to the efforts of a local team of experts and workers.

During a very critical time and situation of political instability, and with very little means, the team has put all its efforts into consolidating the khan arcades threatened by decay and organizing community meetings with the local inhabitants to inform them about the ongoing project.

Save the heritage of Hassan Fathy would like to warmly thank the team for its invovlvement in this project. This is just a first step towards the safeguarding of New Gourna and very important measures are yet to be taken on an international and national level in order to preserve what is left of this oustanding architectural heritage.

Before and after implementation of emergency measures

SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY is EXTREMELY ALARMED to hear that another house built by Hassan Fathy has just been demolished by its inhabitants during the past few days.

Of course the major events and changes that Egypt has witnessed during the past two weeks have had important consequences on the safeguarding and conservation of its heritage due to lack of security, looting etc. Concerning New Gourna, UNESCO has cancelled all its missions for the time being. 

Nevertheless the moratory condemning all demolition or damages to any original construction by Hassan Fathy should be respected and SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY urges the Egyptian authorities to take all the necessary measures to prevent any further destruction of what is left of NEW GOURNA village. 

^{Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy association is extremely alerted by the collapse of one of the vaults of New Gourna's Khan. Hassan Fathy had planned the khan with workshops for craftsmen and a vaulted gallery for them to expose and sell their crafts.}  

^{The Khan is one of the main buildings of New Gourna village, which has suffered severe deterioration during the past years mainly due to neglect. After its first assessment mission in January 2009, Save the Heritage of Hassan Fathy had already called for urgent measures for conserving and restoring the Khan, one of the most severely damaged public buildings of the site. This degradation represents a terrible threat as it could lead to the collapse of the entire gallery.}

^{Despite the recent UNESCO scientific mission in October 2010, the degradation of New Gourna village is ongoing and the damage on this arcade is a visible sign of the threats that menace the whole site.} 

^{Save the heritage of Hassan Fathy calls for urgent measures to save and restore the Khan, one of the most outstanding buildings of Hassan Fathy's New Gourna village.}    

The First Scientific Committee for the safeguarding of New Gourna was held in Luxor from 2-3 October 2010. The session was inaugurated in the Cultural Heritage Centre of Luxor by Francesco Bandarin, assistant Director-General, Culture Sector, Unesco and Dr Samir Farag, Governor of Luxor. Among the present institutions were: SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY, ICCROM, ICOMOS, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, DOCOMOMO, CRAterre, World Monuments Fund, Ministry of Culture (Egypt).    

All the members agreed on the importance and urgency in restoring the core of Hassan Fathy's village. Several scenarios for the restoration and rehabilitation have been discussed for the first between international and Egyptian experts and the Egyptian authorities. This Committee marks the beginning of a long process which should include the considerations of the inhabitants of New Gourna and define architectural and restoration measures adapted to the exceptionality of this world famous example of appropriate technology.  

SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY hopes that everything will be done in accordance with the philosophy of Hassan Fathy and that it will encourage close collaboration between Egyptian locals and experts (disciples of Hassan Fathy, specialists in conservation and earth architecture, architects) and international experts.