Egyptian houses were typically constructed from mud bricks with flat roofs that could be used as living spaces. Their design was influenced by the hot, humid Egyptian climate. Poorer homes had only a few basic rooms and used materials like woven mats and mud bricks, while wealthier homes could have many rooms constructed from stone with gardens and ponds. Columns in Egyptian architecture evolved over time and took different forms such as lotus-shaped or palm-shaped depending on the period and location in a temple. Architect Hassan Fathy advocated for traditional Egyptian styles and materials like mud bricks, wind catchers, and courtyards in his projects.

1. Egyptian houses
Hanady el Makdissy

2. Overview
Egyptian houses were plain, had a
flat roof that could be used as
another living space.
They were mainly constructed out of
mud bricks. Because they had a
cooling effect for the heat and humid
Egyptian weather but houses
needed to be renewed every two
years.
Their architecture was strongly
related to the weather and to the
status of the owners of the home.

3. General information
Egyptian houses were set on
the Nile for ease of
transportation and main
source of water for drinking
and agriculture.
They were either one or two
stories high. The second story
being a more private one.
Wood was not widely used as
a building material because
trees were scarce.
Mud, clay, rock and reed were
mostly used.

4. Construction
There were no foundations
generally.
The walls were generally 40
cm thick and wooden beams
were let into walls for
reinforcement.
The windows were high and
squared to let the heat out.

7. Working class homes
They were made out of mudbricks.
Mats made of papyrus reeds were
used as window covering to keep
out dirt and insects and provide
shade from the heat.
A hearth was essential for cooking
and provided a heat source.
Woven mats were used as carpets
to cover clay and dirt floors.
Very basic furniture if any.
Consisted mainly of 4 areas.

8. Working class homes
The front room: acted as an
entrance to the house from the
street were guests could wait.
The living room: where they had a
shrine for their household
god/goddess and where they
conducted daily religious rituals.
The all purpose room with
staircase that leads up to the roof
of the house.
A roofless kitchen, where women
of the house would make meals,
with a staircase that would lead to
an underground cellar where they
would store food and beer.

9. Elite homes
Some had 30 rooms. and were managed
by servants.
The nobles and wealthy preferred to make
their homes out of stone. It was more
expensive but much sturdier than mud
bricks.
If an upper class ancient Egyptian’s house
had more than one level, they used ramps
instead of stairs.
The inside of the houses were usually
painted white to keep them cool, in
addition to that, wealthy ancient Egyptians
usually hired the best artists to paint
throughout the interior of the home.
The ultra-rich often used limestone
throughout the interior of the house which
made it appear shiny and fancy.

10. The wealthy lived in the countryside or on the outskirts
of a town. Homes were arranged around an inner
courtyard or on one side of a corridor. There would be
reception rooms and private quarters. The entrance was
set in the wall facing the street and the windows were
set high up in the walls of the upper story. They would
be covered with shutters or mats to keep out heat, dust
and insects.

11. Layout of a nobleman’s
home

12. Outdoor living and ponds
affluent families had gardens in their
houses, complete with outdoor furniture
and artificial ponds, so that the whole family
could go outside, play games, host parties
and relax under the warming sun. The
same tradition was continued by the
ancient Greeks and Romans, who enjoyed
their everyday activities and their social,
political and religious gatherings in open
air, at the courtyards of their houses or the
public spaces (prytaneum and forum) and
temples.

13. Egyptian Villages
Some villages were made of
temporary homes for workers to
live while they worked on the
project at hand, then they would
go back to their original homes
during days off or when the
work is complete.
The main villages were Amarna
and Deir El Medina.

15. Columns
Columns in Egypt were crafted from a single large
monothilic block. But, later on it changed into the use of
sectional blocks for the purpose. But after painting it
seemed difficult to judge that whether the column was
cut from a single or sectioned pieces.

16. The type of column was usually, but not
always, dictated by its placement within the
temple, and therefore most temples actually
employ more than one design. Most of the
time, "Bud" style columns were used in the
outer temple courts, particularly away from
the central axis of the inner temple. "Open"
style capitals were most often found in the
temples' central areas.

17. Fluted
Column
It was an early form
of column that died
out in the new
kingdom, but many
future columns
incorporated design
elements from them.

18. Palmifor
mAlso one of
the earliest
style, their use
was somewhat
rare but some
can be found
in the
ramesseum in
the inner side
of the court.

19. Lotiform
It had widespread
popularity in the middle
kingdom but its use
declined in the New
kingdom. It can be a
closed (bud) shape or an
open lotus flower

20. Papyriform
The column was
made in several
variations, some in
circular form from
representing a single
plant while others are
ribbed with multiple
stems. The capitals
were closed buds or
open bell shaped
form. They were
amply used in the
middle kingdom.

21. Coniform
This column style apparently
quickly died out after
their use in Djoser's
Step Pyramid enclosure wall. It
has not been found in later
temples.
The style is characterized by
a fluted shaft surmounted by
a capital
representing the branches of a
conifer tree.

22. Campaniform
Considerable variety
existed in this style of
columns.
They sometimes took the
shape of a floral column or
pillar.
Some had circular, ribbed
or square shafts (pillars).
They all had some form of
flower shaped capital.

23. Composite
Common during the Graeco-Roman
Period.
Probably an evolutionary extension of
the campaniform columns with capitals
decorations including floral designs of
any number of real or even imagined
plants.
Variation could be endless, and
they became so utterly stylized that
the
original floral motifs could hardly be
recognized.
Continued to evolve in Greece and
Rome, becoming very different
then the Egyptian variety

24. Tent-pole columns carved
from stone seem to have
been used rarely. The
wooden originals would
have been used to
support structures such as
military tents, shrines and
so on. The only surviving
examples in stone can be
found in the Festival
Temple of Tuthmosis III at
Karnak
Tent-pole
Columns

25. Hathoric
This type of column never
appeared prior to the
Middle Kingdom, and
probably originated in that
period. They are usually
instantly recognizable by
their capital in the shape of
the cow-headed goddess,
Hathor. They often had a
simple, round shaft. All
considered, they were fairly
common, and examples
may be found in the Temple
of Nefertari at Abu Simbel

26. Hassan Fathy
• Egyptian Architect
• Designed 160 separate projects from
modest country retreats to fully planned
comunities.
• He istilled traditional arab styles like wind
catchers, lantern domes and mashrabiya
which would be combined with the mud
brick construction.Principles of Fathy’s
work
• The primacy of human values in
architecture
• The importance of universal rather
than limited approach
• The use of appropriate technology.
• The need for socially oriented,
cooperative construction techniques
• The important role of tradition.
• The re-establishement of cultural
pride through the art of building.
“Build you
architecture from
what is beneath
your feet”
-Hassan Fathy

28. Architectural perspective
• Ancient design methods and
materials.
• Utilising a knowledge of rural
Egyptian economic situation.
• Space design suitable for
surrounding environment.
• Low cost construction.
• Training locals to build their
own houses.
Design Elements
• Mud bricks (Abode)
• Thick walls
• Wind catcher and Qanat
• Decorative screens.
• Building orientation and
placement of windows.
• Domes and vaulted roofs.
• courtyard

29. New Gourna Village
"The village of New Gourna, which was
partially built between 1945 and 1948, is
possibly the most well known of all of Fathy's
projects because of the international
popularity of his book, "Architecture for the
Poor"

30. They are wind catchers, known
in the area as Bâdgir are a
ventilation systems that began
in Persia. they have given the
people of the Middle East air
conditioning for thousands of
years yet may even provide a
solution for some very modern
architectural problems.
The windcatcher can function in three ways:
• Directing airflow downward using direct
wind entry,
• Directing airflow upwards using a wind-
assisted temperature gradient,
• Directing airflow upwards using a solar-
assisted temperature gradient
Wind catchers

31. Onward airflow due to direct wind entry.
One of the most common uses of the wind catcher is to
cool the inside of the dwelling; it is often used in
combination with courtyards and domes as an overall
ventilation and heat-management strategy. It is
essentially a tall, capped tower with one face open at
the top. This open side faces the prevailing wind, thus
"catching" it, and brings it down the tower into the heart
of the building to maintain air flow, thus cooling the
building interior. It does not necessarily cool the air
itself, but rather relies on the rate of airflow to provide a
cooling effect. Windcatchers have been employed in
this manner for thousands of years.
Wind-assisted temperature gradient
Windcatchers are also used in combination with a
qanat, or underground canal. In this method, the open
side of the tower faces away from the direction of the
prevailing wind (the tower's orientation can be adjusted
by directional ports at the top). By keeping only this
tower open, air is drawn upwards.
The hot air is brought down into the qanat tunnel and is
cooled by coming into contact with the cool earth and
cold water running through the qanat. The cooled air is
drawn up through the wind catcher. On the whole, the
cool air flows through the building, decreasing the
structure's overall temperature.

32. Solar-produced temperature gradient
In a windless environment or waterless house, a wind
catcher functions as a solar chimney. It creates a
pressure gradient which allows hot air, which is less
dense, to travel upwards and escape out the top. This is
also compounded significantly by the diurnal cycle,
trapping cool air below. The temperature in such an
environment cannot drop below the nightly low
temperature.
When coupled with thick adobe that exhibits good
resistance against heat transmission, the wind catcher
is able to chill lower-level spaces in mosques and
houses in the middle of the day to frigid temperatures.