The Architecture of Place: In Conversation with Mamdouh Sakr

The ICAA, INTBAU, and the King's Foundation are pleased to continue their collaboration with The Architecture of Place: In Conversation with..., a series of interviews featuring three architects and designers from different backgrounds and points of view: Austin Tunnell, Mamdouh Sakr, and Joachim Tantau. Over the three-part series, each speaker has the chance to play the role of both interviewer and interviewee. In each installment, one of the three architects interviews another about the influences, experiences, and projects that have led to their design perspective on the architecture of place. At the end of each session, students from partnering university departments pose additional questions to the speakers, followed by an open Q&A with attendees.

In this iteration of the series, Austin Tunnell interviews Mamdouh Sakr about his work, background, and design perspective.

Mamdouh Sakr, PhD, is an architect and an Islamic Architectural Historian with theoretical and practical experience in the fields of traditional urbanism, architecture and arts and crafts. After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Architecture Department, I joined the architectural firm of the renowned architect Rami el Dahan, where he gained considerable experience in traditional building materials, techniques and their application in contemporary contexts. One of the key highlights from this experience is his work in designing a number of private residences and tourist resorts in Egypt and the Middle East. Working in the “Aga Khan Cultural Services- Egypt,” a company of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, was another significant step in his career. Being part of such a monumental development project which has revived the heart of Islamic Cairo, enabled Mamdouh to understand and develop a strong approach in addressing the multi-layered problems of the social and urban fabric of the historic city. In addition, he has participated in the design of a number of private residences and tourist resorts in Egypt and the Middle East.

Currently, Mamdouh is the manager of the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (KFSTA) Programme in Cairo: a unique programme aimed at preserving the traditional arts in Egypt. This project offers a two-year course based on the regeneration and renewal of traditional Islamic visual arts and crafts as a living practice. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day management and operations of the programme, his responsibilities include developing the curricula of the various crafts and drawing modules, staff development particularly of teaching and training assistants and supervising the design and implementation of the students’ project throughout the course. Parallel to his work with KFSTA, Mamdouh has taught at the American University in Cairo (AUC) in the Performing and Visual Department in subjects ranging from the “Foundations of Design” and “The Language of Traditional Arts.” These courses included intensive studio work and lectures, and reflect Mamdouh’s practical and theoretical experience. Currently, he teaches History of Architecture at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Architecture Design Studio at the French University in Cairo.

Mamdouh has been interested in the artistic, architectural and urban expressions of Muslim communities. This started by way of a fascination with the rich and diverse language of Islamic architecture, which led to choosing “Mosque Architecture” as the topic for his graduation project. Mamdouh felt an urge to understand the principles and philosophy of Islamic architecture, and was encouraged to pursue further studies at the American University in Cairo in the Islamic Arts and Architecture MA program. Concerned about how Muslim communities express their cultural identity in their mosques, his MA thesis titled "The Mosques of Britain, How do British Muslims express their Identity" studied the case of the Muslims of Britain and how they build their mosques. The thesis received the “Best Thesis Award” from the Arabic Studies department at the American University in Cairo, and was published in Germany in 2010.

In addition to Islamic architecture, Mamdouh’s research interests include vernacular architecture and traditional urbanism. He has published several papers and participated in a number of conferences related to reintroducing vernacular architecture to contemporary settings, traditional building techniques, and artistic and architectural exchanges. Mamdouh believes that traditional architecture is directly related to traditional urbanism, and therefore he has travelled extensively in the region and conducted thorough research about traditional urbanism. Gradually this research has developed into my PhD dissertation, which examined how the principles of traditional urbanism are analysed and applied in the design of a residential neighbourhood in the hot arid region of the Middle East. The dissertation, “Investigating and Applying Traditional Urbanism Principles to design a residential neighbourhood in Cairo,” involved studying and analyzing the urban fabric of numerous settlements in North Africa, Egypt and the Levant before choosing Cairo as the location of the proposed neighbourhood.

In addition to academic research, Mamdouh enjoys writing and has published four travel books in English (Did you try Qat? 2012; Spaghetti in Harar, 2014; From Cairo to Tel Aviv, 2015; and Namaste 2019). My experiences and encounters in a number of countries are gathered in these books.

In 2016, Mamdouh began writing in Arabic and produced a different version of From Cairo to Tel Aviv. This book recounts Mamdouh’s journey to Palestine, where he visited Jerusalem, al Khalil, Bethlehem, Acre and Jaffa. His wanderings are woven by long conversations with Palestinians living under different circumstances, some are funny, some are heartbreaking and others are simply intriguing.

In February 2021, his first novel in Arabic was released, Ayyam Yasmine, which is a social drama recalling memories and incidents in the life of a middle-class Egyptian woman.

He is currently working on a number of projects and looking forward to his next trip.

Presented as part of The Richard H. Driehaus Curricula for the Built Environment at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The ICAA is very grateful to The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation for its generous support of this program.

Tags: architecture of place, recorded event, architecture of place in conversation with, world of classicism