Hassan Fathy Village

Hassan Fathy Villageis an abandoned village thatwas built in the 1960s to house a new agricultural community in the Kharga oasis. It was called New Baris and it was designed by the renowned Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy for the Egyptian Administration of Desert Development.The architect used the Medieval villages in Kharga as an inspiration to solve issues with the high temperatures, sand and wind, that can make the oasis near inhabitable. He solved it by building storages underground and creating architecture that allowed for maximum airflow through the rooms. He also designed the village so that the houses would provide shade on the streets during the hottest hours of the day, similar to the way the Medieval villages were costructed. The project started in 1967 and it was interrupted that same year because of the Six-Day War. After that itwas abandoned. A few families lived there for a single year, maybe banished to the oasis for smuggling activities near Suez. Today among the remaining buildings are the market, two villas, a workshop and a bus terminal abutting the main road(CISS Inventory 2010; Vivian 1990).

Site coordinates: N 24 41 362 E 30 35 456