Overview

I’ve always found beauty in the slum’s architecture. I knew that this beauty was hidden, but somehow, I connected to it- we created our own language and easily succeeded to communicate. I found the diversity of materials, the colors, the different structures and the organically created layers covering entire buildings fascinating. This unique composition created unclonable structures. These “Unclonable” buildings are the most powerful manifestation of humanity in architecture; they prove that these buildings were made by humans to fulfill their basic needs. The architecture of slums is a pure translation of how human beings can adapt with the available materials to achieve the basic physiological human needs for survival. These buildings are always oppressed and misjudged as an ugly distortion that should be removed or painted. However, I believe that the problem lies in the context. Removing these buildings out of their context and placing them in another might be a way for these buildings to speak for themselves and make an independent statement. This project is the “what if” scenario that I constantly question myself, a way to expand on ideas that occur to me each time I roam in the streets of Cairo.