Dr. Mamdouh Mohamed Sakr

An architect and an Islamic Architectural Historian with a theoretical and practical experience in the field s 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 I gained a considerable experience in traditional building materials, techniques and their application in contemporary contexts. One of the key highlights from this experience is my 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 yet another significant step in my career. Being part of such a monumental development project which has revived the heart of Islamic Cairo, enabled me 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, I have participated in the design of a number of private residences and tourist resorts in Egypt and the Middle East.

Currently, I am the manager of the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (KFSTA) Programme in Cairo: a unique progamme 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, my responsibilities include developing the curricula of the various crafts and drawing modules, staff development particularly of teaching and training assistants and supervise the design and implementation of the students’ project throughout the course. Parallel to my work with KFSTA, I taught at the American University in Cairo (AUC) in the Performing and Visual Department. My practical and theoretical experience is clearly reflected in the courses I taught. The subjects range from the “Foundations of Design” and “The Language of Traditional Arts”, which included intensive studio work and lectures. Currently I teach History of Architecture at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Architecture Design Studio at the French University in Cairo.

I have been interested in the artistic, architectural and urban expressions of Muslim communities. This started by a fascination of the rich and diverse language of Islamic architecture, which led to choosing “Mosque Architecture “as a topic for my graduation project. The urge to understand the principles and philosophy of Islamic architecture encouraged me to pursue my studies further at the American University in Cairo, where I joined the Islamic Arts and Architecture MA program. Concerned about how Muslim communities express their cultural identity in their mosques, my MA thesis studied the case of the Muslims of Britain and how they build their mosques. The thesis entitled "The Mosques of Britain, How do British Muslims express their Identity" 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, my research interests include vernacular architecture and traditional urbanism. I published several papers and participated in a number of conferences related to the topics of, reintroducing vernacular architecture to contemporary settings, traditional building techniques and artistic and architectural exchanges. As I believe that traditional architecture is directly related to traditional urbanism, and as I have travelled extensively in the region, I undertook a 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 entitled, “Investigating and Applying Traditional Urbanism Principles to design a residential neighbourhood in Cairo” entailed 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 neighbouhood.

In addition to my academic research, I enjoy writing, I have four travel books published 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.

Then by the beginning of 2016, I had my first experience in writing in Arabic, where I wrote a slightly different version of, “From Cairo to Tel Aviv”. This book tells my journey to Palestine, where I visited Jerusalem, al Khalil, Bethlehem, Acre and Jaffa. My wanderings are woven by long conversations with Palestinians living under different circumstances, some are funny, some are heart breaking and others are simply intriguing. I’m working currently on a number of projects and looking forward to my next trip.

In February 2021, my 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.