Mercedes Volait

Galila El Kadi

This scholarly guide about the tangible and intangible heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries district of Downtown Cairo presents a detailed survey of the plans and typologies of a great number of apartment buildings and links the flats with the memories and stories of their inhabitants, mapping the changes in the use of the space during time, and so giving precious hints to understand the changes in the Cairo society.The books contains around 45 building-sheets with technical and historical descriptions, organised in a chronological order so to give a panorama of the development of Downtown´s architecture. Short texts in-between will give insider glimpses on specific aspects, such us historical backgrounds, technical innovations, narratives of private spaces. The buildings will be connected through three thematic maps to navigate and discover Downtown: the Dolce vita tour includes cinemas, bars, cafes, the houses of the stars; the romantic trail shows buildings with elaborated stairs, interesting balconies, fascinating details; the puristic architecture trail contains buildings with clear lines.With contributions of: Mercedes Volait, Galila El Kadi, Vittoria Capresi, Barbara Pampe, Ralph Bodenstein, Lucie Ryzova, Mohamed Elshahed, Omar Nagati.

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