Chilean Nitrate Company Resthouse
Safaga, Egypt
"The Chilean Nitrate headquarters in Safaga which is contemporary with the first attempts at using mud brick by following Nubian structural techniques at Bahtim, Ezbet El-Basry and Marg, still betrays a somewhat tentative approach to both the system itself and the material used in it, even though the plan is deft and sure.

Repetitive living units on the ground floor, which is raised nearly 85 cm. above grade, are linked by thick adjoining party walls. Each have front and rear entrances with steps, a main vaulted combination living-dining area with a fireplace, and a service kitchen, bath and sleeping alcove. A separate stair from the outside leads up to the first floor and into a long hall which separates service functions such as food and linen storage, kitchens and bathrooms, from a series of bedrooms on the northern side of the building. All of these adjoin a common arcaded terrace, while a major communal space is intentionally separated out as an individual wing of the building and is also used to visually anchor the repetitive line of living units on the other side."

Source:

Steele, James. 1989. The Hassan Fathy Collection. A Catalogue of Visual Documents at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Bern, Switzerland: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
Location
Safaga, Egypt
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Events
1942
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