Hassan Fathy the Piercing Star A Living Architecture

Previous studies of Hassan Fathy have sought to present his ideas by focusing on his architecture alone, without exploring the personality or intentions of the extremely complex individual behind the buildings. Having spent the majority of his life as an educator, for example, he self-identified as a teacher, rather than an architect, treating the tectonic language that he invented in his search for authenticity as a didactic medium by which to deliver his lessons. In order to delve more deeply into the existential reality of his multifaceted identity, this comprehensive publication about the famous Egyptian architect separates out and specifically examines each of the four major aspects of his persona in great detail: his life story, his writings, his architectural projects, and the people, places and things that inspired him.To do so, this project consists of a boxed set of two Volumes, each Volume further divided into two parts. Volume I, entitled "Biography and Writings" includes:Part I: A Transcendent Life, an extensive personal profile of Fathy, from his birth in Alexandria in 1900 to his death in Cairo in 1989, and:Part II: A Hassan Fathy Reader, which contains a voluminous edited selection of his articles, papers, letters, plays and fables, as well as an annotated bibliography of his entire personal library. Volume II, entitled "Architecture and Inspirations" is also in two parts:Part III: A Living Architecture, catalogues his entire architectural Oeuvre, for the first time and is fully illustrated with many original drawings and new photographs with an extensive commentary on each work. Part IV: Inspirations, includes each of the many architectural, historical, cultural and philosophical sources that stoked his vivid imagination, examining the influences that emerge in a myriad of ways in his architecture. Following a Dedication and extensive list of Acknowledgements, this historic set will begin with a general Introduction. Each part of these two volumes will then contain its own Introduction and Conclusion as well as complete Notes and Bibliography sections, relevant to the specific material covered in each. The two-volume set will also have a complete Index, covering all four sections.