Discovering Downtown Cairo.: Architecture and Stories

For the first time, a detailed survey is presented of the architectural plans and typologies of Downtown Cairo’s apartment buildings. Linking the apartments to their inhabitants’ memories and stories, this book maps changes over time in how space was used in Cairo. In doing so, it illuminates some of the workings behind changes in Cairo’s society. The book contains thirty-eight building profiles with technical and historical descriptions; they are organised in chronological order to give a panorama of the developmental history of Downtown architecture. Interspersed short texts provide insider glimpses into specific aspects of Downtown, such as historical backgrounds, narratives of private spaces, and observations on particular architectural phenomena. The buildings featured are connected through an overview map with five walking tours for navigating and discovering Downtown: the Dolce Vita tour includes cinemas, bars, cafes, and the homes of the stars of yesterday and today; the romantic tour explores buildings with elaborate staircases, interesting balconies, and fascinating architectural details; the modernist tour surveys striking buildings with clear lines and modern shapes; the urban context tour points out buildings with a special relation to their urban context. Finally our best-of guide leads the readers to the authors’ favourite buildings, as their personal declaration of love to the inhabitants and the buildings of Downtown Cairo. 100 colour images