VISION
A new generation of Egyptian architects and urban designers is being trained with the ability to develop spatial designs and functional - constructive concepts that are informed by:
- the conditions of the arid climate
- the architectural and cultural-historical tradition of Egypt
- the analysis of socio-economic conditions
- the critical reflection of international developments
Students learn to develop concepts derived from the qualities and uniqueness of the place, its morphology and history, and its socio-economic context. Our vision is to raise a new generation of architects and urbanists who are initiators and vehicles of change. To ensure the quality not just of the design, but also of the building outcome this also includes the involvement in vocational training institutions and cooperation with the public sector. Graduates are both experts in a “new vernacular” as well as in an international practice. Buildings and neighborhoods being built by our alumni in Egypt and the MENA region over the next decades will be internationally acknowledged. Guided by the criteria and evaluation methods of the German Sustainability Council (DGNB)*, both for individual buildings and for urban quarters our graduates’ skill set includes
- A multi-scalar approach
- Climate-friendly and energy-efficient construction in arid zones
- Innovating regional building traditions – contributing to a new contemporary practice
- Economy, good usability
- Good quality of space and occupancy in districts with a high quality of life
- Concepts for public space specific to the climatic and social conditions
- Design and research methodologies that benefit the private as well as the public sector on different scales
- resource-sensitive energy, water and material use architecture concepts
- the application of advanced technologies in the design process
*http://www.dgnb.de/en/
MISSION
Our mission is to educate young architects and urban designers to develop socio-ecologically responsible projects. Based on the curriculum of our partner university, the Architecture Faculty at University Stuttgart, we strive to provide excellent professional qualifications coupled with the ability to critically reflect on given contexts.
With an orientation towards a positive development of urban and regional planning as well as architectural design in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals GUC architecture graduates are able to develop context-specific and culturally sensitive architectural concepts. We consider the region as our laboratory and design and build in different contexts and on multiple scales including 1:1 often in cooperation with local and international partners. Our students are exposed to the complex urban realities of the Greater Cairo megapolis and other urban and rural Egyptian and international contexts to understand and engage within the full spectrum of current practice to serve and to innovate the market.