PhD student, Mamdouh Sakr, completes doctoral research

We would like to congratulate Dr Mamdouh Sakr who successfully defended his doctoral research project and received his doctorate this month.

Dr Sakr's examiners, Dr Hassan Radoine, the Director of the Center for Research and Studies in Architecture Urbanism and Design at the International University of Rabbat and Dr Matthew Hardy of The Prince's Foundation, noted that Dr Sakr's study, Applying Traditional Urbanism Principles to Design a Residential Neighbourhood in Cairo, is one of the few to address the issue of contextual, community-based design in the region.

Dr Sakr's research was founded on a need to consider a new approach to urban design in the hot, arid climate of the region and the conviction that this approach could build on the architectural heritage to respond to present circumstances. Seeking practical solutions and drawing on a review of traditional architecture and case studies of previous developments through time, he derived principles which were translated into a set of design guidelines. These were tested through a schematic master plan design for a Cairene setting. The resulting alternative approach to current urban design will hopefully inspire others in the region.