The ETH Zurich Master of Advanced Studies Program in Urban Design at the Chair of Marc Angélil and directed by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes initiated an investigation on informal settlements in Cairo in collaboration with local partner CLUSTER, looking into designs for affordable housing units in the neighborhood of Ard al-Liwa. Selected projects show how rearranging existing building components can lead to new urban forms. By altering the typology of informal housing via a simple recombination of existing architectural and structural elements, the projects aim to enhance the living quality of single units and establish collective urban formations that ultimately improve entire districts.

Team:
Students from MAS Urban Design 2015-2016-2017, Prof. Dr. Marc Angélil, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes (Director) and Something Fantastic (Julian Schubert, Elena Schütz, and Leo Streich) in collaboration with CLUSTER (Omar Nagati, Beth Stryker).
Exhibition by MAS Urban Design – ETH Zurich: Marc Angélil, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, and Something Fantastic in collaboration with CLUSTER Cairo.
The Advanced Informality exhibition wass supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo, ETH MAS Urban Design and the Institut Français d’Égypte (IFE), and presented as part of the Making the Sustainable City Conference.