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Egyptians used to
build their houses by construction craftsmen whose mere qualifications were
based upon transferring experience from a master to his younger
subordinates. Foreigners were also working in the field of construction, but
their qualifications were not much better than the local builders. Foreign
builders usually gained their architectural information from engineering
offices outside Egypt. Therefore, until the middle of the Twentieth Century
the profession of architecture has largely been controlled by foreigners
from various nationalities and hence architecture reflected contradicting
directions. Following the establishment of schools of engineering, building
movement started to be influenced by engineering education and building
knowledge started to change from a “craft” to a “science,” taught and
codified. The regulations issued by the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers
shifted the responsibility of building to graduates of engineering schools
rather than national or foreign craftsmen.
The Architectural Engineering Department is one
of the oldest departments in the Faculty of Engineering. This is attributed
to Mohammed Ail Pasha, founder of modern Egypt, who in 1816 established a
school of engineering with architecture as one of its principal specialties.
Following the foundation of the Egyptian University in 1935, the Royal
School of Engineering joined the university as one of its faculties. Study
of architecture was organized into five academic years and the first class
of Cairo Faculty of Engineering, specialized in architecture graduated in
1936.
In the sixties, the Architecture Department was
separated from the general system of the faculty which comprised an initial
preparatory year. This was considered as first step toward making the
Architecture Department an independent Faculty of Architecture. This action
was in response to the recommendation of the High Council of Literature and
Arts. This recommendation was based upon a belief that architectural
institutes are usually separate from faculties of engineering. However in
1968, a student of architecture was required to study for a preparatory year
similar to students of other departments followed by four years in the
architecture department.
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