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In November 2008, Jury Member Ursula Schulz-Dornburg visited the village Gourna, close to Thebes, where Hassan Fathy had worked. She could get a glimpse of the former beauty of the adobe work in old mosque windows, but during her visit she also witnessed the forced resettlement of a large number of residents in Gourna from their traditional houses, which were destroyed within a few days. These had not been designed by Fathy but the destruction shows that current building policies in Egypt are entirely at odds with Fathy's vision. The residents were resettled into new and allegedly 'modern' houses - smaller than the old ones, so that people could not even accommodate all their belongings in them.

All Pictures: © Ursula Schulz-Dornburg