Urban Planning in Ancient Egypt

Introduction

More than 4000 years ago, the story begins with the village life of farming and animal husbandry in the highlands above the Nile Valley. With especially the influence of their religion and believes, there was created one of the most significant cities in the history of architecture.

Ancient Egypt has many features when compared with the other civilisations in that time. This superiority comes with a denser population and their higher level of social development. When we compare the social context of Ancient Egypt and other civilisations in such an early stage, we can easy observe the sophisticated level of culture, art and architecture.

Until the recorded history, Egypt governed and ruled separately: as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. At the very end of what we had called in the last chapter the Protoliterate Period, that is about 3000 B.C., King Menes of the Upper Egypt invaded the north and unified the country.(1) This unification and setting a new capital at Memphis coincide was a significant event for the people of the region. People had to make some changes with their dwellings and hence it lead them to have a great improvement on the Egyptian architecture. Then, the pharaohs and builders were started to involved more with the idea of “urban planning” and design their cities as proper settlements.

Defining Urban Planning

Urban planning designs the settlements from the smallest towns to the largest cities, from the past to today. It can be defined as designing the layout of the city considering the technical, political and social concerns. Haverfield defines urban planning as an art of laying out towns.(2) It guidesthe settlements in a more orderly way and brings an order to the city in many aspects and provide the efficient layout for the comfort of inhabitants.

As a dictionary definition, urban planning means “design and regulation of the uses of space that focus on the physical form, economic functions, and social impacts of the urban environment and on the location of different activities within it.”(3)

In today’s approach to the urban planning the focal points are more about industrial and commercial efficiency. As the density of the population increases and with the effect of the industrialism the forms of the cities have altered. People are started to settle with regarding to those issues. According to Trigger, however, the social dynamics of ancient states were quite different from those of modern states.(4)

Throughout the history, settlements are always located by the water; in order to produce, to eat and to make their livings easier. At the earlier stages of the human civilisation,

the necessity of planning the city came from the demand of achieving maximum usage of the land, water and the other natural resources. People choosing watersides to settle can be the simplest and most obvious example for this demand.

Therefore in the history, the purpose of city planning is the optimum usage of the land and resources in order to locate the settlements accurately. Urban planning also aims to improve the usage of the land, water and other natural suppliers.

On the other hand, one should not forget that urban planning is not only resulted by the land and its characteristics but also it has shaped according to some political aspects. Some might resulted from the deliberate actions of ancient rulers and their architects. Those plans, buildings and more importantly monuments conveys some meanings and communicate various kinds of messages. Briefly, the urban planning might not just about the land itself but have an intention by the ruler.

Urban Planning in Ancient Egypt and its References

The coordinated arrangements describes that every individual architecture features in a city take their references from one another, they arranged and constructed in that way. (5) For instance, all structures in a city may share a common orientation.

One of the reasons behind such planning
could came from the intention of the ruler, as it’s mentioned above. Capital cities in ancient states typically combined formality with monumentality. It is obvious that when one thinks about the Ancient Egypt the first thing comes to the mind is Egyptian Pyramids: which are considered to be the world’s oldest monumental structures. The significance of pyramids for Egyptians cannot be underestimated in terms of neither religious nor political sides: since ancient kings built huge pyramids, palaces and other monuments to promote some ideological messages. In a very similar aspect, Smith believes that “The specific purpose of ancient rulers, many architectural and spatial features of ancient cities served to communicate middle-level meanings.” The term “middle-level meaning” means that the concern of the transmission of messages about identity, status and power.

However, the common orientation among the architectural features of the city does not necessarily imply central planning due to monumental structures, because the other factors such as topography and natural resources could produce a same pattern. In the case of Ancient Egypt, this factor is directly related with the Nile River.

The Nile River has played an extremely important role in the civilization, life and history of the Egyptian nation. As indigenous people, Ancient Egyptians make their livings from the village life: the farming and animal husbandry. And hence Nile means the source of most of the water and fertile soil.

Providing better climatic and habitable conditions were the major factors to

encourage Egyptians for a development of civilisation in the Nile Valley.(6) To the Egyptians, Nile was the life and the desert was the death, that’s why they choose the Nile Valley to be settled. “Then in time it is transformed into a sophisticated pattern of river settlements based on controlled irrigation.”(7)

The main fact of the common orientation in Ancient Egypt is having located with respect to the Nile River. Therefore; the Nile acts as an axis: a great axis that ran for hundreds of miles. “

In one sense, everything along the banks was linked to everything else by the Nile axis. That was the major highway of the country. (8) The general layout of the settlements are the things ran along the Nile and right angles to it. So the Egypt can be defined as an orthogonal city with axes, straight lines, paths and right angles.

Orthogonal Layouts

Orthogonality or the “grid” pattern describes the use of right angles in the layout of buildings and cities.(9) As in Ancient Egyptian plans have the same approach, they can be labeled as orthogonal region.

Most urban historians identify planned cities through the presence of orthogonal layouts.(10) Because they believed that orthogonality is the most sophisticated way to design a urban layout. Though there are degrees of orthogonality as we can observe the examples from another settlements.

For instance there exists a pattern which resembles orthogonality but does not reflect a perfect orthogonal grid. Some historians named it as “semi-orthogonal urban blocks”. It occurs in dense settlements in which each individual house abuts one or more other houses, such as Çatal Höyük and at numerous densely settled ancient cities. (11)

This kind of a layout results from the individuals who make their dwellings as an addition to an existing structure. So not only the political powers originate an urban planning but also the simple factors generate those patterns.

According to the Barry Kemp’s study in order to clarify the levels of the orthogonality, there compared two examples of urban planning: as a simulated urban growth pattern (a) and urban blocks at Amarna, Egypt. (b)

The reason why semi-orthogonal plans occur is distortion of the layout according to the differentiations of the topography or some natural factors. So that there occurs more than one orthogonally planned zones in a single city.

However, those kinds of alterations do not mean that the urban planning of the Ancient Egyptian cities were less organised or less developed. On the other hand pyramid town of Kahun provides perfectly orthogonal plan in a modular way.

Ancient Egyptians using orthogonal layout might also be resulted from the general geometrical approach in the Egyptian cities. Of course the main reason must be the shape of the Nile River, but they were also unfamiliar with the circular shapes. Only thing they know and are familiar was the 90 degreed layouts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the various kinds of urban planning at the ancient ages resulted from more than one reasons. In the case of Ancient Egypt we can connect the urban planning with the actions of ancient pharaohs and the topographical conditions. And hence the Ancient Egyptians were practised this system with the orthogonal layout, which they became very successful.

Geometric master plans were unique to Egypt at this early date.(12) It proves how Ancient Egyptians improve themselves in architecture and urbanisation. Using such plans created by individual pharaohs were like the evidence for that improvement. As Joseph Rykwert said that before: “All the great civilisations practice orthogonal planning”(13)

Sources

1. Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
2. Haverfield, Ancient Town Planning, (London: Oxford at the Clarendon Press. 1913) p.5
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica / Urban Planning
4. Trigger, Bruce G., Understanding Early Civilisations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
5. Smith, Michael E., Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities: A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning, (Arizona State University) p.8
6. Butzer, Karl W. “Geo-archeological interpretation of Acheulian calc-pan sites at Doornlaagte and Rooidam (Kimberley, South Africa).” Journal of Archaeological Science 1.1 (1974): p. 9
7. Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. p. 67
8. Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. p. 70
9. Keith D. Lilley, Urban Life in the Middle Ages 1000-1450 (New York: Palgrave, 2002)
10. Smith, Michael E., Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities: A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning, (Arizona State University) p.12
11. Smith, Michael E., Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities: A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning, (Arizona State University) p.15-16
12. Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture, (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)
13. Joseph Rykwert, The Idea of a Town: The Antropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World

Exhibition: Sivil Mimari Bellek

For our History of Architecture course we were assigned to visit and analyse the exhibition: “Sivil Mimari Bellek Ankara 1930-1980“, which was held in Cankaya Cagdas Sanatlar Merkezi, Ankara. The exhibition contains more than a hundred residential buildings which have constructed between the years 1930-1980. Each building is an important example considering its contributions to the modernization process in Turkey. With its chronological order, the architectural evolution after the declaration of Republic of Turkey can easily be observed through the exhibition.

Most of the examples reflect the common approaches of its era. In the very early examples, pure geometrical shapes are mostly used and reflects the power of using a single mass. Also the cubical forms can be seen in these structures.

Then the influences of the modernization period have increased. The usage of more complex geometrical shapes has appeared. Through this period, most of the buildings were planned as the juxtaposition of two or three geometrical masses. Moreover, the principles of modern design met the urban planning.

“Soysal Apartmani” is a good example of the reflection of the social and political environment to the architectural design. The building contains lots of public spaces including a movie theater. The private spaces and the public spaces located separately. Containing both spaces reminded me of the design approaches of Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation.

One of the most common approaches is the usage of balconies, as a both functional and design element. The repetition of the balconies have added to the building and changed their static appearance into a dynamic one; and gives the building a horizontal impression.

The general design of the façades generally focuses on creating a balance. Such balance has achieved through using both vertical and horizontal elements; and both masses and voids together. The technique of adding and subtracting some volumes from the building is also used and help to be achieved more balanced structures.

The material of balcony parapets, strip windows and usage of different materials create a great horizontal effect on the facades of the buildings.

In general, the layout of the structures, the setting, the design and construction methods are somehow reflects the social and political environment in Ankara. It is more possible and convenient to construct more simple structures with maximum 4 floors and use the area as afficient as possible when considering the economic conditions in that time. After the late 40’s, when the Second World War ends, the different materials, unusual shapes and ornaments are started to used more commonly. The luxury residentals for the upper class are also started to emerge in that era with more extraordinary designs.

“Mardin Evi”(below) is a great example of this transition. It is an asymmetrical volume with some unusual shapes. It is a new attempt of design. It is not like the entire space separated into sub-spaces, but the union of sub-spaces.

One of the extraordinary structures is “Ozkanlar Apartmani”, mostly known as the “Gemi Ev”. It is one of the most important examples that brings the organic forms and solid geometrical forms together. It has very innovative approaches when the date of construction taking into consideration.

To sum up, the general characteristics of the examples is to have a smooth planning approaches, with balanced volumes. The façade designs are unique and also balanced in terms of horizontality-verticality with balconies, windows and some ornaments. And the areas have been used so efficiently and functional, which can be directly connected to the socio-economic status of that time. I believe the exhibition is really helpful for us to understand the urban identity of the city we live and realize what is actually around us. My aspect will totally change to the buildings I pass through every single day but do not actually see. And it is surprising that the buildings that I thought have built ten years ago are actually from at least 40 years ago, so I think it proves how innovative these examples are.

The Architecture of Ancient Egypt

More than 4000 years ago, the story begins with the village life of farming and animal husbandry, in the highlands above the Nile Valley. With especially the influence of their religion and believes, there was created one of the most significant structures in the history of architecture.

My great admiration for Egyptian monuments and spending some time there definitely forced me choose that topic from the book ”A History of Architecture” by Spiro Kostof. From now on I will be focused on this by studying both this text and further readings, finally at the end of semester we are required to write a term-paper about the particular point we picked in this topic.

Until the recorded history, Egypt governed and ruled separately: as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Then, King Menes of the Upper Egypt invaded the north and unified the country; which is a significant event for the people of the region and hence creates a great improvement on the Egyptian architecture. So the actual monumental architectural pieces in Egypt, comes after this political and social chaos. The country developed a unique articulate stone architecture: such as the great examples of Saqqara and Giza. It can also be named as monumental temple architecture, since most of the structures constructed for worship and commemorate the pharaoh.

Egyptian people has very unique believes about death; for them, death means being born again. They believe one’s tomb must be like one’s house, in both literal and figurative way. The tomb should provide the direct imitation of the buried person’s possessions, needs and wants. Therefore, as a high culture, Egypt was obsessed with the preservation and provisioning of the dead body. Each and every funerary architectural structure was motivated by the belief that if the material needs of the corpse are supplied, it could continue to function normally forever. And no corpse was more privileged than that of the god-king: the royal tomb.

At Saqqara the royal tombs were more complicated. It’s a huge and high rectangular structure, has a subsidiary rooms for holding the owner’s possessions. And the layout of the tomb has the exact shape of the actual palace of the king. The king was considered buried under the floor of his house. As the time goes by, the features of these early dynastic tombs are changed. Later on they put a small mortuary temple and a wooden boat to carry pharaoh across the heavens and accompany the sun-god Re.

The exterior order of the complex is also well-designed. It has only one real entrance at the southeast corner of the enclosure. It leads into a long corridor with half coloumn-half wall elements, carries a stone ceiling. This ceiling has slits on the particular positions, which can be considered as the earliest known case of clerestory lighting. This corridor opens to a large court contains a solid wall, used for hiding the secondary tomb which contains the burial place of the king’s entrails, which were customarily removed from the corpse before the mummification.

In Egypt, most of the structures, tombs, walls made out of stone. Therefore the first interpretation of brick, timber and plant forms of the Egyptian Architecture has done in the hard medium of Tura Limestone.

And the most distinctive feature of the monuments, structures or generally the Egyptian Architecture is being orthogonal; with straight lines and paths. Basically, everything was linked by the Nile axis, which was the major highway of the country. Things ran along the Nile River, mostly at right angles to it. It has a very sophisticated orthogonal planning that, curved walls or circular building are almost unknown in the ancient architecture of Egypt. Geometric master plans are unique to Egypt at this early date.