Materials in the Hassan Fathy Archives were previously in the custody of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.  In 1985, while Fathy was alive to advise, that organization began archival processing and photographic documentation, focusing on the architectural drawings.  This led to the publication of a catalog in 1989, shortly before Fathy's death.  In 1992, a plan calling for the creation of a Hassan Fathy Centre of Vernacular Architecture in the Citadel district building that had been his home was set aside, partly because of structural damage from Cairo's October earthquake.  While seeking an alternative solution, the Fathy family moved most of the architect's belongings to temporary offsite storage.  In September 1994, they signed a deed of gift donating the collection to the AUC for its newly opened Rare Books and Special Collections Library, whose Creswell Collection had been the chief research resource of the University's longstanding graduate program in the history of Islamic Art and Architecture.  Before the formal announcement of the gift on November 29, 1994, the fifth anniversary of Fathy's death, the offsite materials were transferred to University storage areas.  In early December, after the Aga Khan Trust for Culture donated the cabinets that held most of the conventionally sized drawings, the transfer of materials from Darb al-Labbana was completed.

Since its donation, the archival staff of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSC) have diligently worked to process and preserve the archive. To date approximately one half of all documents and drawings have been archivally processed and are made available to researchers on a daily basis.

Interest in Hassan Fathy and his professional papers and architectural plans has continued to grow. In December 2002 an exhibit featuring part of the archive opened at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Other exhibits and publications honoring this great Egyptian architect are currently being planned as well as internet/digital access to the archive.

Copyright, The American University in Cairo, May 2002
Updated November, 2002

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