Sunday, December 21, 2008

Learning From A Master


My neighbour decided that it was time to finish building his house and put a second story on it to provide a study for his wife and a spare bedroom. The project was complicated by the fact that when his built the first floor, he'd put a dome over the living room to help circulate the air and to evacuate the hot air that we are so good at collecting during the summer. He decided to remove the dome on the first floor and add one to the second floor immediate over the original to do the same job and to create a sort of atrium.

His design was very clever since he planned the stairs to be built outside so that all the work could be done without breaking into the part of the house that he was living in during the construction. The final thing to be done would be to break the original dome and put a railing around the space where it had been. He brought the same master bricklayer who had built the original dome to build the new one and Tuha, the bricklayer, brought his son to help and to learn how to do the work.

Tuha is a marvel. He built my barbecue for me, entire buildings for others and a gorgeous barbecue for a neighbour. You describe what it is that you want and he simply constructs it free hand. After watching ordinary construction workers, you realise that you are watching an artist. The only way to learn to do this is by doing it and his son is learning the family business after spending a number of years in school to learn to read and write. While this may seem strange, it does make some sense since the schools in the countryside are really nothing that marvelous and having a skill like his father's will assure him a good living.

Tuha, having built the main dome, put his son to work on the smaller dome for the stair well. Under his guidance the boy learned how to place the bricks precisely in place to create a slowly decreasing circle of brick that would form the dome. They work from the center of the dome standing on a wooden platform that closes the space beneath them. This platform will be removed when the dome is completed. This method of construction is the traditional architecture of Egypt and is cheaper than the non-traditional forms. A building made with the domes and barrel vaults from brick without concrete columns cannot easily be built upon to make a second floor, however, so many people like my neighbour mix it with the modern construction, making use of the air conditioning features of the dome and vault. And it never hurts that they are beautiful as well.

copyright 2008 Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

6 comments:

MsTypo said...

I love that kids learning their skills from previous generations. Thanks for the interesting post! :)

Connie said...

One of the few things I remember my mom yelling at my dad for when I was a kid, was when I was about 8yo... she came home to find me up on the roof installing shingles, dad was down on the ground, manning the BBQ grill and having a beer. See, I had asked my Dad to BBQ for dinner... but he had to finish the roof... he wasn't going to teach an 8yo how to use the grill, but I knew how to hammer nails, wasn't afraid of heights, all he had to do was explain the technique for laying shingles... so, we were all set for a new roof AND BBQ with this teamwork, right? Until mom got home and freaked out about her baby being on the roof. BBQ was started, rain was on the way... mom lost that argument because she couldn't help finish either job. I am happy for all I learned about hands-on work while standing beside my father.

I love the domes on the houses and buildings too.

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Mel said...

Absolutely facinating. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! I've been reading your blog for awhile now, but saw an article about your farm today in the NYT online!

I lived in Maadi as a teenager back in the mid-60s and had planned to contact you if/when I am able to travel to Egypt again--but after this article, you'll be booked up!

Anonymous said...

It's interesting the see how the kid is holding the traditional level (leveler) not a sophisticated one that is sold at Home Depot! Very interesting
Diaa