Dialogues between Architecture and Cinema

This talk is a Cinematicture journey between the mother of all arts and the seventh art. From the Hitchcockian Architecture of Kamal El-sheekh to the slums of Khaled Youssef. From the geography of Shady Abdel-Salam to space-time of Ahmed Abd-Allah. From the Float of the chat on the Nile to the roof of Yakoubian. The talk highlights number of academic experiments in architectural theory, criticism and design that took place at Cairo University between 2014 and 2016. The aim was to introduce an interdisciplinary reading of architecture by exploring the architecture/ urbanism of films’ directors. Through these experiments a number of cinematic tools were employed in architecture such as: scenario, camera movement, montage, and special effects of light and sound. Also, cinematic representation tools of affiche, trailer and projection were applied as architectural representation tools that go beyond the ordinary 2D & 3D tools. On the other hand, multiple films were subject of architectural and urban analysis through mapping, time line representation and typological analysis. This dual approach is opened for discussion in this talk.

Lecturer: Raghad Mofeed, Ph.D.
Raghad Mofeed is graduated with a B.Sc. from Cairo University Faculty of Engineering, Egypt. She is currently a Professor of Architectural Theory & Criticism at Cairo University. She has awarded the prize of Excellence in the Post Graduate Studies & Researches from (CAPSCU), Cairo University. She was a corresponding editor of Nexus Network Journal: Architecture and Mathematics. Raghad is interested in exploring and analyzing beauty and aesthetic qualities in the Traditional Islamic Architecture. In addition, she is interested in investigating the representation of architecture in cinema. She has published an Arabic book entitled: A Critique of the Egyptian Architecture in New Towns.