/BIO
El-Taliawi is an architect and researcher based in Cairo. He graduated from the faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo 2007,
after which he embarked on a professional career in the design of earth-based architecture, building with local materials, communities and traditional methods.
Beside his practice, which would extend over 10 years, he assisted in publishing a
book about appropriate building practices in South Sinai 2010. He co-founded
Boldan 2014, an initiative for the
documentation of vernacular heritage through building with people and earth. By 2017, this practice would culminate in building workshops across different cities in Egypt and in international collaborations
across the Mediterranean. He held the position of Design Manager for Tasmimat design studio 2014-2017, and Architectural Consultant
for the project to develop protected areas in Egypt
2017-2019.
Through environmentally and
culturally sensitive building interventions, the project would design, build and manage visitor infrastructure developments across 7 natural reserves in Cairo and South Sinai. In parallel, he continues to undertake freelance architectural design commissions and invitations for collaboration.
El-Taliawi holds an MA in Architectural History from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, 2020; his dissertation was titled Grids and Paragraphs: Parallel Transformations in in the Text and the City in Late 19th Century Cairo. He also holds an MSc in Architectural Design from Politecnico di Milano, 2013; his thesis project was titled Stitching Voids: Architecture as Infrastructure in West Side New York. He held various academic positions, as researcher at AUC, architecture design TA at AAST in Cairo, and briefly in City College New York. He held a Beyond Architecture workshop titled Meaning in Contradiction with Megawra in Cairo 2014, and was on Mahatat’s Advisory Board in 2017, and has exhibited with Mashrabeyya Gallery in Cairo in the same year, and with the Bartlett’s Site-Writing exhibition as part of the Bloomsbury Festival in London 2020. He had extensive experience in mapping and cartography, working with Tarek Naga on the mapping and documentation of the Memphis Necropolis in Giza 2010, and with Shehab Fakhry Ismail on Cairo’s historical cartography (1809-1920) for Al-Madaq 2020. He has written articles on architecture and the city in Cairobserver and Jadaliyya, and has translated a book on Maspero triangle by Madd Platform. Since 2011, El-Taliawi has also maintained a writing practice through his blog Becoming Taliawi.
El-Taliawi’s writings are informed by his training as an architect. He is therefore interested in the interrelations between language and architecture. At the moment, he is preparing to pursue doctoral studies in the history and theory of architecture.
[1] Underlined texts are hyperlinks that direct the reader towards further relevant material online.
[2] For further versions of this bio, please /click here.
El-Taliawi holds an MA in Architectural History from the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, 2020; his dissertation was titled Grids and Paragraphs: Parallel Transformations in in the Text and the City in Late 19th Century Cairo. He also holds an MSc in Architectural Design from Politecnico di Milano, 2013; his thesis project was titled Stitching Voids: Architecture as Infrastructure in West Side New York. He held various academic positions, as researcher at AUC, architecture design TA at AAST in Cairo, and briefly in City College New York. He held a Beyond Architecture workshop titled Meaning in Contradiction with Megawra in Cairo 2014, and was on Mahatat’s Advisory Board in 2017, and has exhibited with Mashrabeyya Gallery in Cairo in the same year, and with the Bartlett’s Site-Writing exhibition as part of the Bloomsbury Festival in London 2020. He had extensive experience in mapping and cartography, working with Tarek Naga on the mapping and documentation of the Memphis Necropolis in Giza 2010, and with Shehab Fakhry Ismail on Cairo’s historical cartography (1809-1920) for Al-Madaq 2020. He has written articles on architecture and the city in Cairobserver and Jadaliyya, and has translated a book on Maspero triangle by Madd Platform. Since 2011, El-Taliawi has also maintained a writing practice through his blog Becoming Taliawi.
El-Taliawi’s writings are informed by his training as an architect. He is therefore interested in the interrelations between language and architecture. At the moment, he is preparing to pursue doctoral studies in the history and theory of architecture.
[1] Underlined texts are hyperlinks that direct the reader towards further relevant material online.
[2] For further versions of this bio, please /click here.