Manifestations scientifiques
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Les conférences de l’Ifao
Le mercredi 14 mars 2018 à 18h00 (heure du Caire), IFAO 
Houses and Lives of Bigge: New understandings of Nubian Vernacular Architecture
Bernadeta Schaefer
Langue : anglais.
Nubia extends from modern Aswan in Egypt to south of Khartoum in Sudan. As a result of the construction of the Aswan Dam, most civil architecture of Nubia was destroyed by inundation. Only a few specialists interested in vernacular Nubian architecture were able to document fragments of its original richness.
By a fortunate coincidence, on the island of Bigge, trapped between the dams of Aswan, two abandoned Nubian villages have been preserved in a highly authentic state until our times. The earliest fabric of the villages originates from 1912‒30 and since 2015 has been the subject of investigations by the German Archaeological Institute Cairo and Berlin University of Technology in a unique combination of the disciplines of building history and ethnoarchaeology.
The objective of these investigations is the documentation and the analysis of the principles of spatial organisation and the constructive characteristics of Nubian vernacular architecture as a framework of life in a rural community. Marked by changes in the natural habitat due to the construction of the High Dam and the increasing occupational migration of the men, the living conditions and social structures, and along with them the architecture of Bigge began to undergo a transformation away from traditional patterns. This process was interrupted by the abandonment of the island. Leftover buildings and equipment provide insights into the processes inherent in the evolution of vernacular architecture in general.
Bernadeta Schaefer is an Assistant Professor at the Chair for History of Architecture and Urbanism at Berlin Institute of Technology.
She is a Conservation architect, building archaeologist, timber specialist. Her Scientific interests are various and among them: secular architecture, vernacular architecture, rural structures, natural construction materials.
Les conférences de l’Ifao
Les conférences de l'Ifao ont pour objectif la transmission des résultats des recherches en cours ou très récentes, par des chercheurs confirmés. Y sont conviés essentiellement les chercheurs impliqués dans les différentes opérations scientifiques de l'Ifao lors de leur passage par l'Institut. ِElles sont également parfois le lieu de présentation d'ouvrages récemment parus à l'Ifao par leurs autheurs. Les conférences de l'Ifao ont lieu traditionnellement le mercredi à 18h, en français ou en anglais.
IFAO Lectures series aim to transmit the results of current or very recent research by confirmed researchers. They are mainly animated by researchers involved in IFAO's various scientific programs and projects during their stay at the Institute. They are also sometimes the occasion for presentations, by their authors, of books recently published by the IFAO.
IFAO Lectures series are traditionally held on Wednesdays at 6 p.m., in French or English.