Salt Architecture

Pigeon houses are perhaps one of the most understudied forms of architecture. Even more unknown is the knowledge and science surrounding their intention. One of the oldest known structures, pigeon houses across the Middle East and North Africa have contributed significantly to their architecture heritage. First and foremost, these were communication towers, where magneto-recepting pigeons exchanged messages between cities, countries and continents. These towers act as a device for agriculture, food, security, and fertilization. The vernacular character of pigeon houses across the region is consistent, and has few iterations. Those ones who continue its craft and tacit knowledge are local craftsmen.

In this workshop, we shall attempt to construct a Pigeon tower following examples from Siwa, a salt Lake District on the western part of Egypt bordering Libya. We are going to work with salt, clay, bricks, wooden beams, and the knowhow of Siwani Craftsmen who across generations continue this tradition of non pedigreed architecture.