Mamoura Mental Care Hospital

Notes

"Built in 1966, the Mamoura Mental-Care Hospital in Alexandria was the third public mental – care institution after El Khanka and El Abbasseya, both in Cairo.
The campus of Mamoura Hospital is very distinguished in terms of its philosophy of architecture, especially when compared to over 20 other hospital designs by architect Salah Zeitoun whose specialisation was the design of medical buildings. The original layout of the campus (550 beds) is spread on an area of approximately seven feddans with a maximum building height of two floors. The simple linear forms of the different buildings are either white washed or reveal exposed brick façades. The different hospital departments are linked together by a network of connecting corridors with plastered brickwork sunscreen side walls providing security and allowing natural daylight penetration in a non-enclosure way.  Nine different large gardens are also included to encourage various groups of patients to spend time outdoors and benefit from the sun and fresh air.
Some of the green spaces have recently been used for further construction developments to house more patients and more specialised units, without taking into consideration the original scheme. However, the overall building height was respected. Unfortunately, the beautiful arrangement of sun-screened corridor walls has largely been replaced with modern fixed iron bars accentuating the prison or cage effect." (May El Tabbakh)

Sources

Ibrahim, Abdelbaki. The Arab Architects: Salah Zeitoun. Center for Architecture and Planning Studies. Masr el-Gidida, 1987, pp. 106-108.

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