Location

You will find Design With Nature in Egypt, Fayoum oasis, Tunis village 95 km s/w of Cairo 29°23’58.93″N, 30°29’11.90″O truly a beautyful location for this earth architecture mudbrick house.

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Site

• Egypt, Fayoum oasis, Tunis village 95 km s/w of Cairo. 29°23’58.93″N, 30°29’11.90″O;
• Tunis is a small village situated south west of Lake Qarun (-46 m sealevel) in the Fayoum around 95 km south west of Cairo;
• It is built on high sand ground (-17 meter sealevel), overlooking the lower farmland (-35 meter sealevel);
• Agriculture area with many local farmers who live close to nature but need training and awareness in organic agriculture;
• Some infrastructure has been done already on site which can work very well for the project;

• Community of local farmers are tolerant with immigrants from Cairo and abroad;
• The location is therefore excellent as in this village is a starting community of artists specially potters who work with and train the local villagers;
• There is Fayoum Art Centre, Caricature Museum, Egyptian Photography Museum;
• Recently opened an ecolodge, several small guesthouses, bead & breakfast and a hotel.

Tunis village

The small village of Tunis (‘izbat Tunis) which has only unpaved lanes is unique. On a sand hill in Fayoum oasis in Egypt, surrounded by fertile farmlands, a superb view on the large salt water lake Qarun and endless desert.

It is one of the most beautiful locations in Egypt and people are amazingly hospitable.

Discovered in the sixties by two famous Egyptian poets and has since evolved into an artists’ colony.

In the 1980s, Evelyne Porret, a potter from Switzerland, moved here with her husband Michel Pastore and built a house and pottery studio. She was the first potter in the village and trained many of the local children in the craft of pottery. Several of her students ended up creating their own pottery studio.

Over the last thirty years, artists, painters, writers, journalists and others from Cairo and elsewhere, have built mudbrick houses in the village in Nubian earth architecture style with local materials, as well as an Art Center, which all contribute to Tunis’ lively artistic feel.

Today, the village counts a pottery school, ten pottery studios and hosts an annual Pottery Festival.

Tunis offers several guest houses and home stays, as well as a wide range of activities from bird watching to horse riding.

Atmosphere in Tunis village

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