Founder & Chair of Megawra-Built Environment Collective
May al-Ibrashy is an Egyptian architectural engineer, the co-founder and principal of Megawra and chair of Megawra-Built environment collective (BEC).[1] Al-Ibrashy works on community engagement projects through heritage conservation, rehabilitation, preservation, and re-signification centered in Cairo's marginalized communities.[2]
Education
Al-Ibrashy was born in Cairo in 1970. She obtained a degree in architectural engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo.[3] She continued her education to complete a master's in the history of Islamic Art, architecture, and archaeology from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) followed by a PhD in archaeology, also at SOAS.[3] Her thesis, The Southern Cemetery of Cairo from the 14th century to the present: an urban history of a living cemetery, focused on themes which have subsequently formed the basis of her career.[4]
Career
Al-Ibrashy began her career working as an architect and a professor prior to co-founding Megawra, an Egyptian non-governmental organization architectural practice in 2011.[5] Alongside her work for Megawra, she continues to work as a lecturer in Architecture at the American University in Cairo and at Cairo University, as well as a Professor of Practice in Islamic Architecture at SOAS.[6][3] In 2012, Megawra partnered with the Built Environment Collective (BEC), an engineering and design consultancy.[5] The combined group, Megawra-BEC, works as an architectural firm and non-governmental organization with a focus on sustainable and socially-responsible heritage restoration across Cairo.[2][7] In the same year, al-Ibrashy began the Athar Lina (Heritage is Ours!) initiative, in partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.[3] al-Ibrashy's fieldwork engages with the communities in the Al-Khalifa district in Sayeda Zeinab, Al Hattaba district, and Al-Imam Al-Shafii district through participatory conservation initiatives,[8] with the aim of encouraging the marginalized communities’ sense of ownership of their historic environments.[9] A specific focus of al-Ibrashy's work is with children and young people in Cairo’s economically-deprived neighborhoods,[10] and she has worked in the Northern Cemetery in Cairo.[11] Al-Ibrashy has lectured widely, both in Egypt and abroad.[12][13][14]
Publications
Books
Citizen Participation in Historic Cairo, The Ford Foundation (2020)[15]
Conservation and Management Plan Al-Khalifa Street Area, ISBN 978-977-90-8236-3, The Ford Foundation (2020)[16]
معايير التصميم في القاهرة التاريخية - Historic Cairo Intervention Toolkit, ISBN 978-977-90-8235-6[17] (2020)
خطة الحفاظ والإدارة - منطقة شارع الخليفة, The Ford Foundation (2020)
Papers
Closing Keynote Speech-May al-Ibrashy-Heritage as a driver for development: Athar Lina Initiative in Historic Cairo, AUC Knowledge Foundation (2020)
The cultural heritage of Egypt's cities (2021)
Heritage in the Street: Megawra | BEC’s Athar Lina Initiative in Historic Cairo, ISSN 2206-9658, City Space Architecture[18] (2021)
Design with the Senses and for the Senses: An Alternative Teaching Model for Design Studio, International Journal of Architectural Research[19] (2010)
The history of the Southern Cemetery of Cairo from the 14th century to the present : an urban study of a living cemetery (2005)
Editorial contribution
Funambulist Magazine, Cairo: Hope is the thing with feathers[1] (2020)
^ abEl Gibaly, Lara (March 7, 2017). "Megawra: Making sure heritage is a resource, not a burden: An architect, a historian and a storyteller walk into a shrine…". Madamasr. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
^al-Ibrashy, May. “Heritage in the Street: Megawra | BEC’s Athar Lina Initiative in Historic Cairo.” The Journal of Public Space, no. Vol. 6 n. 1 (2021): 241–56. doi:10.32891/JPS.V6I1.1462.
^al-Ibrashy, May and Tammy Gaber. “Design with the senses and for the senses: An alternative teaching model for design studio” International Journal of Architectural Research: Archnet-IJAR 4 (2010): 359-375.