New Gourna is a village designed in the late 1940s by Hassan Fathy, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century architecture. Fathy used traditional mud-brick construction, domed roofs, and malqaf windcatchers to create cool, comfortable houses without modern materials or energy — a response to what he saw as the alienating modernism being imposed on Egyptian villages.
The village is on the West Bank, close to the road leading to the temples. Many of the original buildings survive, though in varying states of repair. Walking through the streets gives a sense of Fathy's vision: graceful vaulted spaces, shaded courtyards, houses shaped around the particular quality of Egyptian light and heat. The village is a pilgrimage site for architects; for everyone else it is an unusual and thought-provoking contrast to the ancient sites nearby. A small museum is sometimes open in the main building.