Identifying design attributes of public buildings to reflect changing political ideologies of the Egyptian government

Architecture has been used for ages to represent power, authority, political ideology, national identity, and various regimes and governments. After the January 25, 2011 revolution, Egyptian government witnessed a change in political ideology. This study aimed to investigate public perceptions on desirable physical attributes of Egyptian government buildings that can convey the political ideology of democracy. Two underlying dimensions of democracy were addressed in this study: openness, and human rights. These dimensions were investigated through a survey consisting of five questions across forty photographs of government buildings from around the world. The survey was administered to students in two prominent government universities in Cairo: Al Qahira and Ain Shams University. Visual content analysis of top and bottom five ranked building photographs across the five questions was conducted. Analysis found that Physical attributes of government buildings that convey democracy through openness and human rights are interdependent and intrinsically related. The main concept appears to be situated within the creation of an “Engaging”, “Seductive”, and “Expressive” building design. These concepts are also interdependent and overlap in the attributes which represent them. Each of these concepts can be realized through manipulating a number of the related attributes and characteristics.

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