4 – 6 de nov. de 2026
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto
Fuso horário Europe/Lisbon

The Mosque as Sphere: Dialogical Openness and Typological Evolution in Cairo

4 de nov. de 2026 10:15
20m
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

Via Panorâmica, s/n 4150-564 Porto Portugal
Comunicação | Paper Arquiteturas Arquiteturas

Palestrante

Axel Velasco Maldonado (UNAM - BTU - Helwan Cairo)

Descrição

This paper engages on the diachronic evolution of architectural typology of the mosque in Cairo and its changing conceptions of community, interiority, and openness, looking to understand such transformations within the broader Mediterranean tradition of religious architecture.

To interpret these transformations, the paper draws on Peter Sloterdijk’s concept of the sphere, which can be understood as an affective and spatial order of collective life. Engaging with the Umm Sultan Sha’ban mosque and the community where it is located, Al-Darb al-Ahmar, as a case study, the paper examines how the mosque’s typological configuration operates as a focal point attracting both Muslim communities and external publics ―tourists, visitors, and neighboring populations― and thus becomes a mediated contact space where internal norms and external influences intersect, echoing broader Mediterranean processes of cultural circulation and architectural adaptation.

Nota biográfica | Short Bio

M. Axel Velasco Maldonado (1994, MX) holds a Master of Arts degree from Brandenburg University of Technology and Helwan University in Cairo (2025). He also holds a degree in Philosophy from UNAM FES Acatlán in Mexico (2022). His research focuses on the philosophy of dwelling (Phänomenologie des Wohnens), the problem of the body, space, and aesthetics.

Palavras-chave | Keywords Sphere, Opennes, Typologicla Evolution, Sloterdijk

Autor

Axel Velasco Maldonado (UNAM - BTU - Helwan Cairo)

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