All settlements include a shelter with two to six sleeping rooms, a kitchen, a storeroom, and open verandahs arranged around a central courtyard. Most activities are concentrated in the open courtyard, thus reproducing the living pattern of Nubian villages.
Typical Nubian architecture features such as mud-brick vaults covering the rooms and claustra for the upper parts of walls have been used. It usually takes three to four months to build a shelter because the materials have to be brought by boat to the respective sites.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture