New Egyptian Museum
CREDITS
Site: El Cairo. Egypt
Client: Egypt government
Year of Project: 2002
Areas: 60.000m2
LOCATION
DESCRIPTION
International tender for the new Egyptian museum in Cairo to replace the dear old construction in the centre of the city, particularly because the plan was to transfer the new one to Giza near the pyramids (2002). The sumptuous tender programme was highly tempting with all the Egyptian art splendidly laid out. The programme required the museum to offer a range of virtual trails according to the types of visitors. We had something in common with the ancient Egyptians: they built below ground capitalising on sand’s isolating strength, they admired the sun and knew how to direct its rays, they channelled water using its energy and knew how to take advantage of the strength of the wind for domestic purpose. We studied the theme-based historical trails, specialised trails and the five star trails, and we created a model making these trails compatible, placing them on four distinguished levels coinciding with the vertical linking cores. The access tunnel led to the great lobby from which the three pyramids could be seen, reflected in a major lagoon we designed by diverting an existing passage of the Nile which was the cooler for the entire air conditioning system.
