SCIENCE CITY

HOSPITALITY, CIVIC, COMMERCIAL, CULTURAL

Client The Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Location 6th of October City, Egypt
Program Contemporary science and technology museum, auditorium, black box theater, offices, cafe, store, restaurant, archive, laboratories, exhibition landscape, conference hall
Area 85,000 m² / 914,932 ft²
Status Competition

Three strata define the project in section: a top layer hosts circulation routes and 35,000 square meters of photovoltaics; the middle is split between interior departments and exterior courtyards; and the lowest handles service and parking. Undulating with the existing topography, the monumental canopy shades the excavated space below where the earth’s thermal mass further cools the interior departments and garden courtyards.

TRANSFORMING THE EXISTING DESERT INTO A HABITABLE PARK

Widespread, rammed earth insulation throughout the complex allows for more efficient active cooling, which is achieved sustainably with evacuated solar tube thermal collectors that heat absorption chillers. Rising through the layered canopies, an observation tower is translated through vernacular desert architecture as a stacked and rotated windcatcher, which channels wind from multiple directions to stimulate airflow for the complex below.

PATTERN DETERMINED BY VARYING SCALES OF VOID AND COVERAGE

Like the medinas found in the Nile River Delta, the proposal produces a fine grain fabric conducive to pedestrian circulation, self-shaded gardens, and refuge from the harsh climate. Unlike many cities that extrude vertical skylines from a grid, this proposal explodes a gridded matrix in three-dimensions to support the interpenetrating layers of canopies and courtyards. Formal articulation of the canopy, circulation, interior program, and green space are all generated by a single pattern, which is rotated and offset.