Science City International Competition

Science City International Competition Involved in the Concept Generation Phase as a local designer Location: 6th of October City, Cairo, Egypt Involved parties: BLOC Consultants, Hans “ETH Zurich”, Omar Elmelegy “MSA University”

Surrounding land use

Residential Development

Power Plant

MSA University

Science City Site

• Remarks considering the site

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Contrast In Architectural Style Acts as a barrier in terms of site outlook

MSA University Picture no.4 Residential Development

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Picture no.2

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Undetermined piece of land

Level difference (Contour) Main Entrance to the Site •

Unwelcoming Entrance as it passes through several barriers on the way in

Power Plant Picture no.3

Picture no.5

Picture no.1

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Zero Access From Wahat road (picture no.6)

Main Remarks considering the site visit on the 17th of May

Main Entrance to the Site Picture no.1 Current Entrance Suggested entrance

Site Accessibility • The accessibility to the site is devastating as the visitor has to pass by a number of potential barriers (internal secondary roads, residential areas and a hidden/twisted entrance) to finally have access to the site.

• Wahat Rd. provides a simple yet an effective solution to this problem

Working In an interdisciplinary team from different backgrounds brought up an additional layer of rethinking Cairo

How can we define the Identity of Cairo today?

What is the logic behind todays Cairo?

What's the vision of the newly elected president of Egypt?

What's the vision of the newly elected president of Egypt?

First I had to explain the current situation in Cairo

“Cairo is a mega city, over 15 million in population. Yet Cairo exceeds other developing cities in one aspect: Informal Urban Development. The percentage of informal Cairo to greater Cairo is almost 65%(Sims, 2010). Revolutions often produces conditions of clarity; however the Egyptian revolution of January 2011 produced conditions of complexity in the sociopolitical conditions as well as the urban landscape of Cairo.

Youth are taking control of their needs in how the city needs to be evolved (ECDC,2015). The revolution was clearly an urban revolution par excellence.”

The question is what is the role of architecture and sustainability in the context of representing democracy and how does that reflect on architectural spaces?

How will “Science City” mark the identity of 6th of October city?

Within this shifting context, new urban measures should be considered when planning for the future of Egypt.

17/20 on the mostly populated megacitie s list.

Coming before other cities like New York and London yet Cairo seems more compact.

Urban Area: 15.6 million people Population density: 8,900 people per square kilometer

What's the Logic Behind the existing identity of Egypt?

Community Necessities and priorities affect the City’s Formulation and Function.

Early Civilization - PreIndusrialization: the pivot points were mainly agriculture and climate utilization.

5.5% Built up area

However, Priorities shift throughout time; Egypt was pretentious by several conflicting systems that catalyzed the Urban mutation leading to todays Cairo.

Cairo was always a platform of experimentation and researching Constantly evolving

Ancient Egypt

Coptic

Islamic

British

Turkish

PostIndustri alizatio n

21st century

The boundaries were set then Let the people Experiment

Informal Modularity

‫‪ARCHITECTURE OF A CIVILIZATION: IDENTITY AND THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY‬‬

‫ماذا أبقاك هنا يا طين‬ ‫األرض السوداء‬ ‫ماذا أبقاك فلم تهرب إلى‬ ‫أرصفة البحر‬ ‫أبقانى جرح فى األعماق‬ ‫محفور فى صلبى ينزف‬ ‫عشبًا لألغنام‬ ‫وصغا ًرا لألرحام ‪.‬‬

ARCHITECTURE OF A CIVILIZATION: IDENTITY AND THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY Urbanism Architecture Identity Power

Egyptian architecture has constantly been in the state of metamorphosis, following several architectural models through the course of history starting from the Ancient Egyptian civilization to Coptic, Islamic grounds and finally today‟s survival architecture.

Nevertheless, the main points of concern shifted from each period to the Architectural Form takes place as a result of the culture and beliefs. The Identity of cities is closely connected with the collective and cultural memory of the city inhabitants.

„this is a great place‟ - „this is a great Space‟ : While a space may have physical dimensions, it is intensity that gives place its potency and its primacy

This simple Collage represents the Identity of Cairo. Cairo isn't about the informal agglomerations nor the spatial qualities of these areas.

Cairo has a chaotic morphology that leads back to a social logic according to hierarchy in the power chain and their needs. This Quality represents a great potential in todays Cairo.

Local Labors

Scientific Researchers

Sustainable Construction

Collaborate Experiment Take part in science city

Engineering Companies

University Students

What are the “Needs” of the 21st century?

A project that responds to the needs of this century

Scientific Innovation Climate Change Mitigation and adaptation Creating Job opp. and Local investments Industrial Advancement Agricultural advancement Community participation Universal allocation and national identity

Application According to the Project Program TOR Requirements

Identity of Cairo

Modularity

Incremental Structure

State Of Flux/Chaotic

Experimental Patches

Local Power and community partic.

Compact

Phasing

Research and scientific Exciting

Everchanging

Encouraging Agricultural Innovation

Local NGO’s

Industrial Innovation

Sustainable Construction

Creating Job opportun ities

Climate adaptation

Engineering Innovation

Encouraging students and researchers to innovate

Contributing to the surrounding context

Scientific Innovation

Resource Utilization/ sustainable

Accumulated Densification

Modular Gadgets

Slabs

Dynamic Science park

Conceptual Section

Flexibility

Modularity

Science City will give equal opportunities to all individuals and sectors to take part in this great happening. With its modular gadget structure, building technologies can be replaced upgraded when necessarily representing the ever evolving nature of science city. Accordingly, different community members (students, researchers, companies) can take part in this upgrade.

Phase 1 Completed

Phase 2 The structure is built Which could be used by other community Layers (Ex:event planners)

Science park is a dynamic layer that moves within the structure of the buildings