German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program
Bachelor Thesis 2019
Envisioning the New Capital HEADQUARTERS
Tarek Ahmed Saleh
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German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program
Bachelor Thesis 2019 Envisioning the New Capital
Author:
TAREK AHMED SALEH
Supervisor
Assoc.Prof Hussam Salama
Teacher Assistants
B.SC. Neveen Farrag B.SC. Rana Tarek B.SC. Reem Ashraf
Examination Committee:
Arch. Raef Fahmi CEO of Raef Fahmi Architects Prof. Dr. Rita Pinto de Freitas Prof.Dr. in the German University in Cairo Assist. Prof. Sherif Mourad Assist.Prof. in the American University in Cairo Prof. Dr. Yasser Mahgoub Prof.Dr. in the American University in Cairo
Examination Date: 29.05.2019 Submission Date: 19.06.2019
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German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program
This is to certify that: 1. this thesis comprises only my original work towards the Bachelor Degree 2. due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used
TAREK AHMED SALEH 37-9528 19.06.2019
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Contents
Declaration Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Space Program
II 01 02 03 04
Design References a. The Site b. Master Plan c. Business District d. Plot 10
05 06-08 09-10 11-12
Project Design a. Problem Definition b. Concept and Form Finding c. Final Proposal Critical review and Conclusion
13 14-15 16-29 30
References a. List of Figures b. Bibliography
31 32
Appendix: a. Phase 1 b. Phase 2 c. Project Presentation Boards d. Model Photos
33-36 37-40 41-50 51-52
1
Abstract
The project began in the process of thinking about the needs of Cairo to innovate a new administrative capital to the city. We started discussing the vision that we wanted as a group and we agreed that the new administrative capital has to be an Egyptian global hub for the youth. To create a global hub we had to challenge the international level of the quality of life to become worldwide known and spread a new picture of Cairo to other nationalities it was essential to reach a good quality of public spaces and limit the existence of the private compounds to achieve an acceptable level of variety in the social level of the users in the space. A modern global city has to be pedestrian oriented, and rely less on means of transportation that are more efficient and produce less co2 emissions, to become an environmental friendly city. to reduce effort and reach a good efficiency level in the means of transportation it was vital to put a lot of effort in the creation of connections between hot spots to make the walkability in the city easier. The vision of the city is to grab the attention of the youth and giving access to the young people, to make that possible the city had to be affordable to the youth and compatible with the income of that class of people and active for most possible times in the day to stop citizens from using other cities and become self sustainable from the manpower point of view .The vision that is created was used as a source for the program of the city to discover the need to fulfil the target of the city. The program was aiming to help the youth beginning their life with a big part being dedicated to the start-up projects and business incubators that grab the attention of that specific class.
It was planned to bring the creative class to the city and allowing that class of people to become efficient and be helpful to the city, though it was important to give space for the new ideas to be generated in different fields, from design and fashion to arts and crafts. The new capital is the start of a new experience to all categories of people and we had to created a story for the citizens of the city from beginning in the school to the different fields that each citizen would want to continue their life in, so the education system in the new capital is concentrating on becoming international and to enlighten the experience of the students there was a proposal to create urban schools and universities in a specific area with the rest of the story left to the student to choose their professional field. The world in this moment is heading towards using stainability and relying on the new systems available to become efficient, and the term of the smart building has been modernly introduced to become a category of buildings that use new ideologies to control the factors that affect building and make it easily habitable for humans. Smart buildings use less energy, they use systems that allow certain functions to be done at specific locations in the building that are designed to make the usage of these systems simple.
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Introduction
The design process initiated with the master plan was divided into different aspects that were given to a number of groups that were formed. I was part of the team that was assigned to be responsible for the typologies and the functions of the areas. We started with an approach to create districts and give them a specific function, that approach was later criticized that each area should have a variety of functions that complement each other and create harmony. The new approach was to divide the plan into three districts that were each given a theme according to the location of each. The districts were designed individually by three teams that were each assigned to create a network of public spaces and infrastructure specifically. I was assigned to the team that was responsible for the business district That had a special network of pedestrian road that were connected to the main network of pedestrian roads. They were called the Pedestrian spines. The main idea behind this area was to blend the education systems in the area with business incubators and headquarters for world wide brands and companies that area lacking in the Egyptian market, the district was also designed to allow visitors from outside of the country to easily visit and cope with the city. The next target was to divide the business district into 3 plots that had the group split into 3 teams to work on the plots. The three plots were also given themes that were related to the business theme. I was assigned to plot number 10 that had to be modified to become a place for worldwide brands and high-end headquarters and information technology and software development. We began developing the infrastructure of the plot and modifying the typologies and pedestrian roads to become more efficient and help make the city pedestrian oriented. The plots location was linking the the pedestrian network from the master plan towards the tallest tower in the area which can be identified as the biggest landmark in the new capital which was the end to the longest and most enhanced pedestrian road in
the master plan that was linking the three districts that were created at first. The plot was the connection to the main road at its north to the pedestrian network. The first proposal was to create public spaces out of the spines that were created in the business district phase. That proposal was criticized for the laking of identity of the public spaces. The next proposal was taking another approach that was making the hot spots of the pedestrian network projects that could act as catalysts to the spines to make the area more active and balance the activity in each area during the day and the night.
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Envisioning the New Capital
Space Program
Tower
Retail
Education
Entrance/ lobby
286 m²
Store
758 m²
Auditorium
340 m²
Offices
19595 m²
Customer support
878 m²
Offices
246 m²
Meeting rooms
2470 m²
Meeting rooms
506 m²
Multipurpose halls
464 m²
Head offices
760 m²
Lounges
516 m²
Exhibition hall
545 m²
Terraces/ outdoor areas/ cafe/ lounge
4592 m²
Toilets
120 m²
Meeting rooms
709 m²
Toilets
1240 m²
Labs
844 m²
Classrooms
280 m²
IT/ technical rooms/ storage
172 m²
Library
1220 m²
Toilets
120 m²
Gross floor area
38336 m²
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The site
Site
Figure 1 : The site, New administrative capital.
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Analysis
Figure 2 : Master plan.
The final outcome of the master plan is enhancing the pedestrian road that connects the three districts together and ends in the existence of the tallest tower in africa and begins in the transportation hub that connects the new administrative capital with the rest of cairo with a rail system. The green river is used in the master plan as the front of the city, all masses are pointing towards it with the topography of the two sides allowing most of the plots to be overlooking the green river. The area that was included in the design of the master plan is thought to be the most active and alive area it the new capital so that leads to it becoming a zone that has a large concentration of public services and leaving the less busy and noisy parts of the city to become private areas that can only be accessed by specific people. While designing the connections the main idea was to go as close a possible towards the charter of the street in Cairo and the adventures that only exist in this country while having the street life under most possible control. The new capital had a vision to become global and worldwide known to grab as much tourists as possible. The city has typologies that are dedicated only to help tourists coexist with the city easily. The city also has urban projects that exist in the shape of schools and universities to make the student experience as efficient as possible. With projects also done in the green river to add more activity to the area in different times of the day.
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Analysis
Solids and voids in the master plan create harmony between the three districts and has the masses in the green river front enhanced and allowing the rest of the masses to have vision of the green river. The projects have very specific locations to act as catalysts in the city to help achieve the vision of the city and the concept of the pedestrian oriented city and not block the actions happening in the pedestrian road. The infrastructure of the city is designed to allow citizens and users of the each space to become pedestrians and not have an unpleasant experience as car users. The transportation hub has a large number of parking spaces for the users to use mass transportation methods and help the city become more efficient.
Figure 3 : Master plan solid and void/ infrastructure.
The city has roads that are designed with their width and typology to allow certain spaces in the master plan to be less busy and noisy while other parts of the master plan s infrastructure is designed to take a large number of visitors st specific times of the day, because of the nature of the area and how most of the buildings are business related or offices that are used in the day time.
Figure 4 : Master plan roads typology.
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Analysis
ART AND DESIGN
START UPS AND INCUBATORS
BUSINESS AND EDUCATION
Figure 5 : Master plan three districts.
Figure (5) explains how the master plan is divided into three main parts that were the responsibility of 3 different teams to develop and work on. While the three teams had to coordinate between each others to have the final result with harmony and not contradicting each other. The districts are chosen according to their location. The green river is included into the story board of the city. The projects that are design in the master plan are used as catalysts or hot spots that act like magnets to the people with different interests. The city uses those catalysts to control the pathways and create the best pedestrian experience.
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Analysis
The business district final outcome is shown in figure (6). It was modified from its original form by a team of students. This district has a theme of business and education, its main idea was to create a successful relationship between students and users in large cooperations that are brought to the new capital and create chances for students. The main landmark in the area is the tallest tower in Africa that reaches 400m height. The tower was intentionally included in the green river zone and its planned to have a very large landscape area that can be accessed by the public and become a tourist attraction. The district is the end of the master plan and could be the beginning of the next phase in designing the new capital. It is planned that the usage of this area will be mostly during the day, so the projects designed had to have catalysts that can function more at night to help make the city more alive and safer such as entertainment centers and stores that also help tourism in the area. The business district has a challenge that is not available in other districts which is the need to have infrastructure that can maintain the large number of users that explode during rush hours that dose not interfere with the pedestrian oriented city concept, the challenge lead to having several points where it the most appropriate solution was to create tunnels that connect the southern area in the district with the northern area directly without crossing pedestrian networks.
Figure 6 : Business district.
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Analysis
education commercial Figure 7 : Business district spines.
Figure (7) explains the idea of having two spines of pedestrian users that represent the commercial users and the students. These spines each have a specific story board that is designed for the users, at the edges of the spines are public hot spots that could be an open realm or a project that grabs users. With the distance between each catalyst measured to be appropriate for walkability it is ensured that the activity of these spines will be available in most times of the day.
Figure 8 : Business district plots.
The business district reached the final form and was split into four plots that were assigned to four teams which were each given a theme to be designed according to. The figure (8) shows the borders of the plots. The themes were given according to the current situation and the concept that we had to reach.
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Figure 9 : Plot 10.
I was part of the team responsible for modifying and developing plot 10 that had a theme of business and information technology. The strength of the plot was its location that was close to the main road and having a direct connection with the pedestrian road and with the tallest tower in Africa. The designing of the infrastructure of the plot was challenging due to heavy traffic at rush hours. The typologies of the buildings is visible in figure (9), most of the projects are headquarters and the main catalysts for students in the area is the school of business and IT and the library. Most of the buildings in the plot are high rise buildings to achieve most possible area for offices. Each project has access to streets and main roads and also pedestrian networks that can lift the traffic from streets and make car movement easier.
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Analysis
Figure 10 : Plot 10 spines.
The figure (10) shows the exact location of the education and commercial spines in plot 10. They are both received from plot 9 which has a theme of media and law, the spines cross the pedestrian road. The education spine has the entertainment center grabbing students to use it at the edge of the plot, it continues without being blocked into the school of business and IT, the flow then continues to the Microsoft headquarters that has an intersection with the commercial spine and exits at the library at the other edge of the plot. The commercial spine has contact with the plot at the restaurants plaza and the Microsoft headquarters side and continues into the bay of the tallest tower in Africa. the masses of the plot are designed to compliment and contradict with the pedestrian spines, and create eventual public open spaces.
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Project Design
Figure 11 : Site/ spines.
Figure 12 : Site/ spines/ Ground plan.
The site that I chose had a lot of potential due to its location. According to the pedestrian spines there will be contact between commercial use pedestrians and students in the site. The intention was to have a function that collaborated the educational theme with the business theme. The Microsoft headquarters is the most suitable function for this site. Microsoft has several educational programs that target students and teachers that are related to the software programming topic. The building will consist of three main sections that are the retail store and customer support, the education purpose section and the offices section. Each section is related with its location to the pedestrian spines.
The project starts at the ground floor plan that concentrates on not interfering with the pedestrian spines and using them as much as possible. The educational section is located at the north side of the site towards the main road and the retail store area is concentrating on the commercial use spine to grab the attention of customers, the offices section is the tallest part of the building which has a height of 80 m. The tallest tower in Africa has an impact on the site by creating a shadow that will last from around 8:00 am to around 11:00 am in that time of the day the whole site will be covered in the shade of the tower and there will be no direct sunlight. Afterwards, the location of the offices section in the south west creates shade for the court yard and the rest of the building from around 1:00 pm to around 5:00 pm. The whole process ensures that the building will use the least possible amount of energy to maintain temperature.
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Project Design At the first stage the separation of functions in the building stops at after the ground floor and the building becomes a 3D form that is represented by a tower (offices section) and its podium. The tower is located in this side of the site due to the factor of sun and throwing shade onto the courtyard and rest of the building, the second factor was the existence of a large plat from in front of the tower which gives the pedestrian a feeling of the large size of the building that suddenly appears as a solid block and creates curiosity to the people.
The second stage of the 3D design was concentrating on the ideology of Micorsoft in all of their work, as they always appear to encourage the team work and the casual work environment to achieve the most out the employee and discourages the work in a dense environment with restrictions in spaces and unsuitable areas for sharing ideas and team work. The design of the offices section took another step by becoming fragile and having many subtractions that are like broken fragments out of the building. These subtractions are used as terraces for the employees to use for their casual every day work or for taking a break from working too hard and breathing some fresh air.
Figure 13 : Stage 1 3D.
Figure 14 : Stage 2 3D.
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The third step in designing the 3D of the building took the tower and podium idea one step ahead by making the tower the standing out part of the building but modifying the rest of the building to act like a stepping towards the peak of the tower. The structure of the building was added to reach a proper level of architecture, the structure consists of steel columns that care the slabs and makes the edges columnless to give it a more dynamic look. The biggest challenge with the tower was maintaining the temperature of the building to make it habitable. The most efficient solution was to implement a kinetic system that controls the openings of the building and makes them smaller on hot days of the year. The kinetic system consists of pixels that are dense on southern elevations and fade away on sides that do not have direct sunlight.
The final phase of designing the 3D exterior of the Microsoft headquarters was the enhancement of the looks of the kinetic system to make it more dynamic. The edges of the frame in the facade was removed to add harmony between the elevations. The courtyard that has the meeting point of the commercial spine and the students spine has a screening system added to it that is interactive and shuts down in the morning. The terraces have functions added to them, a green roof was added to some terraces that have direct sunlight allowed in them, while some terraces have a kinetic shading system that uses the rotation method to cover up most area possible when temperatures are high.
Figure 15 : Stage 3 3D.
Figure 16 : Stage 4 3D.
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Project Design
The ground floor plan is focusing on the experience of the user coming from the pedestrian spines. The landscape follows the concept of fragmentation in the greeneries. The central part of the courtyard that is in front of the screen is stepped down to create a zone for the people to watch and steeping for people to use as seating. The plat from in behind the retail store is elevated and is used for eventual booths that can be part of the Microsoft head quarters in Egypt. The ground floor plan consists of entrance lobbies and administration rooms and servers rooms to control the building.
Figure 17 : Ground floor plan.
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Project Design
Going into the first floor plan the functions are now not separated and connected with each other. The offices section uses the open plan to help create a more comfortable space that dose not contain employees and blocks them from each other. It is connected with the ground floor plan by stairs that enhance the entrance. The education section in this plan contains labs and meeting rooms for educational purposes and the retail store uses mezzanine floors to help the visual connections between the floors. The retail store is divided into booths that each explains a specific product by Mircosoft and has full explanation to the project.
Figure 18 : First floor plan.
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Project Design
At the second floor plan in the open plan is taken to the outdoor terrace to show the how the relation between outdoor and indoor will be. The terrace is furnished to become a casual work environment. The open plan is divided into a dense working area that has all the offices of the employees and the rest of the plan is dedicated to be outside the cubicles. Every plan to the 20th floor has meeting areas that are flexible to the offices around them and to be used by anyone. In the second floor plan there is the customer support area that has meeting areas for the customers and offices for the employees that work to help customers. The education section includes a library that contains all of the work done in the head quarters and other content that could be useful to an IT student.
Figure 19 : Second floor plan.
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Project Design
The third floor plan shows the outdoor areas that are shaded by the rotation kinetic system. The terrace has green roof implemented to it to help produce fresh air in the area and give the foot print of the building back to the environment. The offices section continues with the open plan and the rest of the building starts to fade into the tower to make it the only standing out structure in the headquarters.
Figure 20 : Third floor plan.
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Project Design
Figure 22 : Section .
The cross- section shown in figure (22) cuts through the tower and the retail store. It shows the quality of the atrium in the tower which follows in its form the subtractions done in the exterior facade. The section also shows the voids that were subtracted in the 3D form and how they are related with the interior. The structure system is supported by two cores that are made of concrete to act against the lateral loads that are affecting the tower as of its high rise typology. The section clears the idea of not using typical floors. Each floor is designed to be a different experience from the others and this helps the employees get out of the routine easily by experiencing the vertical quality of the space.
Figure 21 : 20 floor plans.
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Project Design
Figure 23 : South elevation.
Figure 24 : East elevation.
The southern facade shown in figure (23) is the facade facing the large platform of the pedestrian road that is the ending milestone of the road that heads towards the tallest tower in Africa. The facade acts as a solid block with no openings or ground floor subtractions to add to the character of the building and prove its strength. The pixilation is very dense in this facade as of it being the facade that will be affected the most by the sunlight and the heat, so the kinetic system will be active on this facade for most of the daytime. With the Microsoft logo on top this will be the main facade of the building.
The facade in figure (24) is on the eastern side of the building. This side of the building will be moderately affected by the sunlight, as a result the pixilation appears to be fading towards the northern facade to turn into a completely transparent facade that is very neutral. This elevation shows some of the quality in the courtyard that is enveloped by the mass of the building. Most of this facade will be shaded by the tallest tower in Africa during the morning, that in return makes the pixilation on this facade less than the pixilation on the south side of the building.
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Project Design
Figure 26 : Facade explosion.
The kinetic facade system was implemented into the building with a structure system that was designed specially for carrying the load of the facade and allowing it to become interactive. The system consists of four levels, the first level was the structure of the building its self, it began by making sure of the compatibility of the structure system to carry the load of the kinetic screen. the second level of the kinetic facade is the steel system that was using the slabs of the building to transfer loads towards the columns. the steel system on the facade acts as mullions to the glass curtain wall that comes in the next step. The whole building is enveloped by a curtain wall. The last level on the facade is the steel screen that is pixelated to allow sunlight into the building with a certain amount, that amount can be controlled by the kinetic system its using to make openings bigger or smaller, the kinetic system is carried by the steel structure on the facade that acts as mullions and transfers the loads to the slabs and the columns.
Figure 25 : Explosion 3D.
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Project Design
Figure 27 : Kinetic facade system.
Figure 28 : Kinetic facade implementation.
The kinetic facade used in the elevations of the building is following the diaphragm system that acts like the shutter of the camera. The pixels on the facade are 1m x1m when fully opened, the kinetic system used consist of blades behind the pixels that move towards the opening for a specific distance and for a specific time, during that time the light energy transferred to the curtain wall behind the system is less, that leads to less heat being transferred to the interior of the building. The movement of the blades on the facade is controlled by a computerized system that is given information about the location of the site and the climate of the area at different seasons, every year the data on the system is updated. The building has sensors on the roof at each side of the building to get measurements of the weather and checks the data on the system for ensuring that there is no interference between the real measurements and the measurements given to the system.
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Project Design
Figure 29 : Functions diagram.
The detail shown in figure (30) explains the relation between the levels of the kinetic facade. The structure layer in the slab is carrying the steel structure that contains the mullions and carries the screen. The detail gives a close shot of the system to explain the diaphragm idea. The connection of the facade with the ground is shown in the detail as a thick horizontal rod that is connected to the ground floor slab. The functions diagram in figure (29) clears the division of the buildings functions in the initiative stage of the design, the project then used the idea of the pixilated facade to bring harmony between all functions and unify the mass to become the Micorsoft headquarters in the new administrative capital.
Figure 30 : Kinetic facade detail.
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Project Design
Figure 31 : Courtyard night shot.
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Project Design
Figure 32 : Exterior day shot.
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Project Design
Figure 33 : Exterior night shot.
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Project Design
Figure 34 : Entrance lobby interior shot.
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Project Design
Figure 35 : Open office interior shot.
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Critical review and conclusion
After explaining the phases of the project to the jury s, ARCH Raef Fahmi pointed out that the project is following a very functional approach with very logical solutions. There was comment on the furnishing of the project and the recommendation was to use up more of the space as the current furnishing had some unused spaces that can have functions for the employees or seating. The second comment of ARCH Raef Fahmi was the colored glass that was used in the terraces of the tower, the main function of the glass was to add more to the character of the building and going closer to the vision of Microsoft in all of their products, the opinion of the jury was that this kind of glass used affects the employees and the users physiologically and creates a different environment inside the building that can affect the work of the users, the recommendation was to be more specific with the glass used and try to become more aware of the physiological feeling of the user.
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References
List of Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 19 Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22
06 07 08 08 09 10 11 11 12 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 21 (page no.)
Figure 23 Figure 24 Figure 25 Figure 26 Figure 27 Figure 28 Figure 29 Figure 30 Figure 31 Figure 32 Figure 33 Figure 34 Figure 35
22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 27 28 29 30
(page no.)
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References
Bibliography Google earth satellite view, https://goo.gl/maps/8jC4idfuLnREPqpF9 REDUCING THE ENGERY CONSUMPTION WITH RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE IN THE HOT ARID REGIONS, ARCH Merna Hany Sabry
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Appendix
FIRST PHASE Colloquium I 24/3/2019
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34
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Model 1:400
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SECOND PHASE Colloquium II 23/4/2019
37
38
39
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FINAL PROJECT SHEETS Thesis defene 29/5/2019
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42
43
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45
46
47
48
49
50
Model 1:200
model photos 51
Model 1:200
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