The Science City
Programme and Representation
Throughout history, architects have longed to devise new ideas for the perfect spatial representation of knowledge work. The Library of Alexandria considered as the first model for the modern campus formed the place where humans could interact with one another by exploring the inner self while gaining and producing knowledge. The organization of the library played a major role in reinforcing this unending journey of discovery.
Since then the production of Knowledge has engineered progress but this need for discovery remains unaltered at the root of humanity. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the emergence of new circumstances, shifting values have transformed the way we work, live and explore. The public and private, collective and individual, concepts that have been clearly distinguishable in the past, meld together, challenging the relationship between private workplace and the public sphere. In the design of the Science city we are looking for a new kind of a common space, a space that provides an architectural environment, which fosters thinking and imagination.
Form
Form means the abstraction of the city or architecture, as whole or as configuration of its components. The definition of its boundaries and scales belongs to its abstraction.The concept of cohesive form is throughout the history exemplified especially in large urban projects. Such projects were also the Palaces in Ancient Egypt.
Landscape
Ancient Egypt is considered one of the first countries where the skill of the creation of gardens and parks arose. The painting of Amenhotep’s tomb presents a complete plan of the villa, mostly as a bird’s-eye view. The whole upper garden is intersected in symmetrical lines by avenues of sycamores, and different palm trees. A feeling for strict symmetry is shown. The garden is carved out by walls into eight separate similar parts, only differing in their size. The chief section (with the house) includes the vineyard. Besides avenues it has two small and attractive open pavilions with flower-beds in front. They overlook two rectangular ponds, whose banks appear to be bordered with green grass. On the water there are lotuses swaying, and ducks swimming about. Two similar ponds, but pointing in a different direction, are nearer the front. On either side of the gate there is a space filled by two plantations of trees, fenced in a peculiar way. There are two more avenues composed of all three kinds of trees, planted alongside the walls, standing alone and cut off by a low wall. Rhythm, symmetry, and a combination of elegance and utility. The doors were the only break in the facade.
In ancient Egypt the gardens were designed using the following principles:
• The use of symmetry for a regular plan
• The closed compositions
• The center of ensemble is always the main house, situated among the large number of the ponds
• Rhythm as the composition method
• Alleys and series of plants
Context
In the larger context the Science City is located close to the main axis connecting Cairo and Alexandria. The main edge highway is focused on industrial developments on the west side into the desert and aggro industry into the east, in the reclaimed territory. Along this artery are developed very identifiable entities, urban settlements, such as Sadat city, Borgel Arab, Zaied City, New Nobareia and 6th October city which together with industrial clusters are being formed as an archipelago of identifiable islands floating in the newly constructed agricultural land. But also within the cluster of 6th October City the area of the proposed Science city is surrounded by a series of urban islands, such as university campuses, cultural centers, residential compounds and sports facilities. The project proposes the reinforcement of this notion of the archipelago city, consisting of ‘cities within the city’, proposing the formation of a very clear urban structure. The proposed concept offers a ‘blueprint for a potential further expansion of the Egyptian metropolis’ as an archipelago of dense sustainable identities.
Figure plan
The old and Traditional areas in the Arab world cities are characterized by their complex urban fabric, which resulted in a cumulative process of activities over time. The historic Islamic city was a compact labyrinth of houses, public buildings and courtyards. The project represents a living matrix with an unusual pattern of non-hierarchical rooms. The grid that is superimposed is such a rigorous ordering system that each plot itself can manifest a completely unique identity without destroying the conceptual coherence of the gridded city. The rooms vary in size. They offer different conditions and dimensions : An enclosed garden, an exhibition hall, a forest of palm trees. This set of spaces is open to the public and deliberately monumental. As in a Roman Forum the external wall allows for the easy incorporation of subsidiary elements with different programs and the insertion of a multitude of exceptions that provide the rooms with a lively atmosphere. The ground floor is the meeting point where the spaces of the spaces of the upper floors meet. It represents an urban lobby for interaction.
Constellation of the landmark
The proposed scheme carries the intensity of urban interaction of the project to each aspect of the specific buildings itself. The organisation of architecture becomes an important chance to invite many types of interaction and encounters. We believe that within a simple urban form we could provide a lot of possibilities of architectural identities. Each of the thematic buildings and gardens can tell a story of their own. These separate entities, however, find themselves within the framework of the science- city.
Country “walled” house, Nubia
The proposal uses as a model the architecture of this traditional egyptian house.The climatic conditions, which are characterised by strong exposure to the sun, hardly any precipitation at all, and virtually permanent north winds from October to March, imposed a north-south orientation on the houses and a seasonal use of rooms according to their situations: the north rooms, which are exposed to the sun, are used in the winter.
Arcade and Patio
Due to the climatic conditions, vernacular architecture in Egypt offers a lot of archetypical architectural solutions.The patio primarily serves the purpose of thermally regulating the building. At night, the radiation of the walls causes a convection current, which removes hot air through the shaft. During the day, the building profits from the freshness of the air at the bottom of the patio, whose narrow aperture limits its exposure to the sun. Arcades are referring to a covered walkway enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In Egypt exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians but also serve as a civic space for commerce. In our proposal both elements are reinterpreted and proposed according to specific conditions. We provide a rich catalog of different types of patios and arcades.
Ecology
As a general philosophy we strongly believe in the need to build ecologically. As much as new technology is useful, a lot of lessons can also be drawn from the study of traditional architecture. In the construction the science city we want to put forward 3 main principles to strive for a new campus in harmony with the natural environment.
A. Minimizing energy use that is not derived from renewable sources.
- the use of ecofriendly materials (green production & preferably local)
- minimize buildings dependence on nonrenewable energy
- minimize nonrenewable energyconsumption
- apply building green operational systems
B. Water saving - collecting rainwater
- designing the most suitable hydraulic facilities
- recycling waste water
C. Anti-heat provision
Anti-heat provisions are vital due to climate change. In warm climatic areas,
active cooling of buildings is more energy consuming than their active heating.
- avoiding extensive glazing
- locating window openings with climatic criteria
- thermal insulation
- passive radiative cooling
- external shading
- natural cooling (natural ventilation & evaporative cooling)
- ground cooling
- outdoor living: sheltered open-air spaces for out-door living (atriums, porticoes, verandas, covered balconies)
bioclimatic design of the building environment
- minimize paved surfaces
- natural ventilation routes
- appropriate tree planting
