11 June 2009

Cairo Expo City

Zaha Hadid Architects takes inspiration from Egypt's natural features in their winning design.

A state-of-the-art facility for exhibitions and conferences will be located between the centre of Cairo and the city’s airport, with works scheduled to begin in October this year.

The project will replace the current exhibition halls, with the planned 450,000 square metres also including a business hotel and proposed office tower and shopping centre.

Zaha Hadid Architect’s characteristic curvaceous design resonates with the Egyptian psyche, inspired by the undulating topography of the iconic Nile Valley.

“With this exceptional design by Zaha Hadid Architects, Cairo will be among the world's top cities for conferences and fairs, able to cater for the widest variety and size of events,” says Sharif Salem, CEO of the GOIEF (General Organization of International Exhibitions and Fairs).

Hadid explains: “As the exhibition spaces require the greatest degree of flexibility, we wanted to ensure that all the public spaces and formal composition of Cairo Expo City relate to the surrounding Egyptian landscape.

“Along the great rivers of the region, most particularly the Nile, there is a powerful dynamic – a constant flow between the water and the land – which extends to incorporate the neighbouring buildings and landscapes.”

As well as the fluid forms, carving and sculpting techniques will be used to delineate building types so that clusters of structures will have their own identity, yet sits within an overall aesthetic.
Being a public space project, the planning calls for a main north-south artery and secondary axes converging to promote ease of movement throughout.

Zaha Hadid Architects
(44) 20 7253 5147
mail@zaha-hadid.com
zaha-hadid.com