Zaha Hadid Architects takes inspiration from Egypt’s natural features in their winning design.
June 11th, 2009
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
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
The Sub-Zero and Wolf Kitchen Design Contest is officially open. And the long-running competition offers Australian architects, designers and builders the chance to gain global recognition for the most technically resolved, performance-led kitchen projects.
How can design empower the individual in a workplace transforming from a place to an activity? Here, Design Director Joel Sampson reveals how prioritising human needs – including agency, privacy, pause and connection – and leveraging responsive spatial solutions like the Herman Miller Bay Work Pod is key to crafting engaging and radically inclusive hybrid environments.
In this candid interview, the culinary mastermind behind Singapore’s Nouri and Appetite talks about food as an act of human connection that transcends borders and accolades, the crucial role of technology in preserving its unifying power, and finding a kindred spirit in Gaggenau’s reverence for tradition and relentless pursuit of innovation.
With their new book Sauerbruch Hutton: Colour in Architecture, Berlin-based Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton make clear their penchant for polychromy. Narelle Yabuka has this story.
Missana has taken iconic Bauhaus style and given it a contemporary twist with the launch of the Trampolín bench, designed by Cuatro Cuatros.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
On the eve of Cerith Wyn Evans’ first museum exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, we interviewed the internationally acclaimed contemporary artist in a wide-ranging discussion spanning Japanese gardens, the aesthetics of Buddhism and the Australian light.
This year’s Open House Melbourne Weekend program has been unveiled, with almost 200 buildings, places and experiences set to open to the public in July.
The 2025 Sustainability Awards extends its entry period until midnight on 9 July 2025.
In a market saturated with sameness, Studio P3 set out to raise the bar, creating four refined speculative suites for Mirvac in Sydney, with Milliken flooring playing an essential role in realising a space with broad appeal – all underpinned by a commitment to sustainability.