Our proposal for the competition ‘Ramses Square’, organised by the National Organisation of Urban Harmony, Cairo (Al Qahira) in Egypt. The proposal for Ramses Square was part of a master plan for Cairo and two other important squares: Tahrir Square and Ataba Square.
Fragments of the report (total of 49 pages) about our proposals:
ANALYSIS
Introduction
Poetically said: A city is like a body. For Al Qahira the Nile refers to the blood. It floods for centuries through and along the city and defined the different locations of Al Qahira. The Nile made it grow as it left its fertile sediment at the Delta, ensuring the city for food and prosperity. The 10 meters thick layer of clay is the fundament for its buildings. The Delta refers to the body. The earth. The city creates space by its buildings, in the Sahara you can experience empty space. The Sahara refers to the invisible space of the body, its radiance. The Sun is energy. It refers towards life. The Papyrus is the link between all these elements, the connector, the structure.
In our analysis we used these 5 elements to examine the different aspects that have an influence on the city or of its origin.
The Nile is similar to streets, lines, routes, and transport. Transport of goods, people. Also an invisible transportation: exchange of knowledge and experiences, maintaining a social network.
The Delta refers to its fertility: using the available ground level to its fullest by multifunctional land use. And the spatial invisible dimensions as the identity of the location.
The Sahara refers to a natural empty landscape that contrasts with the full urban landscape. However an urban spatial quality can make an experience of silence and wideness possible.
The sun refers to light, but also to the heat of the summer sun. To sustainable management of the consumption of natural resources. To cycles, the constant factor the sun is referring to with its daily sunrise and sunset…
The papyrus is the trademark of a city that is vivacity: without contact, communication and exchange there can’t be a city. Without ‘papyrus’ you have a paralysed city.
Perception of design
In the introduction we mixed visible spheres and invisible spheres. In our vision this is the consequence of being a designer. With a design that is solid and visible, you have an influence on invisible components as there are in the already mentioned perception, comprehending, emotion and motivation of the users. The urban experience is therefore a linked, sequential variety of spaces. Public and private. Visible and invisible. Where everything is linked. Where for example the route people have to make from their work to their home is a transition of passages through a designed world where forms and colours are influencing their behaviour.
Urbanism is therefore the awareness that in the entire sequence of spaces, on every level of scale, demands a design approach that has to be unique. A localized design where you can experience and sense the culture. Where you can find a structure underneath. Where universal values, as respect for the human nature, are the standard.
Colours
’The tones of colour are like the tones of a music play. It can touch the soul of human beings!’
To visualize the invisible, ‘the standard’, an identity, we asked an artist to interpret this aspect. The colours of specific buildings are a way to visualize and support a sphere of well being for the inhabitants / visitors of this urban plan. Colours that are also linked with the proposals of the two squares Ataba and Tahrir. Colours that colour the new identity of Al Qahira. Colours that give colour to a new urban experience. Colours that are linked with our vision and design approach.
Completion
In the introduction we named the elements that are so important for Al Qahira: the Nile, the Sahara, the Delta, the Sun and Papyrus. We stated that without ‘papyrus’ you have a dead city. Or, as we compared a city with a body, a dead body… In the next scheme we want to elaborate our design approach for the new development at the north Misr station: the promenade and its relation with the mixed used area.
The promenade is the constant spatial factor of this plan: a 35 meter wide lifted public space. Its linking the new train station (Al Qahira – Alexandria) with the other eye catcher of this design, the twisted building besides the front elevation of Misr station at the south side. As we gave Misr station its stage, the promenade is the stage of an ensemble of coloured buildings. A visualisation and experience of the new identity of Al Qahira. The buildings are situated on or in the lifted structure. It also incorporates a courtyard by cutting out a part of its ceiling. And it opens the two roofed bus stations to the public.
A constant factor but not static.
A concrete construction but it opens itself to all sides.
A long line but with different urban ‘stories’…
Using the Nile (visible and invisible transport) and the Delta (multifunctional land-use and identity) to the fullest. Creating a Sahara that is watching the Sun. A perfect urban space and experience for Papyrus!
The promenade will only become part of the urban tissue when it is accessible. The mixed used area needs through passages to become a living environment. The parcelling plan is designed to create a symbiosis by linking both. Connecting the promenade with the streets, the streets with the two lifted routes and the lifted routes that give access to the units. The units at the end are attached with the promenade not only by their presence (above and below) the level of the promenade. They also provide a purpose for visiting this urban space by their function.
Or the streets that are constructed on top of the car parks by a ramp. A ramp that not only give an new experiential value to the street but also to the car park. The street ends above the entrance of the car park or at the roof of a unit. Ends at the lowest route that runs through all the buildings or the arcaded route at ground level along the street. Starting a new experience.
Where private and public space are just a few steps from each other.
Where a new urban experience ends and a new urban experience starts. Just a few steps from each other.
Where every one who is passing this urban tissue has its own urban experience. Just a few steps from each other.
Where the Nile, Delta, Sahara and sun on every level give an urban identity and experience of Papyrus.
Al Qahira!