Zaha does it again

Zaha Hadid Architects has seen off competition from Norwegian firm Snohetta to land its second major Egyptian project.

The 450,000 m2 Cairo Expo City near the airport will comprise a major international exhibition and conference centre with business hotel. A further office tower and a shopping centre are also proposed.

The urban strategy of the Cairo Expo pursues the idea of creating a homogeneous urban cluster mass that adapts to the site boundaries.

“Analysing the brief, we have understood the scale of the project in terms of the connectivity points and the program distribution,” said Hadid. “We have proposed a carving of the urban mass into smaller clusters that can work as individual buildings and have their own massing features, however relating to part of the overall design.

According to Hadid, the undulating design was also inspired by the natural topography of the Nile Valley, which has pumped life in to Egypt.

“On the Cairo Expo City site, the carving and sculpturing process starts from this artery, running through the site, connecting the north to south,” explained Hadid. “Secondary streams formed by crowd movements toward the site all converge to the centre. The designed movement of people within these streams also start to form and adjust the building entrances on the site.”

Work to start clearing the site will begin in October. Hadid will be working together with engineering consultants Buro Happold.