AL AZHAR LIBRARY

AL AZHAR LIBRARY

INFO & SUMMARY

Info

Year: 2013
Client: Al-Azhar Al-Sharif
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Plot Area: 13,900 m2

Project Summary

Our scheme for this international, limited-contestants competition addresses its goal by creating a unique design for Al-Azhar as part of the remaking of a very vibrant precinct in the heart of Cairo within its community. This new library resembles much more than just a place for books, it is a place to learn, meet and explore the vital heritage and ultimately a place to be an investment in a true public building.

We have harnessed the four key challenges of the project; salah Salem road, Al-Azhar’s Islamic heritage, innovation and fulfilling spatial requirements. Our proposal offers a potential for a new sense of public pride derived from a design that celebrates learning by integrating environmentally and socially sustainable initiatives within an introvert intimate space. The new ‘Azhar library’ as a public square provides a unique feature to the area and merges the boundary of internal and external space in a new way that allows for public interaction and introvert privacy. It provides an introvert place for the community as a landscape extension of the building to create a special and highly usable new addition to the public domain.

Our aim for the design has been to create a building that reflects to the role of al Azhar as a center for Islamic education and culture uniquely and represent it in a contemporary image. Our proposal is designed to be inclusive with a developed sensitivity to the integration of the past and the celebration of the new. In a challenging conventional thought on the use of space, we achieve innovative contemporary design that interprets familiar, traditional building types in a new cultural and social paradigm, and endeavor to achieve environmental mindfulness.

THE LOCATION

THE MASTERPLAN

Accessibility

Being a clearly visible building, a passer by in Salah Salem Road is genuinely attracted to on point, the hole in the massive wall. Locating the main entrance point in one third of the wall makes it easily spotted. A pedestrian walkway beside the wall is situated efficiently as well as a secondary service drop off road. Once in the main entrance, it transforms to a typical broken entrance circulating between 2 main areas in order to achieve control and security. Another entrance is located on the western side of the building that opens directly beside the auditorium and administrative areas for private use. A third entrance is proposed along with including the sports center to the project. A central spine that connects between the sports complex and the library complex makes for a beautiful walkway in between different activities, imposing a life of activities and events on the whole community complex. The location is well served by public transport. There is efficient basement car parking.

A breath of air

The location of the proposed site is unique in many ways. It sits one of the main streets in all of Cairo, it is surrounded by possible green areas from two sides, and is in an area that could easily be accessible by the public. The usage of surrounding areas is proposed, in utilizing the under-construction garden to the west, and landscaping the empty land on the east, while joining forces with the sports area to create a great community spot that accommodates all requirements for a good community cultural complex.

AZHAR LIBRARY DESIGN BLOWUP

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

ZONING DIAGRAMS

SECTION A

SECTION B

SOUTH ELEVATION

NORTH ELEVATION

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