seven enormous steel spiders take over the city
architect marchisciana saverio adriano envisions ‘the seven new pyramids for cairo’ as a cluster of seven scattered inverted pyramids standing among the bustling city in egypt. the structures resemble enormous steel spiders with very tall and slender legs that seem to besiege the metropolis. emerging as cultural and educational hubs, and serving also as observatories, the points form an autonomous urban system hovering above.
modern cairo is a chaotic expanse of houses and concrete that is rapidly overwhelming the traditional plantations of date palms and ancient vegetable gardens. egypt’s remaining agricultural land is being depleted and replaced by large neighborhoods saturated with buildings, devoid of parks or public urban spaces. this problem of spontaneous suburbs that grow up without adhering to any urban planning rules is a concern for many polluted metropolises in africa, asia and south america.
panoramic view of the city of cairo, with the new cultural pyramids
all images courtesy of marchisciana saverio adrian
seven centers of cultural creation
according to the foregoing situation, ‘the seven new pyramids for cairo’ aims to disseminate new positive ideas striving to regenerate this disordered african metropolis. the architects conceived the pyramids as privileged points of observation and as places for reflection and moral thinking. they sought to highlight the urban catastrophe of the present-day cairo, placing it on display as if it were a vast contemporary art installation.
the architects wanted to give meaning behind the shape of the structures: designed as inverted pyramids, with their peaks pointing downwards, they criticize the uncontrolled urban development that is destroying nature and its fragile ecological systems. their grand size establishes a dialogue with the ancient pyramids of the pharaohs while representing a new city of culture. the idea of creating parallel cities superimposed on existing ones is a suggestion for future development, growing on multiple levels in a more efficient and ecological way.
the chaotic city seen from the cultural pyramids
bouncing off the chaotic city into the cultural hubs
each pyramid will be identified with the name of one of the ancient egyptian gods. they will host a school of architecture and urbanism, a papyrus restoration institute, a national library, a school of traditional crafts, a faculty of botany, and other educational facilities. together they will constitute a cultural loop that has the potential to educate and prepare the new generations of cairo professionals and managers, based on principles of better landscape and environmental sustainability.
all the pyramids will be connected by a monorail system, with a station at the base of each pyramid, possible to move around from place to place. large panoramic lifts and stair towers, positioned inside the columns, will lead visitors from the chaotic- into the cultural-city. terraces at the top of the pyramids will act as large panoramic squares opening towards the scenery, where students and tourists can stroll and discuss in a modern high-level version of the greek agora.
the cultural pyramids besiege the city of cairo
the new pyramid seen from below
panoramic lift and monorail train
link station for the seven pyramids
the upper terrace functions as a panoramic agora
sketch showing the new pyramids as steel spiders, and the chaotic city that is engulfing the fertile soil of the nile
project info:
name: the seven pyramids of culture for cairo
architects: saverio adriano marchisciana
location: cairo, egypt
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edited by: christina petridou | designboom
