T H E G R E A T E G Y P T I A N M U S E U M

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1 INTRODUCTION The vision for The Great Egyptian Museum is driven simultaneously by practical, logistic, cultural, aesthetic, educational, commercial, and conceptual considerations. The layout is reminiscent of a piece of jewelry that features an explicit reference to the Nile river as a route for commerce and culture that traverses Egypt from the South to the North. The Museum section itself has been designed explicitly to enable a hypertextual experience and voyage through the riches of knowledge, art and culture that will be exhibited to the public. This document elaborates on the three main components of the site: The GEM Nile Gallery The GEM Hyperlinked Museum The GEM Exterior Parks The GEM Scientific Research and Training Area All required areas, including administrative, conservation, storage, security and technical areas are integrated above. THE NILE GALLERY WINGS Extending directly along the route from the Pyramids two kilometers away, the two Nile Gallery commercial wings act as the major axis pathway through the site. The elongated sandstone and glass building with its subtle and elegant curvature, symbolizes the Nile river and follows the curvature of the landscape along the hill. Visitors, surrounded by the views of Pyramids and the Cairo skyline in the distance, first encounter the museum parks and exterior attraction areas then enter into the gallery anywhere along its axis. Like the Nile which acts as a communication path and the backbone of Egypt, the Nile Gallery is the grand avenue which links all the businesses, stores, restaurants, rest areas, parks, museum entrance, administrative, technical and research areas. It represents a 14,000 m 2 commercial area which infuses life at the heart of the museum in the likes of the great new museums of the world. As an active commercial center, it will develop as a destination in it s own right for shopping or dining, as well as a stage for cultural entertainment. The Nile Gallery wings can be enhanced with a glass insert ceiling in the shape of the building that will create a flow of natural light the whole length of the passage way and reinforce the visual rendering of the Nile river flowing across the site. P A G E 1

2 THE GEM HYPERLINKED MUSEUM At the epicenter of the site, lies the museum s exhibit areas. It s architecture centers around a hyperlinked four dimensional construct of space-time allowing visitors, students, academics and scientists to customize their journey through time and knowledge as they prefer, either chronologically or along numerous thematic routes. The structure is also designed, as in the virtual hypertextual spaces that exist in cyberspace, to be able to jump from one theme or time period to the other, but in this case, physically, through cross section pathways, stairways and connected platforms. SIX THEMATIC ROUTES The multilevel building with its closed hexagonal shape allows the conservationists to lay out the exhibits that can be organized both chronologically and thematically. ONE CHRONOLOGICAL ROUTE FIVE THEMATIC ROUTES The Chronological Route is followed by the visitor who decides to progress linearly up or down the building as if progressing in a spiral of layered platforms. The five Thematic Routes are organized along the divisions of five building sections. Visitors wishing to explore only a theme can progress vertically from floor to floor through escalators within that section of the building without going around the edifice. IN SEARCH FOR HYPERLINKS The major innovation that underlies the design of the Hyperlinked Museum stems from it s Hypertheater backbone. This concept brings 21 st century cognitive thinking and knowledge exploration into an original physical conception of space architecture. The stepped design of this Hypertheater is analogous to an inverted stepped pyramid reaching for light and knowledge. P A G E 2

3 THE HYPERTHEATER BACKBONE The solution that has been devised to design a Hyperlinked Museum is based on the concept of creating a hypertextual backbone through the use of an underlying amphitheater adjacent to the Exhibit floors. This underlying Hypertheater enables visitors to deambulate within the hyperlinked conceptual web of the museum: find shortcuts to other themes, move directly to upper floors to reach another chronological time, or cross over rapidly to the opposite side of the museum through it s nexus. HYPERTEXTUAL BACKBONE AMPHITHEATER FOR CROSS NAVIGATION ACCESS The Hypertheater is an inclined multi-faceted plane that allows visitors to walk under the platforms of the museum exhibit. To ease accessibility and flow through, mechanical walkways can be installed along the different facades at various floors while escalators will cross over into the floors above. The hyperlink effect comes from the fact that one can return to the Hypertheater at any point, quickly reach any other section or floor and reenter into another space at another level at any point desired. It s like sitting in a theatre where the stage is actually composed of a multitude of different planes above the spectator. One is not looking down at the stage but rather looking at the stage from underneath. The Hypertheater levels act like a web or cocoon that encircles the exhibits and let one connect anywhere. The numerous catwalks and escalators transport visitors up, down and around the exhibition. This multitude of access routes are the hyperlink routes that share the common web of the Hypertheater below. This allows the visitor to surf through the exhibits rather than experience the museum linearly through each platform, moving around the curvature and returning to discover something else. P A G E 3

4 THE GREAT EGYPTIAN MUSEUM PARKS EQUIPPED PARK NILE PARK DUNE PARK THEME PARK The four parks surround the building along each side. The parks set the stage for the landscaping of each area and ensures new traffic routes of exterior exploration, learning and entertainment. To the North, like a mirrored garden along the Nile Gallery wings, lies the Nile Park that will be landscaped to evoke the long passage of the Nile through Egypt. It can be accessed through multiple entrances in and out of the commercial Wings. It will be both a relaxation area as well as an outdoor Museum. To the South, beyond the main section of the Museum and facing the Pyramids at an oblique angle, lies the Dune Park, reminding the visitor of the stretches of sand dunes that lie beyond the Pyramids. The arid landscape will contrast with the lush green of the Nile Park reinforcing the extreme differences of environment that cohabitate in the Egyptian land. On each end of the Nile Gallery wings, at the East and West end of the site, lie the Theme Park and the Equipped Park. Locating these parks at opposite ends will create traffic through the Nile Gallery wings and past the main entrance to the Hyperlinked Museum, ensuring increased commercial activity for the site and enticing visitors back into the museum. THE GEM SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TRAINING AREA The Scientific Research and Training Area is located in the triangle that intersects the Nile Gallery East wing. Its two levels will house the Cataloguing Center, Library, Mediateque, Conference halls, Meeting rooms and the Scientific Institute. Underground, pathways for the staff and scientists will connect the area to the storage and archeological main storage area under the Museum as well as the security and service areas. Above ground, entrances from the Nile Gallery will place the Scientific Research and Training Area at the heart of the life and activity within the GEM site. This will attract visitors to the Library and Mediateque as well as provide an enjoyable work environment for the staff slightly removed from the crowds that will converge around the GEM Hypertextual Museum building. P A G E 4

5 MODULARITY, FLEXIBILITY AND INNOVATION Pervasive throughout the design of the site is an impulse to ensure modularity, flexibility and innovation. The Great Egyptian Museum can then remain an ageless landmark for Cairo in the future. EXTENDED USES FOR THE NILE GALLERY AND PARKS The Nile Gallery and adjacent parks provide a completely flexible environment for the curators and event managers of the site. The interior gallery and passageway can be used to stage temporary exhibits and create special events. It can be equipped with multi-media kiosk, or serve as the stage for small music bands and folkloric attractions. The actual façade of the building can conceivably be used as a large interactive wall that can come to life at night with light and sound shows complementing those of the Pyramids. They can also act as the backdrop for major cultural events, concerts and the like. HYPERLINKED MUSEUM THEME TRANSFORMATIONS The platforms in the Hyperlinked Museum are wide open spaces that can be reconfigured at will. The concept of breaking up the building into vertical thematic sections is made possible because of a highly flexible implementation. The section breaks in the platform open spaces can be transformed at will into further subdivisions should the conservationist wish to introduce additional themes in the future or further subdivide certain themes into sub themes. The objective is to enable further hyperlinks and journeys to create a living and evolutionary exhibition space over the years. HYPERTEXTUAL MULTIMEDIA SUPPORT SYSTEMS To enhance the visit of the Hyperlinked Museum, computer solutions such as small digital pocket devices with a standalone point and click hypertext multi-media presentation could accompany visitor throughout the physical hyperlinked journey. The visitor can surf through a virtual version of the museum at the same time as the visit and obtain multi-media explanations to enrich the journey. Recorded tours then allow the same experiential flexibility as the actual physical space. Conceivably, visitors or tour operators could plan their personalized visit through the Hypertextual Museum on the GEM website ahead of time. Once the visitors arrive in the museum, equipped with a personalized code, the pocket devices would walk them through their customized Museum experience. Electronic badges and special doorways could even open up routes for them on a customized basis. P A G E 5