Nikyema Alexia Goulwendin
Burying, Uncovering and the Continual Rebirth of New Programs: A Methodology for Planning and Building
The Project is a close examination of building-layering phenomena prevalent in Egypt. The plan hypothesizes on how the selected site could be used over time, through a process of uncovering; as the ground plane would be carved down every decade much like an archeological dig. This process would create a new site condition and therefore a new program every decade. The building is built and buried. Then, over time, the ground is removed revealing more and more of the potential of the structure as a whole. Examples of such stacked or layered functions can be found in the adjacent city of Luxor, at the remains and active buildings of El-Karnak village and temple.
Ashley Henschel
Procession as an Ordering Device: “Karnak is the horizon above the earth, the glorious first ascension, the sacred eye of the master of the universe.” – Hatshepsut
The site plan and building program is modeled after the processional avenue of the temple of Karnak along a lengthy dominant East-West axis. The land spit of the site at the river’s bank is extended by hundreds of feet into the Nile, emphasizing the movement of visitors from water to land and back. The temple’s processional axis of pylons and sphinxes has been translated to sailboat masts, and a sequenced building assembly line.
As visitors proceed towards the building, they experience a line of sailboats showing the construction process, beginning with areas of finished boats at the head, followed in reverse order to the basic steel frameworks of new boats at the avenue’s tail. The processional dock elaborates the regional construction techniques with the same dramatic emphasis of Karnak Temple.
Procession as an Ordering Device: “Karnak is the horizon above the earth, the glorious first ascension, the sacred eye of the master of the universe.” – Hatshepsut
The site plan and building program is modeled after the processional avenue of the temple of Karnak along a lengthy dominant East-West axis. The land spit of the site at the river’s bank is extended by hundreds of feet into the Nile, emphasizing the movement of visitors from water to land and back. The temple’s processional axis of pylons and sphinxes has been translated to sailboat masts, and a sequenced building assembly line.
As visitors proceed towards the building, they experience a line of sailboats showing the construction process, beginning with areas of finished boats at the head, followed in reverse order to the basic steel frameworks of new boats at the avenue’s tail. The processional dock elaborates the regional construction techniques with the same dramatic emphasis of Karnak Temple.
Fallon Lebedowicz
Monasticism and Metaphysics: A Coptic Pilgrimage Site and Monastery for the 21st Century
Through an elaboration of the symbol of the key of life – the Ankh, and through the placement of the building project along specific directional axis, the new monastery offers a retreat to inducted acolytes and visitors alike.
The structure is designed as a reinterpretation of the ancient Egyptian temple plan, overlaid to the rules of Coptic Christian ideology, and situated to provide a dramatic terraced layout recalling the temple of Hatshepsut on the West Bank of Luxor. The main circulation of the site is situated on an East-West axis; East signifying life, West death.
The Monastery features an entrance which lies on the bank of the Nile facing East at water level; symbolizing rebirth.
Monasticism and Metaphysics: A Coptic Pilgrimage Site and Monastery for the 21st Century
Through an elaboration of the symbol of the key of life – the Ankh, and through the placement of the building project along specific directional axis, the new monastery offers a retreat to inducted acolytes and visitors alike.
The structure is designed as a reinterpretation of the ancient Egyptian temple plan, overlaid to the rules of Coptic Christian ideology, and situated to provide a dramatic terraced layout recalling the temple of Hatshepsut on the West Bank of Luxor. The main circulation of the site is situated on an East-West axis; East signifying life, West death.
The Monastery features an entrance which lies on the bank of the Nile facing East at water level; symbolizing rebirth.
Binu Mathew
Wind and Water collide: the Striking Local Phenomena of Opposing Forces Which Create a Vital Maritime Culture along the Nile
Sailboats are inexorably linked to Egypt. The prevailing wind drives from North to South as the relentless current flows, in timeless continuity from South to North towards the Delta at the Mediterranean Sea. The opposing forces allow for practical sailing to service the local villages and cities with the rigor of a perpetual motion machine. Boats drift down and can then hoist, bending canvas to their masts, to sail back in the opposite direction.
Wind and water also provide for vital cooling in traditional houses during the hot summer. This regulated flow becomes an even more valuable commodity that elevates these forces to center stage for the Egyptians whose communities are along the banks.
The building is a hostel for visitors where the craft of sailing and the subtle nuance of these forces can be experienced alongside the local culture.
Wind and Water collide: the Striking Local Phenomena of Opposing Forces Which Create a Vital Maritime Culture along the Nile
Sailboats are inexorably linked to Egypt. The prevailing wind drives from North to South as the relentless current flows, in timeless continuity from South to North towards the Delta at the Mediterranean Sea. The opposing forces allow for practical sailing to service the local villages and cities with the rigor of a perpetual motion machine. Boats drift down and can then hoist, bending canvas to their masts, to sail back in the opposite direction.
Wind and water also provide for vital cooling in traditional houses during the hot summer. This regulated flow becomes an even more valuable commodity that elevates these forces to center stage for the Egyptians whose communities are along the banks.
The building is a hostel for visitors where the craft of sailing and the subtle nuance of these forces can be experienced alongside the local culture.
Brandon Orff
Continuity of Survival and Self-Sufficiency: a Response to the Silent Depletion of the Environment’s Bounty to the Everyday Egyptian
The research conducted at the proposed facility of this Project will be open to public scrutiny, allowing for a holistic understanding of the impact of pollution of the Nile River. The Project proposes to develop a facility for researching the river ecosystem. The building complex will be used for education as well as scientific functions.
The Nile has been, and continues to be, the source of the Egyptians way of life. It is inexorably linked to farming, bathing, drinking, trading, shipments, cooking, and transport.
The Project is a clarion call to the disintegration of a self-sufficient way of life, in an effort to reverse the effects of environmental degradation before it is irreversible.
Continuity of Survival and Self-Sufficiency: a Response to the Silent Depletion of the Environment’s Bounty to the Everyday Egyptian
The research conducted at the proposed facility of this Project will be open to public scrutiny, allowing for a holistic understanding of the impact of pollution of the Nile River. The Project proposes to develop a facility for researching the river ecosystem. The building complex will be used for education as well as scientific functions.
The Nile has been, and continues to be, the source of the Egyptians way of life. It is inexorably linked to farming, bathing, drinking, trading, shipments, cooking, and transport.
The Project is a clarion call to the disintegration of a self-sufficient way of life, in an effort to reverse the effects of environmental degradation before it is irreversible.
