unit-code
The proposed concept is to provide a cultural complex, vocational facilities, and open public spaces for youths and young adults within the informal community of Haggana, and the formal community of Gardenia City. The cultural complex celebrates the Egyptian craftsmanship of stone sculpting through the sculpting workshop, studio, and research facility. Both in social and cultural engagement, the site allows both communities to gain new knowledge and share their expertise with others. The architectural language and the sculpted façade embody boulders of hope for Haggana and Gardenia City.
The brief Contextual Futurism is developed in the project as a new dialogue from social and cultural differences. Rather than taking the conventional approach of identifying similarities, the approach of the speculative future should be through understanding the tension and differences between communities. The ideal mixture of cultures to co-exist should be at the mid-point between total separation and total amalgamation. The supplements for this near-future speculation shall also take contextual materials and tectonics into account to highlight local traditional skillsets.
Each boulder has a distinct relationship with the ground condition. As visitors enter the site from Gardenia City, they can experience the presence of each boulder from walking underneath them to meandering the underground network.
The expansive open space with outdoor cultural programmes provides a new destination for the Haggana community to congregate without having to go far out for leisure areas.
The stone sculpting garage and studio allows visitors to engage with Egypt’s traditional stone sculpting skillset via workshops and educational programmes.
Through the sampling of contextual futurism from Jodorowsky’s book The Incal, a new incal is formed for Cairo’s context where the pieces from the incal are seen as methodologies to create a new sub-culture.
The connection between two boulders is formed through the injection of a sculptural work by an Egyptian modern sculptor. The imprint of the sculptural work yields a negative void where users are able to experience the sculpture's interior.