31.3.1 Introduction to Alexandria Library Project

31.3.2 Arthur Erikson and the UN Competition for a New
Library of Alexandria

In 1988 the world was still divided up into spheres of influence: West (blue) and East (red). The United Nations and Egypt jointly announced funding and a competition for a new library-museum complex to be built on the site of the ancient library of Alexandria. It was to be a significant architectural project to end the millenium.

.....................

.....................

I chose this to not only as my fourth year architecture design studio project, under the direction of Arthur Erikson, but to enter the competition as well.

31.3.3 Ancient Library of Alexandria Much has been written about the rich history of this site. A few sites are linked here: Official Bibliothecka Alexandrina website The Library of Alexandria

31.3.4 Alexandria Business District

31.3.5 The Site: Alexandria University District

Map (above) and artist's view (right) of the ancient sunken quarters of Alexandria as they might have looked like at the time of Cleopatra. These combine the data of underwater surveys with information from ancient texts and archaeological evidence on land about parts of the ancient city which are covered today by modern Alexandria. The blue structures are artistic renderings of ancient texts. The white parts of the map correspond to the actual results of Franck Goddio's surveys.

31.3.6 Location: Harbour Aerial View

As can be seen in the image above, the photo here and site plan below, there is a highway along the shore of the Mediterrainian at this point --called the Cornishe. On the image of the model further above, this is indicated with the red and yellow car lights.

31.3.8 The Site

The site included an existing conference centre in the South-West (top right of the this plan view).

move to 32. Sno Competition-Winning Design:

_____________________________________________________ Plan: How I Dealt With the Conference Centre This scheme is fully introduced in my website: Click here. To briefly introduce the scheme here, I will first distinguish between how the winning scheme dealt with the site (seen above) and how I dealt with it. For example, the pre- existing conference centre was simply ignored in the winning scheme. As can be seen in my South elevation (here) one of my early design decisions was to encorporate the centre into my design. . . . .

31.3.13 Main Fascades: North and South Elevations

As seen in the North elevation (below) the design conception is a large domed lattice-work over the central lobby space. The dome in not a roof but merely a metal papyrus pattern to provide shade. The shape of a central sphere with symetrical components on either side is repeated in microcosm at each level, as described in the next section. The elevation below is the one facing the Mediterranean. Below is a perspective of the South fascade from the South-west corner of the site, facing North. This is the side facing the city, specifically the university. The street is lined with palm trees.

31.3.15 The Scheme in Context For layout of the building, from the overall scheme of this project, down to the design of the various functions, I was guided my reading of the site, programme, and context. Time and time again, the visual image of something round connecting its surroundings occurred in the research for this project. There was the Middle-East connecting Christian-West with Muslim-East. There was the round harbour connecting the different parts of the city of Alexandria. And there was the roundness of the human body connecting arms holding a book.

..................... .....................

For my visual motif to represent the scheme I chose the papyrus leaf (see left). The making of paper from papyrus was critical to the development of the ancient Library of Alexandria. The papyrus is therefore the symbol I chose for my library scheme (see below and left) as well as ornamentation throughout the building. For example the metal lattice-work in the great dome --which is only an open-air shading device and not glazed. Click on the image at right to see a detail of the dome.

................ ................

31.3.17 The Concept of Macrocosm-Microcosm The ancient library was a centre for research, astronomy, making connections between phenomenon. Alexandria was connection between Egypt and Europe. More recently Egypt was a connection between the Christian world and the Muslim world. The ancients believed that the microcosm reflected the macrocosm, and visa versa.

...... ......

I chose to reflect all of these as concepts I would use throughout my design. The introductory image (right) illustrates this concept of connecting different worlds, with the repetition of this pattern from the macrocosm of space down through a series of scales to the size of a doorknob. Click on this image for a larger version. These various scales are:

Scales of space: (relevant drawing)	Design component:	Description and symbolism:	Design component:	Scales of time (units of measurement)
1:1,000,000,000,000 Scale of the Cosmos (map of constellations)	Spatial arrangement on the site mimics cosmos	Middle-East connecting West and East	Relations between dome and planetarium suggest cosmological relations	Time frame of changes in cosmos astronomical time scale (eras)
1:50,000,000 global scale (world map)	Museums of Western Culture (blue) connected by lobby to Museums of Islamic Culture (red)	Egypt connecting Europe-Christian and Arab-Muslim	The museums anthropology wings exhibit culures	Time frame of change in the planet itself (billions of years)
1:500,000 Scale of the Nation (map of Egypt)	Egyptian History museum (blue) connected by lobby to world (red)	.	Peninsula's geology museum exhibits geological development of the region	Time frame of changes in geology (tens of millions of years)
1:50,000 Regional scale of the region (Delta map)	Alexandria (blue) connected by city centre (defined by peninsula) to delta (red)	the peninsula connects the harbour to the site	Peninsula's zoo exhibits evolution of species	Time frame of changes in living things evolutionary time scale (millions of years)
1:10,000 Urban scale (Alexandria city map)	City centre (blue) connected by site to university (red)	.	History museum exhibis national and urban history; Entabliture tells of Egypt's history	time frame of changes in civilizations (centuries)
1:2,000 Site scale (site plan)	Museums (blue) connected by lobby to library (red)	.	Columns tell the life stories of individuals of note	Time frame of a human life span (decades)
1:1,000 Building's programmatic scale (building plan)	lobby connects the building's wings	the central lobby connects library on East side to Museums on West side	The planetarium completes one revolution around the dome every year	Time frame of projects (years)
1:500 Programmatic scale of the Library or the Museums (wing plan)	lobby connects the building's wings	the central lobby connects library on East side to Museums on West side	.	Time frame of seasons (months)
1:200 Scale of a wing's functions (plans of departments of each wing)	lobby connects the building's wings	the central lobby connects library on East side to Museums on West side	.	(weeks)
1:100 Scale at which a department of the Library (or museum, etc.) operates (room plans)	wings within the library (or museum)	.	Every 24 hours, the ____ rotates. The dome is supported by 24 ribs	Scale of sleep patterns (days -24 hours)
1:50	Scale of individual rooms: eg. rooms with reading niches (room plan)	.	Every hour the ____ rotates	(hours)
1:10 Scale of an individual user's space (niche detail)	reading niche with desk	Rectilinear desk is connected by round chair to rectilinear book shelf	Minutes symbolized by	(minutes)
1:5 Scale of the individual user	chair is shown at right (design specifications of chair)	round seat of chair is between two rectilinear arms	Every minute the ___ rotates	(minute -60 sec.)
1:1 Scale of actual tangible use (design specifications of hardware)	doorknob is shown at far right	rectiliear handle connected by round spacer to rectilinear lock mechanism	Every second the clock ticks	present moment (seconds)

Click here to see an Animated Elevation

31.3.20 Sections

31.3.21 Floor Plans

Click here to see set of drawings Click here to see set of plans

31.3.25 Course Deadline (8 April, 1989)

As far as the architectural course was concerned, the deadline for the completion and submission of all drawings was 8 April, 1989. This deadline was taken seriously, as all drawings submitted were stamped as received, and only stamped drawings were to be seen at the students' reviews over the next month. My review was scheduled for ________ April, 1989.

31.3.26 Final Review, ____ April, 1989

I pinned up all of the drawings which I had submitted by the deadline, 8 April, and arranged my model. The photos below show my presentation.

Back to table
of contents
for navigation

Next section
Chapter 31:4
1989 to 1990