Shahira H. Fahmy Architects
10 Geziret El Arab St, Mohandessin, Giza, Egypt
Pyramid Heights Compound Villa – A Villa with Pyramids View
Design Concept
This concrete, steel and glass villa is located on a hill in a compound
named “Pyramids Heights” overlooking the three Grand Pyramids
of the Giza Plateau, Egypt.
The design model of this house is organized into two interweaving volumes,
connecting in different points that become shared spaces. Formally, the
spatial interplay of the interior creates four loosely defined quadrants
of the house: the formal living space for social events located on the
upper floor to secure a decent vista for such an incredible view; the
indoor pool and related activities on the ground floor, the family room
kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor to have a better connectivity
with the garden, and finally the three bedrooms on the upper floor.
The volumes, one clinging to the ground facing the surrounding palm tree
groves;
And the other detaching itself from the ground towards a better view of
the pyramids while leaving room underneath for a covered terrace space
and indoor pool.
A ramp connects the entrance lobby to the formal living space on the upper
floor.
The bathroom, kitchen and family room are clustered in the right wing
(horizontal axis) of the house on the ground floor, leaving the indoor
pool and related activities on the left part (vertical axis) of the house.
The resulting internal split generates its own brand of view-orientated
efficiency.
Walls, floors and roofs are inseparable entities, through the volumetric
transition from horizontal to vertical and vice versa, a continuous plate
is formed combining the house’s different activities into one structure;
work, social life, family life and individual time all find their place
in this composition.
Egyptian Building
Shahira H. Fahmy Architects
10 Geziret El Arab St, Mohandessin, Giza, Egypt
+ (202) 3749 6144 info@sfahmy.com
Pyramids Heights House –A Villa with Pyramids View- Extra Information
The site is in Giza overlooking the Giza plateau of the three famous pyramids;
it has an altitude over 70 where the pyramids plateau is around 30. as
well as It has an overview of the city.
The site used to be used for stone extracting; the earth is hard and rocky,
the stones are white Egyptian stones they call it in Egypt pharaonic stone.
(It is very popular because it is not costly and lot of people used to
wall bearing and façades cladding)
The materials used in this house are three kinds: the white stone with
a rough texture, the dehara past (it is a kind of past made from mixture
of color pigments powder, straws and cement and others it is similar to
how an adobe is done but without the heating process.) and wood (mostly
from palm trees.).
The facades will be covered by big slabs of white stone, coming from the
ground level all the way up to the second floor.
The concrete slab sheets which are flowing around the house will be covered
with this thin layer of the past. (This kind of finishing you can find
it in all the Egyptian vernacular architecture because it is economical
way to finish the façade.)
The third material is reuse of the leaves of the palm trees which have
been used for a long time to make vegetables baskets for vegetables shipping
from a place to the other. The leave has a core hard straight and with
a length approximate of 120 cm. it is going to be in different parts of
elevations creating screens for privacy and shading purposes. And it is
also going to be used in the interiors in the false ceiling to cover mechanical
ducts and interact it with the light.
The cost of the house is reasonable because it is based of the use of
local materials and inexpensive ones. These materials mentioned above
are mostly used in vernacular architecture and categorized for the poor
people.
Pyramid Heights Compound Villa, Giza: info from Shahira H. Fahmy Architects
13 Dec 2007
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