Location: Cairo, Egypt.

Architect: Boogertman+Partners Architects.

The New Cairo Capital City is a new metropolis being built in the desert to the east of Cairo. The heart of the city will be a sports precinct, which will include a new national stadium. The stadium is designed to be a symbol of contemporary Egypt, while also referencing the Nile, which is the lifeblood of both ancient and future Egyptian life. The Nile is not only the longest river in the world, but it is also an elongated oasis around which the culture of Egypt continues to thrive. The stadium precinct is designed to look like a piece of the Nile river, with a dark ribbon of granite that splits into tributaries that ebb and flow in and out of the stadium. The stadium bowl sits partially “submerged” in this granite river. The form of the roof and shading around the bowl is square and rational, a strict geometry that expresses human force of will over this harsh landscape. The underbelly of the bowl is a bright red, referencing the Egyptian national team. The stadium façade is covered in triangular “lamellas” that create a transparent screen, allowing for shade and air flow. These lamellas have the image of the papyrus reeds along the river bank, with a blue sky back drop, abstracted into them. The stadium is designed to capture the heritage of the papyrus reeds, which have grown on the banks of the Nile for thousands of years. The triangular stalks of the reeds allowed for the creation of the world’s first paper, which allowed for ease of documentation and dissemination of knowledge, in some ways, the first information age. The lamellas allow views through to the stadium within, and from within views to the new city growing beyond.