assyut historical narrative museum

Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University in Alexandria

Project idea

The city of Assiut is located in one of the governorates in the Arab Republic of Egypt and lacks foreign tourism. It also lacks the presence of a national museum in the governorate. The location was chosen based on several factors, the first of which was that it be outside the unplanned area of ​​the city, and secondly that it be on the Nile Front to be a nucleus for improving the city’s visual identity and to be its landmark. It is easy for the museum to attract Nile ships heading from Cairo to Aswan, so the basic concept was to make the museum the Landmark of Zamzamzriyal, which expresses the identity of the lost city and its being a faithful guardian of Egypt throughout the ages.The shape of the building was inspired to resemble the pointed rocks of a land that opens up to reveal the treasures and history within it
In an attempt to rely on design in the fourth dimension to control the visitor’s complete experience and how he feels the passage of time
In order to reduce time and the sensation of it, the experience is changed and the number of senses used increases to consolidate the information and increase concentration
It creates visual contact between the different stages of the display, which provides excitement for the visitor during the experience and achieves connection between time in its different stages.

Project description

Assiut National Museum is located on Bani Mer Island, north of the center and city of Assiut. The museum talks about several historical eras and how Assiut was a guardian throughout the ages.The project consists of a main dock, then a plaza that allows access to the main museum plaza or to the rest of the island, which is planned to be a comprehensive cultural island. Then it moves to the main museum plaza, and then moves through three plazas and six main exhibition halls. Each hall talks about a specific time period and tells the story of Through the various influences and artifacts, how is Assiut Harith considered, whether culturally, commercially, or a guardian in the actual sense of civilization and the Holy Family? The smooth transition between the halls is interspersed with several pauses in order to achieve control over the fourth dimension. It also provides diversity and balance between the internal and external display to provide a distinctive experience for the visitor, as well as the course of the display. The main part is some resting points represented in several cafes, and then the last part of the display, which is dedicated to temporary external art exhibitions. The second part of the museum represents the service and is divided into two parts, a part for the museum’s regular service and a special part for laboratories, workshops, collectibles stores, bazaars, and others.

Technical information

The project was composed of three main walls of reinforced concrete at a high height to provide self-shade and made them the main structural structure. Then, they were made double and the internal space between them was used for display, as it was also an environmental solution to reduce the internal temperature. The antiques were designed to suit all groups, ages, and people with special needs, including For the blind, this is done by placing a description of the halls in Braille on each main area and providing special effects that help them imagine the scene using the other senses. The health and safety and escape code has also been adhered to by placing escape points and cutting off the journey every appropriate distance in cases of emergency.