Science City International – an oasis that satisfies the thirst for knowledge in the desert

The canopies are part of the design submitted by Weston Williamson+Partners, a British architectural firm with offices in London, Melbourne and Sydney, in a competition for Science City International, a complex of buildings that is to come about in 6th of October City, a satellite town outside Cairo's western edge. As Bibiliotheca Alexandrina, the competition initiator, stated, these buildings are to consist of a museum, a conference centre, research and development facilities, workrooms, an observatory complete with planetarium rooms and areas for interactive exhibitions. The brief also specified that the set of buildings and spaces was to be motivating and inspiring on the outside, and exciting on the inside to visitors and employees alike. In the opinion of the jury of academics and representatives of science firms, the design by Weston Williamson+Partners met these requirements best out of a field that totalled 446 entries. Chris Williamson, co-founder of WW+P, states, "We are proud to have won. Needless to say that Egypt has a unique cultural heritage, but we were also attracted by the ambition of the project, clearly expressed through the brief. We look forward to developing the design and creating something worthy for Egypt’s future generations."