Bachelor Thesis

German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program Architecture and Urban Design

Bachelor Thesis 2017

Museum of Luxor Journey to the Afterlife

Nourhan Gamal Fathy Ahmed Elsayed

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German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program Architecture and Urban Design

Bachelor Thesis Museum of Luxor

Author:

Nourhan Gamal Fathy Ahmed Elsayed

Supervisor

Dr. Hussam Hussein Salama German University in Cairo

Examination Committee:

Dr. Ayman Hassan Cairo University Dr. Yasser Mahgoub American University in Cairo

Examination Date

12.06.2017

Submission Date:

4.07.2017

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German University in Cairo | Architecture and Urban Design Program Architecture and Urban Design

This is to certify that: 1. this thesis comprises only my original work towards the Bachelor Degree 2. due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used

Nourhan Gamal 04.07.2017

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Contents

1. Declaration

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2. Table of content

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3. List of figures

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4. Abstract Introduction

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5. Analysis A) Site Analysis B) Concept Analysis

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6. Project Design of Masterplan A) Problem definition, Design intention B) Conceptual Development C) Final Proposal

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7. Project Design of Museum A) Problem definition, Design intention B) Conceptual Development C) Final Proposal

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8. Critical review on work and process

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9. Conclusions and recommendations

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10. References List of figures Bibliography

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11. Appendix Project Strategy Presentation Sheets Model Photos

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List Of Figures

Figure 1, Satellite Image of New Tiba City, Luxor Figure 2, Satellite image close up of Built Areas Figure 3, Part of New Tiba Masterplan Figure 4, Part of the Book of the Dead Figure 5, Ancient Egyptian Tomb Figure 6, Seven gates in temple of Osirus at Al Karnak Figure 7, Part of the Book of dead found in burial chamber of Ramses 1 Figure 8, Hall of Osirus Figure 9, First Masterplan Sketch Figure 10, Second Masterplan Sketch Figure 11, Third Masterplan Sketch Figure 12, Green Belt Figure 13, Spine with services Figure 14, Detailed Plots Figure 15, Final Masterplan Figure 16, First Bubble Diagram Figure 17, Model of Journey Spaces Figure 18, Analysis of light in each space Figure 19, Underworld Figure 20, Seven Gates Figure 21, Hall of Osirus Figure 22, Afterlife Figure 23, First Mass Trial Figure 24, Second Mass Trial Figure 25, Third Mass Trial Figure 26, Fourth Mass Trial Figure 27, First Physical Model Trial Side View Figure 28, First Physical Model Trial Front View Figure 29, Second Physical Model Trial Figure 30, Arieal View Figure 31, Front View Figure 32, Right Side View Figure 33, Left Side View Figure 34, 3D Front View Figure 35, 3D Back View Figure 36, 3D Side View Figure 37, 3D Xray View Figure 38, Afterlife Figure 39, Seven Gates

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Figure 40, Afterlife Figure 41, Facade Inspiration Figure 42, Left Side Figure 43, Right Side Figure 44, Back Side Figure 45, Front Side Figure 46, Ariel Front View Figure 47, Left Side View Figure 48, Back Side View Figure 49, Right Side View Figure 50, Seven Gates First Proposal Figure 51, Hall of Osirus First Proposal Figure 52, Afterlife First Proposal Figure 53, Afterlife First Proposal Figure 54, Site Plan of the Luxor Museum Figure 55, Xray View of Final 3D Model Figure 56, Ground Floor Plan Figure 57, First Floor Plan Figure 58, Underground Floor Plan Figure 59, Longitudinal Section AA Figure 60, 3D Section Figure 61, Museum Ariel View Figure 62, Museum Entrance Figure 63, Outdoor Auditorium Figure 64, Outdoor Students and Professors Area Figure 65, Smaller Parking Figure 66, Museum Night Shot Figure 67, Seven Gates Exhibition Figure 68, Hall of Osirus Exhibition Figure 69, Afterlife Exhibition Part 1 Figure 70, Afterlife Exhibition Part 2 Figure 71, Facade Grid Figure 72, Final Front Elevation Figure 73, Final Back Elevtation Figure 74, Final Left Elevation Figure 75, Final Right Elevation Figure 76, Structure Proposal of Museum Figure 77, Concrete Sandwich Panel, Themrally Insulated Figure 78, Double Galzed Glass

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Abstract

A museum is a building that occupies many artifacts that are considered very rare and unique. These artifacts need to be preserved and kept safely exhibited for everyone to be able to view it and enjoy its uniqueness.

The task was to design a new National Museum for the city of Luxor, Egypt. The museum is to exhibit many of the ancient artifacts of the Egyptians and to preserve them safely and unharmed.

The city of Luxor is planning a new extension for the city naming it New Tiba. This city hasn’t been fully designed and our challenge as the team of the German University in Cairo was to propose an urban masterplan for the new area including the design of the museum.

year? How will the museum work functionally as exhibitional spaces without interfering with the education and research centers? and how will the height limit of twenty one meters affect the design and its architecture?

All of these questions had to be answered on designing the museum and many solutions had to be made and taken into consideration.

The museum is to be considered as a new huge artifact that should add to the city of Luxor more uniqueness and importance.

It was a very tough challenge not only to design a museum that would be a major touristic attraction point, but to also propose a masterplan for the city and imagine how the whole image will turn out in the end. The city had to include better solutions for pedestrians and for the environment. Alongside with the design of the museum that had to consider the sizes of the artifacts that are to be shown in the museum.

Another very important factor that had to be added to the museum design was including a reseach and an education center. They are to absorb a large number of people including researchers, students, professors, archeologists and many others who wish to learn and study the history of our country and the very old and rare artifacts that they left us.

On designing a very important museum like this in a city that holds more than third of the historical artifacts of the world, questions must be answered. How will this museum become a touristic attraction without competing with the old city of Luxor? How will the building show the new vision for the city which includes proving to the world how Luxor renews itself and is capable of becoming a modern city with modern and futuristic architecture? How will the climate of the city affect the design considering that Luxor has a very dry and hot weather most of the time throughout the whole 6

Introduction

The museum is proposed to be built on a site that has not yet been designed. So working on a masterplan was very important to be able to identify the site access, streets, pedestrian routes and important surrounding buildings that might affect the museum.

After designing the masterplan, a site plan was proposed.

The museum is expected to be near a theme park and a cultural center. It is mainly accessed by two ways, either through a long pedestrian spine that also has a tram line moving in the middle or by car through secondary streets connected to the main street. However approaching the site from the pedestrian route had the most focus and this was to encourage the importance of public spaces and their effect on any surrounding site.

The purpose behind desiging such a museum was to attract more tourists to Luxor city. Also to have a new museum that was able to hold and exhibit many of the Egyptian artifacts and truly show their beauty. The museum has to be very eye catchy through a very well design modern and futuristic architecture that does not compete with the old city of Luxor.

It had to meet with all the techincal requirements and functions in order to work properly.

The Second Section discusses the conceptual developmenet of the design. This part mainly shows how the design started and how it started to develop. It contains many different trials stating each problem that was faced in each trial.

This whole section is considered as previous unsuccessful proposals for the design of the museum and the masterplan.

However they still show how the progress was made from the beginning to the end.

The Third Section discusses the final proposal of the design. It demonstrates each detail of the design showing the spaces whether interior or exterior. It shows different design functions and technical problems and how they were solved.

This section has the final design of the museum and the masterplan. It is the design that will be given to the client.

This thesis discusses the design process of the museum and the masterplan. There is a common part including the analysis of the site and the concept.

However, it is then divided into discussing the masterplan design and the museum design seperately.

Both design processes undergo Three main parts that are considered the main focus in this thesis.

The First Section discusses the problems of the design and the design intention. It states each problem that has to be solved while desiging and that has to be taken into consideration.

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Analysis A)Site Location

Museum Site

Master Plan Site

Figure (01) : Satellite Image of New Tiba City, Luxor 8

Analysis A) Site Analysis

New Tiba City is a city that is still under construction. It hasn’t been fully designed and desert land covers most of the the whole area.Our task as the team from the German University in Cairo was not only to design a new museum but also to propose a masterplan for the city. In figure (03), a part of the masterplan is shown. This part was designed and proposed by the governorate of Luxor and is under construction.

The proposal mainly includes residential buildings and new schools.

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Figure (02) :Satellite image close up of Built Areas

The only built areas till now are the 1: Orman Oncology Hospital 2:Tiba El Gdida Central Authority 3:Residential blocks, but no one is living there yet.

4:The Area that we were given to propose a masterplan design for it.

Figure (03) : Part of New Tiba Masterplan 9

Analysis B) Concept Analysis Book of the Dead and The Journey to the Afterlife

Figure (04) : Part of the Book of the Dead During our visit to Luxor city, we were able to see huge artifacts and monuments left by the ancient Egyptians.

Each monument told a specific story about a specific king or Queen. They built temples and tombs mainly and this is mostly what we inherited from them. Alongside with their beautiiful and fascinating jewlery, gold, silver, utensils and everything else that they used back then. However what inspired me the most was what drove them to build these huge temples and hide their tombs very carefuly.

Their sense of good and bad deeds was extremely high.

They always tried to do good deeds in their life and please their gods by building huge temples for them. They wanted to make sure that they will be rewarded. Their reward was immortality.They would achieve it after they die and go through a specific and extremly hard journey.

This journey was called the journey to the afterlife. It was the reason behind their hidden tombs and the mummification process that they did.They wanted to ensure that the dead body will be kept safe till the time comes and the soul returns to the body and starts its journey.

My inspiration came after alot of research about something called The Book of the Dead.

The Book of dead was considered as something very essential in order to pass through this journey and achieve the main goal of immortality. However it was considered a very expensive book and only Kings, Queens and elites of the country were able to afford it. It was a book that contained spells, incantations and special prayers to help the dead person to pass his test.

It had a very detailed descrpition of how the journey will be like. and from here was the beginning of my inspiration for the Museum.

This book is considered to be complex yet simple, including many details of their journey.

My research was about each space they had to pass through and how these spaces could eventually turn into architectural spaces giving a similar feeling to what they wrote about in this book.

I was very inspired by all the feelings we were able to feel as visitors visiting the tombs and the temples. We were able to experience holyness in the temples and a bit of fear in the tombs. All of their spaces were carefully designed. However what they failed to show us was what happened after that.

Throughout the whole city of Luxor, there was not one single monument that could translate or give us the feeling that they might experience in their journey to the afterlife.

From this point, i started researching on the Book of the Dead in order to understand each and every detail it had.

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Analysis B) Concept Analysis Book of the Dead and The Journey to the Afterlife

Figure (07) : Part of the Book of dead found in burial chamber of Ramses 1 Figure (05) : Ancient Egyptian Tomb

The journey to the afterlife mainly was divided into four parts. Each part had its different features including different spaces, different Gods and different experiences.

The first phase was the Underworld / Underground.

This phase was definined as their tombs where their bodies rested. Their souls would leave their bodies everyday and return by night waiting for the time to start their afterlife journey.

The second phase of the journey was called The Seven Gates.

This phase was considered very controversial. The book of dead as mentioned before was mainly for the rich people, however middle class civilians could afford a more poor version of the book. This meant that the amount of information in it will be less than that in the version given to the kings and queens. This phase is defined as the seven gates because the dead person is awaken and his soul returns to his body, he starts off his journey and has to pass seven different gates in order to reach to the hall of Osirus where he will be judged.This phase is negotioable because in some versions , it is mentioned that there is a gate every hour of the day.

Meaning that this process takes up twenty four hours, each hour with a different gate.

Figure (06) : Seven gates in temple of Osirus at Al Karnak

The above figure shows the middle register in the third hour of the Book of the Dead that was found in the burial chamber of Ramses the first.

This image shows that the book of dead was a book that not only told them the spells and the prayers that they needed but also was a demenstration and a guide book for them to show them exactly what they will go through during each hour.

However that was not confirmed a hundred percent. But what is confirmed is that first seven gates are the most important and crucial in every journey.

The gates are guarded by two gods and a beast. Each gate with different Gods and beasts. The dead person has to recite special spells and incantations in order to be able to pass to the next gate, until eventually he passes them all.

It was not mentioned how these gates specifically looked like.However in figure (06), the seven gates are engraved in the temple of Osirus Hek-Djet at Al Karnak Temple which proves their existence in their culture.

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Analysis B) Concept Analysis Book of the Dead and The Journey to the Afterlife

Figure (08) : Hall of Osirus

The third phase is the most crucial and important part of the whole journey. It is the Hall of judgement known as the Hall of Osirus.

This is considered a very important phase of their journey as it is the part where they are judged over their deeds. It is the part that either takes them to the Field of Reeds (Afterlife ) or they are eaten by a ferocious beast.

This phase is divided into two parts: The first part is the Weighing of the Heart: Here, their heart is compared to a feather. If it is heavier than the feather, then that means that they have done very bad deeds in their life and they have to defend themselves infront of the God Osirius. If proven guilty, they are eaten by the beast. If proven not guilty then they are rewarded immortality.

Weighing ot the heart ritual

The second part is the 42 Gods : These gods help osirus to take her decision. They listen to the dead person as he defends himself infront of them as if in a court room.

The dead person enters the hall of osirus, stands in the middle, wearing white clean clothes with white sandals.He is surrounded by the 42 Gods and the God of Osirus is in the middle at the end of the room. Infront of her , there is the god that weighs the heart in a very precise ritual and the beast awaits the dead guilty person.

Ferocious Beast that eats all the guilty

The last phase is the Afterlife.

It is the reward of immortality. However there is not one papyrus nor drawing that shows the exact form of the afterlife heaven that they awaited. There are some that call it the Field of Reeds. This is because of the extreme love that the ancient Egyptians had towards their land. They had extreme pride and honor and considered their country as the best country that ever existed at their time. So their idea of the afterlife was defined as Egypt and how they could live an immortal life in it.

It is expected to be a very peaceful place with lots of greenary and openness. It is a happy calm place that they imagined that their immortal life will be like

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Project Design of Masterplan A) Problem Definition- Design Intention

As mentioned before in the site analysis, we needed a masterplan proposal in order to define a specific site for the museum.

B) Conceptual development Masterplan First Sketches/Proposal

Figure (09) : First Masterplan Sketch

Figure (10) : Second Masterplan Sketch

Figure (11) : Third Masterplan Sketch

After an excursion to the city of Luxor and a visit to the site.

Students were divided into groups of ten to come up with a masterplan for a part of the city of New Tiba. Our main goal was to ensure that the city would be a pedestrian friendly community encouriging not only tourists but also locals to enjoy the city with all what it has to offer. The new city had to include creative activites alongside with important touristic activities. The whole site is a desert and there isn’t any kind of major attractions or landmarks at this new end of the city.

We started with a main spine in the middle of the city shown in figure (09) ,creating an east and west side. It was inspired by the idea of the River Nile and how it seperated Luxor city to east and west.

Our next step was to divide the area into smaller parts in order to be able to work on them individually and imagine how the whole city will functionally fullfil the needs of the locals and the tourists as shown in figure (10). We then started giving different functions to each plot area and started adding more service ideas to the main spine as shown in figure (11).

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Project Design of Masterplan C) Masterplan Final Proposal

Figure (12) : Green Belt

Figure (13) : Spine with services

Figure (14) : Detailed Plots

The above figure shows how the spine became more detailed including a large greenary in the middle. This green belt acts as a seperater to both sides. It also creates a nice buffer zone for the new city and provides it with a nice shaded cool area for people to enjoy.

Tram Station Tram Line Kiosks and Bazars The next step was to design how the spine will work alongside with the green belt in the middle. We wanted to make the whole area a user friendly space that is easily accessible by pedestrians with walkable distances. However the distances still remained large so a tram line was added to decerese the distances travelled by people on foot.

We then divided the area into smaller parts in order to be able to work on them individually and imagine how the whole city will functionally fullfil the needs of the locals and the tourists. Each plot provides a specific funtion that is needed for the city.

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Project Design of Masterplan C) Masterplan Final Proposal As shown in the figure (15), each plot has a different function.

Starting from the bottom to the top: Olympic Village: It is proposed to have a huge sports area inclunding a very large stadium. It will include the sports of Soccer, Tennis, Swimming Pools, Gymnasiums and many other sports.

Hotels Area: This area will include many hotels of different varieties to allow tourists to choose freely and to be able to accomodate a large number of people, Thus increasing the number of annual international visitors on the long run.

Reseach Area: This area will include many reseach facilites to encourge people all over the world to study in luxor. It will include schools, universities and Libraries.

Cultural Area

Theme Park Convention Center

Commercial Area

Vocational Area: This area includes vocational centers to encourage the locals to improve their overall handmade products. It will support all the handmade industries availabe in Luxor such as pottery making and Sewing.

Commercial Area: This area will allow many international and national companies to open their branches in Luxor and be able to invest in the city more.

Eco-Touristic: This plot introduces a new type of a touristic attraction. It will be a very eco- Friendly environment allowing tourists and visitors to enjoy the beauty of nature of the city.

Convention Center: It will include a massive mall buildings with aduitoriums to allow people to enjoy the city from a different perspective away from all the historical monuments.

Museum Site

Eco Touristic

Vocational Area Research Area

Hotels Area

Olympic Facilities

Olympic Village

Theme Park: It’s considered as a new type of touristic attraction that will allow people to experience different moods and feelings.

Cultural Area: This area will have cultural centers that will ensure on keeping the culture of the locals always shown and displayed through the whole area.

Figure (15) : Final Masterplan 15

Project Design of Museum A) Problem Definition- Design Intention

After researching deeply about the Book of the Dead and understanding each and every phase as mentioned before in the concept analysis. My main target was how to imagine and transform these spaces into real architectural spaces that give certain feelings in each phase.

The Book of the dead is mainly defined by the four main spaces which are (The Underworld- The Seven Gates The Hall of Osirus and The Afterlife ) Each space presented a different feeling. My main concern was how to translate written words into spaces and functions. Including also a research center, an education center and an administration facility within the musuem.

I began my designing process by a small bubble diagram trying to imagine how the spaces will come together as a whole entity. I wanted to think of the four main spaces as exhibitional spaces along with the research , education and administration facilities as shown in figure (16).

Journey of the Visitors Research , Education and Administration Facilities

Entance/Foyer Figure (16) : First Bubble Diagram I considered the city of old Luxor as the underworld and that the museum was the start of their journey towards the afterlife. People who will be visitng the museum will be able to relate to the Book of the dead and all the spaces and feelings it mentioned.

My next problem was how to imagine these spaces. So I started to think of the spaces in a more rigid kind of form. I imagined the spaces in a linear path. These spaces will form the exhibitional spaces of the museum.

Figure (17) : Model of Journey Spaces I then tried to analyze the amount of light i needed in each space. This will help me later on when desiging the facades of the musuem.

Light that entered each exhibition had to have a very precise meaning. The model as shown in figure (18), shows that the more we move from the underworld towards the afterlife, it becomes more lighten up and more sunlight is allowed.

Each space was considered a seperate exhibition that i had to think of carefully. I started making small diagrams of how each space might be like.

The First space was the Underworld,which was mainly Old Luxor with all of the tombs that it had.

The second phase was the seven gates, i thought of it as a more transitional space and imagined passing through seven actual gates.

The third phase is considered very difficult. The whole judement process happens here. I thought of it as a court room with a main object in the middle representing the God of Osirus.

The last phase is the afterlife. I considered myself as a dead person who wanted to be surprised at the end.

So my idea was surprising the visitor with the different irregular form of space and how bright it is compared to the previous exhibitions.

Figure (19) :Underworld

Figure (20) :Seven Gates

Figure (21) :Hall of Osirus

Figure (22) :Afterlife

Figure (18) : Analysis of light in each space 16

Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 1 My first proposal started with a very regular form of two rectangles attached to a large square by a path in the middle as shown in figure (23). I wanted to give the museum a feeling that it was evolving from the ground and so i started playing with the sides trying to minimize the amount of inclinations in each wall. I was trying to give it a very unique shape that worked perfectly with the functions and the bubble diagram as shown before.

The two rectangular spaces at the beginning represented the ( Research area, Education area and the Entrance). Then after that, i wanted to attach the journey and make it as a whole entity.

The path represeneted the seven gates and the last space was the Hall of Osirus and the afterlife.

My next two trials in figure (24) and (25), I tried to keep the main form and start adding more inclinations to the walls to give it a more evolving feeling.

In my last trial in figure (26), I added openings to the spaces trying to keep the light analysis that was shown before into consideration.

Through these four mass trials ,I was always keeping in mind the spaces of the exhibition that will later on resemble each part of the afterlife journey.

However, working on a virtual 3D model is always not enough. So i had to try a physical model and see how the building will look.

After the model was done, I started analyzing the issues I found and how they could be changed. The comparision between the 3D virtual model and the 3D physcial model are huge. What concerned me was how everything was attached together.

It still didn’t appear as a whole entity. The museum as a mass looked as if there are three detached masses of rectangles and they are all connected by inclined walls that didn’t function well with the concept or the interior space ideas.

Figure (27) : First Physical Model Trial Side View Figure (23) : First Mass Trial

Figure (25) : Third Mass Trial

Figure (24) : Second Mass Trial

Figure (26) : Fourth Mass Trial

Figure (28) : First Physical Model Trial Front View 17

Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 2

Figure (29) : Second Physical Model Trial After my first proposal, I decided to start all over trying to make the spaces become more closer to each other. Imaginging the masses of the building were very difficult because I was trying to keep the journey seperated from the rest of the facilities in the museum. However at the end everything had to join together.

In figure (29) I started inclining the roof tops of the first two masses, trying to stick to the idea of the evolution from the land, but without major inclinations.

Throughout the figures (30 - 33), my main target was to keep the whole mass joined together, minimizing the amount of inclination in the first two masses and trying to keep the last mass the most unique part of the museum.

Keeping the last mass more different and unique than the rest of the museum was done on purpose. My main target was to keep the last part of the journey ( Afterlife Exhibition ) the most interesting part. Visitors would spend most of their tour time in the last exhibition. That is why it had to be a very unique and large exhibitional space.

Figure (30) : Arieal View

Figure (32) : Right Side View

Figure (31) : Front View

Figure (33) : Left Side View

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Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 2

Figure (34) : 3D Front View Designing the mass of the museum was a process of two parallel trials. A physical model as shown in the previous page and a 3D virtual model as shown in the figures (34-36).

I started considering the heights of each space, putting into consideration that the height limit allowed in this area is twenty one meters maximum.

As i worked on the 3D model, i tried to improve the issues that i faced while making the physical model. My first issue was the very low height that appeared in the first two front masses. So while working on the 3D virtual model, i improved it compared to the physical model and gave it a proper height that would serve the functions in this area.

Figure (35) : 3D Back View

The next issue that I faced was how to transform the roof top of the last mass without turning it into anything weird looking and sticking to the height limit.

As soon as i solved these issues, the process became more in parallel with the interior design of the museum. The mass developmenet couldn’t be imrpoved without desiging the interior spaces and thinking of them. So i decided to work on the interior and see how it will affect my exterior mass and how much are they related to each other and what needs to be more improved.

I personally believe that the exterior of a building can never be just a shell that had nothingg to do with its interior, and so i was being very careful on how the exterior and interior will affect each other.

Figure (37) : 3D Xray View Education Center Research Center Journey Exhibitional Spaces

Admninistration Facility Entrance + Foyer Exhibitonal Space

In figure (37), I transformed the 3D model into an Xray view, giving each function a certain color and creating a mood board with inspirational pictures on how the interior spaces and exterior facades might look like.

I started imagining each space with different features, as in figure (39). I imagined the exhibitional space of the seven gates might have the same feeling.

However i imagined the afterlife exhibiton to be extremly different as in figures (38 & 40).

These images were just for inspiration and were not for copying or replicating them in my design..

Figure (38) : Afterlife

Figure (39) : Seven Gates

Figure (36) : 3D Side View

Figure (40) : Afterlife

Figure (41) : Facade Inspiration 19

Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 3 The third phase was designing of the museum facade. I wanted to keep the feeling of irregularity through the whole museum. However this brought up many other problems.

My first problem was how the facade looked as a whole.

It was very clear how randomly designed it was making it impossible to figure out how it might be built in real considering that this is a real project for an actual client which is the governor of Luxor city.

Another issue was the connectivity of the facade together.

The facade looked detached meaning that each triangular form looked as a seperate wall. It had to be connected to give the feeling of unity and that the whole building is related to each other.

While desiging this phase, the materials of the building were not yet decided. Also the solutions for the hot weather and climate was still being researched to reach to the best solutions.

As shown in the figures (42&45) the museum entrance was also not fully designed and needed a lot of progress to make it more welcoming and handicaped friendly rather than huge number of stairs that are proposed here.

Figure (42) : Left Side

Figure (43) : Right Side

Figure (44) : Back Side

Figure (45) : Front Side

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Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 4 The fourth proposal was a combination of exterior and interior focus. I was trying to find a suitable facade system that would serve my concept and serve the interior spaces. However it is also very important to know that the museum is in Luxor city and the challenge of bad weather is very difficult.

The weather is extremely hot and very sunny most of the time throughout the whole year. The question was how will it work?

As shown in figures (46- 49), A certain grid is used for the whole building. The facade openings vary through the whole building depending on the function needed. This is why it is very clear that the end of the museum which has the afterlife exhibition contains the most facade openings to allow more sunlight to enter.

However the rest of the museum has much less facade openings which are mostly used for education and research facilities. These spaces need sunlight but do not need excess light entering the space.

Figure (46) : Ariel Front View

Figure (48) : Back Side View

Figure (47) : Left Side View

Figure (49) : Right Side View

Another improtant focus was the massing of the building which which was being developed on a very small scale to improve any problems facing the interior space.

After reaching to this mass and facade design, there was still issues that had to be tackled and solved.

One of the main problems was the heat. The amount of sunlight entering the building was still too much especially in the afterlife exhibition and the need of the sunlight was essential.

So solutions for facade systems were very crucial to solve this problem. Also the whole materials used for the building weren’t yet fully decided and needed more research.

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Project Design of Museum B) Conceptual development Proposal 4 As shown in the previous page, the development of the building was also in parallel with the development of the interior spaces as shown in the figures ( 50-53 ). Working on each exhibitional space seperately was very important. The concept consists of three main spaces that are translated here in the museum into three main exhibitions.

The challenge was transforming written words of the Book of the Dead into spaces that could easily express the journey.

The first exhibition is the Seven Gates as shown in figure (50). It is considered a transitional space from the entrance of the museum to the Hall of Osirius. So the whole space is more of a narrow maze like path way that gives the visitors a sense of excitement and suspense when moving in it.

Figure (50) : Seven Gates First Proposal

Figure (52) : Afterlife First Proposal

Figure (51) : Hall of Osirus First Proposal

Figure (53) : Afterlife First Proposal

The second exhibition hall is the Hall of Osirius. This exhibition had to be a holy place where an actual ritual like the heart weighing could take place in. It is was very important to consider the greatness of a space like this. This is why the whole space is black with golden columns resembling the 42 Gods. Also the wall at the end acted as a written papyrus as if the dead person had all his deeds written infront of him as soon as he enters the space, he is confronted with his deeds.

The last exhibition hall is the afterlife. The idea of this exhibition is that it had to be a surprise, to be extremely different from all the other spaces before it. This is why this exhibition has many openings allowing a lot of sunlight to enter. Another important factor that i meant to consider was how the sunlight entered the space. I wanted to give a feeling of heaven and so the sun light entering had to be in a kind of irregularity.

The whole exhibition is a very bright space with bright materials giving the feeling of peace and serenity.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Urban Situation The figure (54) shows the site plan of the museum in New Tiba, Luxor city. The museum is placed at the end of the spine in the last plot as shown previously in the masterplan design. It is placed in an inclined way towards the spine. This was intentionally designed to make it more welcoming from the pedestrian spine.

There are two secondary access both heading towards the main entrance.

Number (1) shows the access path way from the car drop off.

Number (2) shows the access path way from the museum parking.

When designing the site of the museum, it was very important to include several activities.for the various users. I decided to not only include spaces for the museum visitors but also to include spaces for the administration staff, students , professors and researchers that will be using the museum facilities daily. The museum had to be a friendly place enouraging people to become more creative and sociable, so it needed outdoor spaces that could accomodate this.

This is clear in the design of the site. There is an outdoor auditorium space for drama plays or musical events that could take place in that space. It is also below ground level by 4 meters allowing natural sunlight to enter to the underground level of the museum, lighting up the administration and research facilities.

On the right side there is also a difference in level of 4 meters creating an outdoor space for museum users to enjoy. It has tables and chairs and it is a good space for people to communicate and socialize together. This space is also connected with a small parking lot made for the museum daily users. It has a direct access to the main street and it could be used also to allow the transportation of any museum artifact from and to the museum easily.

The last space is the Outdoor exhibition area that could be considered as an extra extention for the museum to exhibit and show large artifacts that might not fit in the museum itself.

Museum Parking Outdoor Auditorium Administration Parking Students Area

Outdoor Exhibition Area

Secondary Access (2)

Main Access

Secondary Access (1)

Pedestrian Spine

Drop Off

Figure (54) : Site Plan of the Luxor Museum

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Space Program

Figure (55) : Xray View of Final 3D Model

Entrance + Foyer + Restaurant (1,465 m2)

Administration Offices (1,158 m2)

Research + Restoration Center (2,567 m2) Underground Floor (1,141 m2 ) Ground Floor (1,022 m2 ) First Floor (404 m2) Education Center (2,972 m2) Underground Floor (1,368 m2 ) Ground Floor (1,125 m2 ) First Floor (479 m2)

Seven Gates Exhibition (804 m2) Hall of Osirus Exhibition (894 m2) Afterlife Exhibition (4,231 m2) + 6.00 m Exhibition Space (512 m2) + 9.00 m Exhibition Space (309 m2) Total: Exhibition Spaces (5,946 m2)

Last Exhibition Space (634 m2)

Total Areas of Each Floor: Underground Floor ( 4,960 m2) Ground Floor ( 9,096 m2) First Floor ( 883 m2) Total Area of Whole Museum (14,939 m2)

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Zoning (Distribution of Functions) Starting with the ground floor, there are three main routes for people entering the museum. The first one is the visitors route. People enter from the large square infront of the entrance, into a large foyer with an information desk in the middle of the space. The foyer is the place where the whole museum journey starts and ends.It also has a small restaurant and seating areas for people.

The visitors then start their journey by decending a ramp into the exhibition of the Seven Gates.The ramp begins by decending 1 meter then ascending 2 meters to enter the second exhibition space which is the Hall of Osirius ( A very regular shaped space).Moving inside the space, we then ascend some steps taking the visitors to a + 3 meters level.

At the end of the this exhibition there is an opening allowing the visitors to enter the Afterlife exhibition space. This is considered the last important exhibition area that ends the journey of the Book of the dead.

The last space is an indoor outdoor transitional space that could be used as a free plan exhibition space to seperate the journey ending from the main foyer. The circulation as a whole is in a circular motion starting and ending at the main foyer.

The second route is for people entering the research and restoration center. It is in the left wing of the museum. There are several offices with meeting rooms. Also a huge resoration studio with a free open plan for various uses.

The last route is the right side wing of the museum. This side has the education center with a large library that could be used by students and professors.

The education and research center are very symmetrical and this was on purpose. While designing the museum, i intentionally did this to emphasize on the importance of both of them. This is to prove that the research is as important as the education so making them symmetrical was something inevetiable.

Figure (56) : Ground Floor Plan 25

Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Zoning (Distribution of Functions) The first floor plan is shown through the research and education centers. Both centers consist of three floors ( Ground, First and Underground Floor).

The first floor over looks the entrance area, the foyer and the restaurant area. There is also a skylight opening in the middle of each center to allow the entrance of natural light to the interior spaces. Each center has a computer lab to be used by students, researchers and professors.

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In this plan , the different levels in the afterlife are also very clear. After leaving the Hall of Osirus, the visitors ascend an esclator taking them to +9 meters (Number 1). Visitors then descend to level +6 meters (nujmber 2). People then descend to level 0.00 which is the rest of the Afterlife exhibition.

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Figure (57) : First Floor Plan 26

Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Zoning (Distribution of Functions) The last floor plan to explain is the underground plan. This floor plan is designed mainly for the users of the research, education and administration facilities. Visitors will not be using this floor.

As discussed before, the left wing is the research and restoration center while the right wing is the education center.

The third part is the administration area.This floor plan has more offices for each facility.

There is a door opening towards the outdoor small parking to ease the transportation of any materials or products to the museum.

The underground floor plan also contains the mechanical services for the museum. It has janitorial rooms, Storage rooms and technical rooms.

There is also a space in the middle of the floor used for a small indoor cafetria with a small kitchenette for users of this floor.

Figure (58) : Underground Floor Plan 27

Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Sections)

Figure (59) : Longitudinal Section AA

As shown in the figure (59), the longitudinal section shows the sequence of spaces starting from the beginning to the end of the museum. The design of the education and research center was a very basic design without any weird rooftops or inclined walls to serve the interior functions of the space. However it is clear how the museum form differs from the start compared to the end.

Also the amount of sunlight entering the spaces is very clear as shown in the figure above showing also the difference in each part of the museum.

The second figure which is the 3D shot shows the Afterlife exhibition and the Hall of Osirus along with their connections to the exterior spaces.

Both sections show the difference in levels that plays an important role in each exhibition and space.

Figure (60) : 3D Section

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (61) : Museum Ariel View

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (62) : Museum Entrance The entrance of the museum had to be very welcoming to encourage the visitors to approach it. As mentioned before, the entance is approached from the side of the pedestrian spine. This spine has a tram line, bazars, shops and many other activities making the flow of people using it very high.

It was very difficult while desiging the entrance. The museum had to have a large wide space infornt of the entrance to accomodate the large number of people visiting it. Another very important aspect was the height of the entance itself. It is considered very low and finding solutions was not easy.

My proposal was playing with the mass by extruding hollow triangular shapes emphasizing the entrance and giving it a more welcoming approach. The entrance stairs also are shaded by an extruding triangle slab pointing upwards with a glass opening in the middle to continue the shape of the skylight of the foyer pointing towards the beginning of the museum journey.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (63) : Outdoor Auditorium On the left side of the museum, there is a large outdoor auditorium. This area was designed for several reasons.

My first intention was using the very large space surrounding the museum to give more spatial qualities to the landscape of the building. Throughout the whole deiign phase, i wanted to include several activities inside and outside of the museum for various users.

This auditorium could be used by the students or professors using the museum. They could use it for musical events, shows or plays.

It is below ground level by 4 meters, allowing sunlight to enter the spaces of the research and administration facilities.

People are able to access this auditorium through two sides. The first one is from the entrance front side of the museum. As shown previously in the plans, there is a ramp from the square infront of the museum descending to the auditorium.

Another access is shown in Figure (63) at the end of the museum by very large stairs.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (64) : Outdoor Students and Professors Area As mentioned before, there are different users for the museum. People visiting the museum for the artifacts only are probably going to visit it once or twice in their lifetime.

However, there are other users who will visit the museum daily including the museum administration staff, students, researchers, professors...etc. These people need a space that will allow them to socialize and become more engaged in different activities.

While desiging the museum, especially the research and education centers, natural sunlight had to be considered.

So creating an outdoor semi-public space for the people had to be on the same level of the underground floor which is below ground level by 4 meters. This was to ease the access to and from it, and also to allow natural sunlight to enter the space freely.

This space also is connected with a small parking that is connected to the main road.

The whole space has many seating areas and is considered a shaded area due to the shade provided by the building. It is a very nice and comfortable space for working outdoor and socializing with collegues.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (65) : Smaller Parking Designing a very imporrtant museum like this one was very difficult. There are always many aspects to include and consider while desiging. One of these very important aspects was how are they going to move any artifacts from the musuem or to it?. There had to be a different access route to allow trucks and lorry cars that are carrying goods and artifacts to easily access and approach the museum from a different entrance than the main one.

As shown previously in the museum site plan, there is a long road leading from the main street to the small parking space. It is a ramped street from the main street level to below 4 meters.

There is a large green space surrounding the road on both sides to create a buffer zone between the street and the museum. It also helped in hiding the cars and trucks from museum visitors to help maintain the enjoyable visual connections of the museum landscape.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Outdoor Spaces)

Figure (66) : Museum Night Shot As shown in the figure (66), this is the night shot visualization of the museum. It shows the back area of the landscape and of the museum. The whole space is very large allowing people to walk around it and enjoy it.

It is connected to the outdoor auditorium and the students area by stairs from both sides. This space could be used for extra outdoor exhibitional spaces.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Interior Spaces)

Figure (67) : Seven Gates Exhibition Working on the design of the interior spaces was very important and difficult. Each space had a different concept and a different emotional and phyisical feeling that had to be translated to the museum visitors.

The seven gates exhibition as mentioned before is the first exhibition in the museum journey.

As shown in the above figure, it consists mainly of a dark narrow path leading to the Hall of Osirus.

The space had to trigger feelings of curiosity and suspense. So it isn’t a direct straight foward path, it is more broken to give the feeling of doubt, as if people are walking underground and they still do not know what are they going to be facing.

Placing a unapproachable monument was to give the feeling of greatness however to ensure that they are still on a journey to see greater monuments.

The materials used in this space are mainly concrete and wood. They had to be very dark and earthy to give the feeling of being underground and ensure the idea that the dead person or the visitors still has a long journey ahead of them.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Interior Spaces)

Figure (68) : Hall of Osirus Exhibition This exhibition is the second phase of the journey. It is where two very important rituals happen. The first one is the heart weighing of the dead person and the second is the judgement ritual where the dead person defends himself infront of the God Osirus and other helping gods.

While designing a very important exhibition as this hall, many feelings had to be translated through the space and the materials used. The exhibition had to be very holy and great giving the feeling of in security. This is the phase where you either pass the test and move on to the peaceful afterlife, or you fail and get eaten by a monster.

The wall in the middle resembles the deeds of the person as if they are written infront of him, with a mummy in the middle as if waiting to be judged and united with its soul to move on to the afterlife. The surrounding columns and statues resemble the 42 helping gods of Osirus.

The materials are very holy using golden plated columns with complete black materials to give the feeling of greatness.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Interior Spaces)

Figure (69) : Afterlife Exhibition Part 1 The last exhibition is the Afterlife phase. This is the ultimate goal from the beginning of the journey. Unfortuantely, this is the only space that wasn’t exactly explained in detail in the book of the dead. The idea of heaven differs from one person to another.

However, it was mentioned that the afterlife is a place that resembled Egypt in the past. Their idea of heaven was the peacfulness and beauty that Egypt had. They imagined heaven as a place with greenary and the river Nile.

Designing such an exhibition is very difficult because it is mainly based on the architects idea of heaven combined with the idea of heaven that the ancient Egyptians had.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Spatial Qualities (Interior Spaces)

Figure (70) : Afterlife Exhibition Part 2 As shown in figures (69 & 70), the space is very irregular shaped with extremly inclined and angled walls. The idea behind this was to surprise people upon entering the exhibition.While desiging this exhibition, my main focus was how to create a mass and interior space with a very basic geometrical shape and turn it into a very irregular gemoetrical shape. This is way the triangle shape plays a very important role here.

The space needed a lot of sunlight to enter it giving the feeling of warmness and security. Unlike the previous spaces that mainly focused on fear and darkness.

The openings are based upon the facade grid and were opened to give a random feeling of sunlight that entered.

There are glass openings and semi-transluscent glass to allow the sun to enter the space with different light intensity.

The materials used are white marble for floor slabs and white concrete for walls emphasizing on the feeling of security and peace. Also to give the feeling of openess and wideness.

The landscape outside the museum is also visible from the inside, resembling the idea of heaven that the ancient Egyptians had.

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Facade Concept & Views

Figure (71): Facade Grid

Figure (72) : Final Front Elevation

As discussed before, the museum facade needed a certain grid to be applied to it. This grid is shown in the figure (71). By using different 3D modeling tools and programs, this grid was applied all over the whole facade giving it a sense of unity and connectivity together. After that, openings were made in the facade depending on the interior function and its needs. This is why most of the museum facade openings are concentrated in the Afterlife exhibition.

Figure (73) : Final Back Elevtation

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Facade Views

Figure (74) : Final Left Elevation

Figure (75) : Final Right Elevation

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Project Design of Museum C) Final Proposal Structure and Facade Details

Figure (76) : Structure Proposal of Museum

Figure (77) : Concrete Sandwich Panel, Themrally Insulated

Figure (78) : Double Galzed Glass

The structure of the design is considered very difficult due to the massive wall inclinations especially in the afterlife exhibition hall. i proposed two main structure systems to be applied here in the museum.

The first system is a very typical frame and column structure.

It is applied in the first part of the museum that contains the research and education centers. This is because their form is very regular shaped and the heights are maximum ten meters.

The second system is a massive steel structure shell. It contains inclined steel columns that are supported by the ground. The loads are carried from the building to the ground directly. There are only two columns added in the interior of the space to support parts of the afterlife exhibition roof.

This shell is visable from the interior and exterior of the museum as it acts as a grid that plays an important role in the museum facade design.

One of the main issues facing Luxor city is the excessive heat. The weather is considered very hot and depending on air conditioning is never enough and is not very enviromentally efficient.

The museum is cladded by white concrete sandwich panels that have thermanl insulation between them. This thermal insulator and the existence of three layers of materials acts as a huge cooling device alongside with the air conditioning.

Another helping tool that had to be considered deeply was the glass parts of the facade. The glass plays an important role in the museum design and especially in the design of the afterlife exhibition. The solution was to consider double glazing glass.

The double glazed glass consists of two glass layers with a space between them that has inert gas such as Argon. This is able to reduce heat that enters by over 30 % making it more thermally efficient.

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Critical Review On Work Process

Working on the design process was never easy. From the day i started working on the design till the day i submitted my final work, everything changed and massive developments took place.

Throughout 3 monthes, the design has grown and changed alot. Starting with some research and theortical written infromation to a large architectural building that serves the concept and function.

The design process was a journey of trials with different design methods using physical models, sketches, diagrams and 3D modeling programs.

Reaching the final proposal was a great achievement for me compared to how i started and how the mass form was very boring and regular at first.

While designing , i faced several challenges. One of the major challenges was how to make the building exterior serve the interior functions.Also to design a major touristic attraction point without competeing with the city history and artifatcs.

My second major challenge was working on the interior spaces and desiging each space carefully to fullfil the concept of the book of the dead that i personally considered very interesting and learned alot about ancient Egyptians through it.

Another challenge that was very difficult was imagining the site and working on it. As mentioned through the thesis, the site is still desert and this was very challenging and difficult to imagine how the whole picture will look like at the end.

A massive project like this will always need more developmenet, however i believe that the final proposal that was submitted fulfills the main and major requirements of the museum design and the site design in a great representative design.

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Conclusion

Designing the museum of Luxor is considered one of the greatest most challenging designs. The project has many different aspects and sides that had to be considered and fullfilling the functions and requirements was very challenging alongside with the concept.

To conclude, the museum of Luxor was a great and amazing challenge. It is a major touristic attraction that will help to alleviate the tourism in Luxor without competeing with it.

It was a long and very precise design process that ended with the outcome of a great design.

Choosing the book of the dead for my concept was very unique and challenging. First of all, it is something that was not widely demonstrated by the ancient Egyptians and second of all is that the book of the dead was not an actual book however, it was a collection of papyrus with spells and incantations demonstrating the journey to the afterlife.

Working on this concept was not easy, there were several challenges concerning the concept itself and how it could be transformed into architectural spaces. Also the challenges of the site design and the weather.

Another main challenge was including a research and education center and making them all fit in the museum without interfering and affecting the museum concept design.

The museum had to undergo several design stages as shown throughout the thesis. Starting off with the analysis and then moving on to the conceptual development of the site and the museum. This phase was very difficult and very important as it was the phase where all the problems had to be solved and redesigned. The conceptual development of the museum building was a process of trial and error as shown previously.

The last phase was the final proposal which demonstrated how the building and site were designed. It shows the progress that was achieved and how great the museum turned out at the end.

Each and every detail was thought deeply and designed very precisely to serve the concept and functions, whether is was interior and outdoor spaces, materials, facade design or structure.

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References

List of Figures

Bibliography

Figure 04: http://www.landofpyramids.org/book-of-the-dead.htm

Life after Death <<http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egcr04e.shtml >> The underworld and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt << https://australianmuseum.net.au/theunderworld-and-the-afterlife-in-ancient-egypt >>

Figure 05: http://www.crosscommunication.co/farticle_details.php?a=1972 Figure06:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AUqRPOraVgIM4BwNNN0j_sjTsM5byVg_ twyAvZ51MjmvMxW8NOz7N_k/ Figure 07: http://www.crystalinks.com/bookofgates.html

Ancient Egytpians customs about the Afterlife << http://classroom.synonym.com/ancientegyptian-customs-afterlife-9434.html >>

Figure 08: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/book_of_the_ dead.aspx Figure 38: https://divisare.com/projects/322680-zhu-pei-minsheng-museum-of-modern-art

Ancient Egyptian Afterlife Study << http://chthonicancientegypt.weebly.com/paradise.html >> Guide to the ancient Egyptian Afterlife << http://www.historyextra.com/article/ancient-egypt/ facts-ancient-egypt-afterlife >>

Figure 39: https://www.pinterest.com/yzarq/arch-light/?lp=true

The Book of gates << http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bookofgates.htm >>

Figure 40: https://www.e-architect.co.uk/dubai/louvre-abu-dhabi-museum

The ancient Egyptian book of gates << https://therealsamizdat.com/2014/09/21/the-ancientegyptian-book-of-gates/ >>

Figure 41: https://www.greenprophet.com/2013/01/yinchuan-exhibition-center-islamicdesign-in-china/ Figure77:<<http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/ebawe-anlagentechnik-gmbh/ product-69816-1579005.html>> <<http://www.concretethinker.com/energymodels/Residential-Energy-Model-Overview. aspx>>

Ancient Egyptian Religon: Book of Gates << http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/bookgates.html >> The Papyrus of Ani << http://ccivcopy.site.wesleyan.edu/project-2/the-papyrus-of-ani/ >> Egyptian book of the dead << http://www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Book_of_the_Dead/ >>

Figure78:http://www.getdoubleglazed.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Doubleglazed-unit.jpg

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Appendix

1. Project Strategy Presentation Sheets Phase 1 Presentation Sheets Phase 2 Presentation Sheets Phase 3 Presentation Sheets Phase 4 Presentation Sheets Pre- Final Presentation Sheets Final Presentation Sheets 2. Model Photos

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