Project story · Alexandria, Egypt
Two wings over the harbour
In Alexandria, the Museum of the Sea rests two wing-like roofs on tapering stone columns, so that visitors can see the water from inside.
By byJOOM · Museum of the Sea · Civic and cultural
A museum and an aquarium
The Museum of the Sea is a maritime museum and aquarium on the harbour edge of Alexandria. It is for visitors, schools and researchers: galleries of ships and artefacts, a large aquarium, a grand atrium and a harbour-front promenade, with a research wing behind.
Wings on columns
Two sweeping, wing-like roofs rest on tapering stone columns above a glazed ground floor that faces the water. From the breakwater the roofs read as a single gesture, like the wings of a bird that has landed, and the glazed ground floor makes the whole building look light.
Columns that branch
Inside, the columns branch into the ceiling of a tall atrium. The stone becomes a canopy overhead, like a grove, and the atrium looks over the harbour. The Museum of the Sea steps down to the harbour, so that visitors can see the water from the atrium.
A gallery with a ship
Galleries sit within the atrium's long, daylit volume. In one, a wooden ship is displayed with artefacts beneath the branching columns, and visitors move around it at several levels. Exhibits are lit from the harbour side.
Limestone that belongs to the city, a roof that shades the glass, and an atrium that gives the building a lasting public room.
The aquarium window
In the aquarium a large window opens onto the water tank, and people stand against its glow in a darkened room. It is the part of the building that most completely brings the sea indoors.
Limestone that belongs to the city
Limestone that belongs to the city, a roof that shades the glass and an atrium that gives the building a lasting public room. Alexandria is a city of the harbour, and the museum is designed to be a public room on its edge.
This article describes design intention. The images are design visualisations, not photographs of a finished building. See the Disclaimers.