Project story · Ras El-Hikma, Egypt
A campus around one open-air room
On the Mediterranean coast, The Museion Institute arranges a small international university around a circular stepped forum, with the sea always within walking distance.
By byJOOM · The Museion Institute · Education
A small community, a short walk to the sea
The Museion Institute is a private university campus for a small, international community of students and teachers. Its parts are the ones a university needs: studios, lecture halls, laboratories for computing, robotics and life sciences, a library, student residences, cafes and outdoor places to learn, all within walking distance of the sea.
The forum at the centre
At the heart of the campus is a circular, stepped forum inspired by ancient places of public debate. In the aerial view the campus unfolds around it as a series of fragmented, ring-shaped buildings of timber, stone and glass, with the amphitheatre at the centre and water beyond. It is the one place everyone knows, and the plan makes sure of it.
Learning that is visible
Inside, the buildings are open and daylit. A lecture hall looks to the sea, a computing studio and a robotics and engineering laboratory sit behind glass, and a design studio looks over the campus. The library has study floors with long views. The pictures show students at work in every one of them, so that learning is seen from the promenade.
A campus you live on
Student residences surround gardens and courtyards, and a café terrace looks over a pond. At sunset the residences glow, and the water gardens and promenades take the last light. The place is meant to be lived in, not visited between lessons.
A plan built around one lasting public place, a small campus scale and landscape that matures with the institute.
Landscape as part of the teaching
Water gardens, shaded promenades and terraces connect the campus, and the landscape is part of the teaching rather than a decoration. Outdoor learning takes place on the terraces, and the shaded walkways across the campus mean that walking is a comfortable way to get between classes.
One lasting public place
A plan built around one lasting public place, a small campus scale and landscape that matures with the institute: the design bets that the best thing a university can offer is somewhere to meet.
