Project story · Alexandria, Egypt
The lattice that is also the face
Beside the Alexandria marina, a hotel tower wears a diagonal lattice that is at once its structure, its pattern and its image.
By byJOOM · The Tower · Mixed-use · Hospitality and resorts
A landmark between two waters
The Tower stands where the city meets the marina. On one side are boats and still water; on the other, the boulevard and the dense blocks of Alexandria. A hotel and landmark by the water, it is designed for the guests, workers and visitors who arrive by sea or by road, and it has to look right from both.
A pattern that carries the load
A diagonal lattice, a diagrid, gives the facade both its structure and its pattern. That is the central idea of the scheme. What reads from a distance as a decorative net of glass and metal is the thing holding the tower up and shading its glass. Nothing has been added to make it beautiful; the beauty is the structure showing.
A pointed base onto the boulevard
Where the lattice meets the ground it opens into a pointed base that frames the entrance on the boulevard. Palms stand in front, and the shape gives arrival a clear, covered mouth. The diamond geometry of the facade becomes a gate.
Stepping down to the marina
The scale steps down toward the marina, so that the tall shaft is not the only thing the water sees. The lower parts of the composition are friendlier to boats, walkers and the shore. In the close view the lattice becomes a kind of large-scale weave, with the sun low behind the palms.
Structure that is also the image of the building does not need to be replaced when taste changes.
Structure as image
Structure that is also the image of the building does not need to be replaced when taste changes. This is the argument behind the design and the quietest one: if the face of the building is the truth of how it stands, there is no cladding to go out of date.
A lattice among towers
The same logic can be seen in the studio's other lattice-wrapped tower on the Alexandria seafront, where a diagonal lattice carries the structure and gives shade, so that pattern does work as well as decoration. The Tower is the calmer sibling: one lattice, one marina, one clear idea.
This article describes design intention. The images are design visualisations, not photographs of a finished building. See the Disclaimers.