Hi Exclusive: New mixed-use development unveiled in Cairo.

Hi Exclusive: New mixed-use development unveiled in Cairo.

French studio Vincent Callebaut Architects has revealed a muti-purpose complex for Nasr City in Cairo, Egypt.

The project is designed to obtain a LEED Gold Plus standing and features a solar roof, green terraces, sky villas and vertical gardens and solar heating tubes.

The Gate Residence is composed of 1000 apartment units with a health club and spa, fitness centre, business centre, restaurants, cafes, retail spaces and a medical centre.

The building’s spine is formed by a central street called the Boulevard. Arranged in U-shapes, the rectangular apartment buildings branch off the Boulevard.

The surfaces of the housing units are stacked layers of e-low glass, polished with white stone and features suspended garden balconies. The commercial levels have two different facades.

The entire roof of the complex is turned into a community garden featuring food gardens, orchards, infinity pools and sports areas, while the two plots are connected by sky bridges.

With the aim to limit its own carbon footprint, the building recycles part of the generated waste as grey water, while a system of mesh surface and second skin of white steel and cables integrates photovoltaic cells, thermal tubes, and vertical gardens.

Vincent Callebaut also built structural Megatrees to function as passive cooling systems, inspired by the technology behind wind catching towers (Malqaf) originally developed by Ancient Egyptians.