Playscapes
 

Latest Project Status:      Competition
Role:                                   Lead Consultant
Location:                           Cairo, Egypt
Size:                                   500 m2

Building Type:                   Artistic Installation
Date:                                  2013

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In continuation of our success with the Dancing Harps Project, we proposed a variation on the large scale harp model to Building Trust International, who were seeking to fund projects that encouraged rehabilitating abandoned sites with ideas that introduced an element of play to the community. We chose the dilapidated historical schools of Najm el Din Ayub in historic Cairo (two sites which flank both sides of Najm el Din Ayub Minaret and the entrance to Khan el Khalili for el Moez street), which are currently used as garbage dumps and shisha joints. The idea was to introduce a group of harp sculptures, the form of which is inspired by both Arabic calligraphy as well as contemporary fluid forms, which visitors can interact with and create improvised jamming sessions with other visitors. Studies have shown (through MRI scans) that improvisation taps into the part of the brain that is responsible for creativity. Both Mahmoud M M Riad and RiadArchitecture are seeking to build this project - or variation thereof.