An organic landscape for vulnerable Egyptians
The Foster + Partners designed Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo will offer free treatment to vulnerable Egyptians, alongside views of the Pyramids of Giza and a newly built organic landscape.
The 300-bed, 105,000 square-metre facility designed for the Magdi Yacoub Foundation is currently under construction and due for completion in 2023.
The facility designed for the Magdi Yacoub Foundation is currently under construction.
Nestled within a planted landscape featuring views of a new lake and pyramids, the design focuses on natural light and greenery, creating an environment that supports patient wellbeing.
Native flora will be introduced to the site, and a ring of green interwoven with pedestrian paths will offer quiet and contemplative spaces. The biophilic design satisfies people’s physical and emotional need for nature, integrating the natural world and man-made materials.
The complex is due for completion in 2023.
“The centre is set within a lush, verdant landscape that seeks to optimise the overall patient experience”, say Foster + Partners.
With the site bordering the Zewail City of Science and Technology, an integrated health and medical research zone is formed.
The Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo will offer free treatment to vulnerable Egyptians.
A pedestrian plaza offers main access to the building, with a shaded route leading to the canopy, and courtyards that bring natural light into the building.
On the first floor, eight intensive care units are flooded with natural daylight and oriented to give patients views of the landscaping and newly created lake on the northern edge of the development.
Work began for the centre at the start of this year.
A green, plant-filled terrace weaving around the second floor allows for the local tradition of being outdoors in the cooler parts of the day, and is open and interspersed with complementary built spaces. The terrace is punctured by a series of courtyards that bring light into the building.
Patient rooms on the upper floors also offer views of the surrounding lake and landscape, but are sheltered by shell-like sculptural roof structures reminiscent of the feluccas on the Nile.
A view of the shell-like patient rooms.