Zaha Hadid Unveils Stone Towers in Egypt

The development will feature office and retail facilities, as well as a five-star business hotel and recessed gardens.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 6/3/2009

She may not walk like an Egyptian but Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid is going to try designing like one as she tackles her latest project, the Stone Towers development in Cairo.

Incorporating ancient Egyptian stonework in a variety of patterns and textures, Hadid's design will feature alternating protrusions, recesses, and voids that will harness the region's intense sunlight to create intense displays of light and shadow.

The nearly six-million-square-foot development will stand in the Stone Park district of Cairo and feature office and retail facilities, a hotel with serviced apartments, recessed gardens, and a plaza called the "Delta."

"I am delighted to be working in Cairo," says Hadid. "I have visited Egypt many times and I have always been fascinated by the mathematics and arts of the Arab world. In our office we have always researched the formal concepts of geometry—which relates a great deal to the region's art traditions and sciences in terms of algebra, geometry and mathematics. This research has informed the design for Stone Towers."

Renderings courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.