Firm： 5+design

Type： Commercial › Office Retail Shopping Mall Hospitality + Sport › Bar/Nightclub Hotel Movie Theater Restaurant

YEAR： 2013

SIZE： 1,000,000 +

Photos： Samer Kamel (3)

Cairo Festival City is an exciting new master-planned community and mixed-use development just east of downtown Cairo in New Cairo. In addition to residential, civic, educational, religious and recreational facilities, it features Egypt’s first – and much-anticipated – indoor-outdoor shopping center. Festival Centre, two levels of enclosed retail, dining and entertainment remove center, overlooks Festival Village, a collection of outdoor boutiques, restaurants and performance spaces. Linking the two is the Promenade, a stepped pedestrian streetscape with more shops and cafes.

5+design played up elements from nature in novel ways to create warm, relaxed public spaces between the many international flagship stores. In the Sky Court, jewel-colored pendants cascade from the enormous skylight, casting everchanging patterns of sun and shadow. In the Water Court, the refreshing sound of rain fills the air as water showers from the ceiling, through rings of neon and stainless steel and into a reflecting pool. The Garden Court provides a botanical escape with greenery growing under the clerestory windows and floor tiles sprouting images of ornamental grasses and shrubs. And the Light Court offers a cluster of whimsically oversized lanterns to brighten the mood in the absence of natural light.