CASE STUDY
Lucida Restaurant and Bar - SHAHIRA FAHMY ARCHITECTS -
The nature of this project is retained to the entertainment industry and located /( anchored in ) on a rooftop of a rectangular building informed with a Bauhaus language of architecture , on the western outskirts of Cairo , part of a business / commercial district , an area characterized with swift urbanization . responding to the client ’ s brief to ensure a place of gathering , a hangout , that held people together : a place of meeting , gathering , and belonging . Food has always been an expression of care , a place of assembly , to sit down and eat together around a table , to sit , share and celebrate exchanges that enable new relationships to form , while old ones to bond . Food is at the heart of this project , an invitation to convene , an entreaty to sit , and find a moment of togetherness at odds with the frenetic pace of modern Cairo life .
Once Fahmy stepped foot on this rooftop , her approach was to keep it as a rooftop , to protect its interiority of the experience yet also to expand its views to the exterior , to the light , to the bright sunshine , shadows cast would be one of the highlights . trying to be respectful to its container rectangular building , that envelopes the space , while breaking the iron grid of the building with an emerging heart inside , a heart / center that is organic , human , moving , and malleable , an approach is
more like an architecture that is emerging from inside to out . its place that is more about the interiority of the experience , and that doesn ’ t scream loud in its context . Framed within a container of Bauhaus iron grid language Fahmy based her concept on the tension between a forceful existing architecture following very rigid lines with an emergent creature inside that is more likely to be described as a crumpled paper . a kind that emerges from within selecting to bring to the foreground a garden . The space is designed to be experienced in person rather than being a one-liner to be enjoyed in photos , to be able to uncover each layer , it is really a layered and in-depth experience .
Fahmy ’ s architectural practice and research laboratory operate as a creative space generating designs , masterplans , interiors , and installations , with the aim to delve into and explore the spatial tension and dynamics within an urban landscape , investigating the interplay of shifting boundaries and overlapping geographies . creating a platform for discourse and dialogue between human needs and scarce resources . Usually , her approach is to look , observe , and try to understand , then it is about investing in new layers with old existing layers , excavated and brought to the foreground .
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