Egypt: Building for Eternity, and for the Living

Egyptian architecture spans more than four thousand years of engineering.

In Cairo, students study how the pyramids at Giza and Saqqara were designed and built, then walk Islamic Cairo's mosques and madrasas, such as the Sultan Hassan complex, and the Grand Egyptian Museum, designed by Heneghan Peng. In Alexandria, Snøhetta's Bibliotheca Alexandrina shows a modern library rising from a tilted disc. In Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings show how temples and tombs were engineered, and Hassan Fathy's New Gourna village makes the case for building in mud brick. In Aswan, Philae and Nubian villages complete the route.