Vittoriano
CYCLE: Italian Architecture in Africa for a New Cultural Alliance
SPEAKER: Gianluca Peluffo
DATE: Thursday, March 12, 6:00 PM
The keyword of this design narrative, composed of cities and architecture, is “chronotope”: a search, through storytelling and language, for a connection between spatial, geographic, and landscape dimensions and the dimensions of time. With an almost mythopoeic narrative invention, the architectural language is defined through foundational acts: the “tent” building as the first gesture of settlement, the “eye” villa overlooking the territory, and, subsequently, more massive buildings that dialogue with the forms of the mountains along the contour lines. This sequence of locations and shapes constructs a narrative inscribed within the desert landscape.
The Mount Galala project in Sokhna, on the Red Sea, spans approximately 2,200,000 m². Developed across three phases, it envisions 1,300,000 m² of floor area, including hospitality and residential structures (800 units for approximately 40,000 inhabitants), a 1.5 km marina, and entertainment facilities. Beyond its scale, the significance of the intervention lies in the new city’s positioning within the administrative and infrastructural development system launched by Egypt between Cairo and the Suez Canal, in connection with the New Capital. While serving as a tourist destination for Cairo, the city will also accommodate permanent residents.
