Nile as Laboratory. Exploring River Dynamics through Eighteen Projects

Author: Marina Tornatora, Ottavio Amaro
Affiliation: Ain Shams University-Cairo

Abstract
Inspired by Brandi’s (1963) assertation that “Egypt is not a country; it is a river,” the Nile becomes the central character, driving both imagination and collaboration in architectural solutions. The NiLab research and design laboratory has been developed for the Egypt Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, the Venice Biennale. As the primary driver of imagination and working together in architecture, water represents the basic choices accompanying the entire journey presented in this volume through six Nile landscapes – Natura, Agro, Urbe, Infrastructure, Industry, and Archaeology. Along them, eighteen project intervention areas have been selected as the scene of an international encounter between Egypt, African populations, and the planet. Together with the Faculty of Engineering of the Ain-Shams University of Cairo (Egypt) and the dArTe Department of the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria (Italy), 24 international Universities have been invited to build the NiLab, where students, teachers, and young researchers have engaged in concrete design practice to discuss the possible scenarios of a macro-theme: the Nile, an emblematic opportunity to reflect on the theme of water, representative of the planet Earth’s rivers, in the wider context of climate change. NiLab’s six landscapes are proposed as “mixture” spaces (Coccia, 2016) where to find overlapping and/or
disappeared local cultures and interrupted or deconstructed identities. These places produce theoretical and practical questions and doubts, thus becoming fields of experimentation on the project’s ontology. It is a critical tool for the current state and, simultaneously, a territory of ideas for the future. Project is therefore engaged as research rather than as a solution to a practical question, aimed at understanding the meaning of the knowledge of the places, even at a theoretical level, the more philosophical boundaries of the topics covered, the relationship between disciplinarity, and the synthesis of knowledge. The NiLab eighteen projects represent research, but also experimentation with a different approach to the dynamics of rivers in different contexts. Thus, sustainability is declined with respect to an architectural and urban design imagination. Ultimately, NiLab offers a unique perspective, treating the Nile not just as a geographical entity but as a living force shaping landscapes, cultures, and the future of our planet.

Keywords: Nile, research, rivers, urban design