As part of PUA’s Architectural Engineering Department’s commitment to supporting its students and encouraging creativity and participation in architectural competitions, the Faculty’s representative team, consisting of postgraduate students Eng. Heba Mohamed Moustafa and Eng. Ghada Abdel Wahab Ibrahim, won a cash prize of EGP 20 thousand and a certificate of appreciation. The victory came in the competition organized by the Cultural Development Fund for Young Architects under the title: “Amir Taz Palace – The Egyptian Architect’s House: A New Vision and Enhancement of the Cultural Role”, supervised by Prof. Dr. Reham Nadi Faragallah.
The competition aimed to present a vision for developing creative centers and enhancing their cultural role by rehabilitating and utilizing the interior spaces of the Egyptian Architect’s House and Amir Taz Palace, leveraging available spaces to boost the cultural role of historic houses through various activities. The exhibition featured 9 projects that qualified for the finals from different Egyptian university architecture departments.
The closing ceremony for prize distribution was held at Amir Taz Palace, in cooperation with the Architecture Division of the Syndicate of Engineers and the Center for Planning and Architectural Studies. Architect Hamdy El-Sotouhy, Assistant Minister of Culture and Head of the Cultural Development Fund Sector, expressed his delight with the level of ideas presented, confirming that the competition represents an important architectural movement stimulating creativity.
The judging panel consisted of a selection of prominent architecture professors and practitioners, including, namely:
- Ali Gabr, Professor of Architecture at Cairo University and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at New Giza University (NGU).
- Hala Barakat, Dean of the College of Arts and Design at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT).
- Ahmed El Zayat, Head of the Architecture Division at the Syndicate of Engineers.
- Yasser El Sayed: Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts
- Architect Moaz Abu Zeid, Prominent architect and practitioner.
- Architect Wael El Masr, President of the Jordanian Association of Architects.