3 - 9 May 2001
Issue No.532
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 3 - 9 May 2001 Issue No.532 |
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A sense of history
A specialised British magazine has awarded the new Library of Alexandria the world construction design prize for the year 2000. Rehab Saad writes
Civil Engineering, a British engineering and construction magazine, has awarded the Library of Alexandria a prize for the best construction design in the world for the year 2000. The library beat several other giant projects that were also nominated, including the tunnel that connects Denmark with Sweden and the biological sciences building in Hong Kong.
An updated version of Alexandria Library, located on the corniche, is already famous for its stylised architecture
Egypt's Higher Education Minister Moufid Shehab commented, "This award is not given to a certain engineer, contractor or company. It is given to a whole project. The Alexandria Library is now considered the best construction project in the whole world. I believe this international esteem is deserved, especially coming from an international and impartial body. It proves that the project has what it needs to be a success: sound planning and execution by the companies that designed and managed the project. It shows, too, that the consultant engineers, the Egyptian workers and the administration all worked with a team spirit."
Consultant engineer Mamdouh Hamza said that the jury was impressed with the high quality of the product, despite its complexity. Egypt can be particularly proud of the award. Egyptian engineers planned the project and Egyptian contractors carried it out. Hamza explained that Egyptians executed 86 per cent of the project, designed 76 per cent of it and supervised 70 per cent.
The new library is built roughly on the site of its ancient predecessor. The former library was burnt some 2000 years ago. Its successor is designed as a simple circle, 160 metres in diameter. It goes from 15.8 metres underground to 37 metres above ground. This circle, inclined towards the sea, is partly submerged under a pool of water. This circular design is meant as a symbol of the rising Egyptian cultural sun that will "illuminate the world and human civilisation." An inclined roof allows indirect daylight and a clear view of the sea. The building is surrounded by a wall clad in Aswan granite inscribed with calligraphy representing world civilisations. Library officials said that these texts symbolise the region's heritage and the library's purpose: to illuminate the world with culture again.
According to site engineer Tamer Saffieddin, the project was given the award not only because of the quality of construction but also for its use of modern technology. "The building is near the sea and there are four underground floors which required special construction. Modern technology enabled us to establish a building that could resist sea-water pressure. The sea is eight metres higher than the building and there was difficulty digging in the area," Saffieddin told Al Ahram Weekly, explaining the technical accomplishment. He added that the engineers used a special concrete as well as machined steel wedges that resist water pressure and can survive in the coastal soil. "The building is designed to survive for 200 years," Saffieddin said.
According to library officials, about 98 per cent of the landscaping is complete, including the floors, the cladding of the roof and the plantations of palm and olive trees. The landscape also includes a moat that surrounds a major part of the building and serves, instead of fences, as a border to the library. Most of the furniture, including book shelves and desks, is in place. Pilot operations of the library and testing systems and equipment, are under way.
The project includes three main buildings; the library is one of them. The other two are a conference centre (built in 1992) and a spherical planetarium built of steel, concrete and fibre glass to protect it from the sea weather. In the planetarium, 100 people can sit and enjoy scientific films on astronomy. A special museum for underwater monuments discovered in the eastern harbour has been built under the planetarium.
A special law, No1 for 2001 was passed by the People's Assembly on February 11, making the library an affiliate of the Presidency of the Republic. Library officials view this as a way of escaping red tape.
The idea for the new library emerged in the 1970s. The professors of Alexandria University wanted to have a library up to international standards. In the 1980s, the idea grew. The Egyptian government, in close cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) decided to develop Alexandria as a centre of culture, education and science. In 1988, UNESCO appealed to governments, organisations and individuals around the world to support the project. After the appeal, President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone of the library.
This was followed by a meeting in Aswan on February 12, 1990, of members of the International Honorary Commission for the library. The commission included heads of state and world dignitaries. At the meeting, the commission signed the Aswan Declaration for the revival of the ancient Library of Alexandria. A mere 24 hours after, Arab countries donated $65 million to the project. Ismail Osman, chairman of the Arab Contractors Company (which is executing the project), said that construction work started on May 15, 1995 and ended on December 31, 1999. The project has cost US$212 million.
Like the ancient library, built in the 4th century BC by Ptolemy Soter, and boasting such scholars as Euclid, Erastosthenes, Heron and Archimedes, the new library is intended, as officials put it, to be "the university of all universities."
The ancient library stored about 700,000 volumes. The new one will have 500,000 volumes. That number will increase to 8 million in the first five years. The library will also have 50,000 maps, 100,000 manuscripts, 30 data bases, 10,000 rare books, 100 CD Rom titles, 200,000 audio tapes and 50,000 video tapes.
The library consists of 11 floors, four underground and seven above. Its books cover Egyptian and Mediterranean civilisation, humanities, arts, energy, science and technology, religion, socio-economics and other topics. Most of the books were either bought by the library or donated by governments, organisations and individuals. Italy, through UNESCO, has established a special laboratory for the restoration of books and manuscripts.
Ismail Serageddin, manager of the Library of Alexandria, said that the library will also have a special cultural programme. International figures will be invited to the library to lecture on all fields of human endeavour.
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