New Alamein is a stand-alone city, and it has its own economical backbone,” Adel said. “Every city has its own anchors. The towers were our way of putting an anchor in the city.”
New Alamein is the first satellite city in Egypt, Adel said. It is not an extension. The nearest city to it is at least 100 kilometers away. The length of the city on the beach is 14 kilometers with a depth of 10 kilometers. “We wanted to change the idea of the North Coast as a beach resort to the North Coast as a city,” Salah said.
The city would be operating the entire year, Al Beltagy said. “It has economic factors that provide potential to execute projects over there. Huge agricultural areas are located behind the city, including Wadi El Natrun,” Al Beltagy said. “There is also a potential for tourism because of the beach and because of the cemetery that includes 7.000 commonwealth burials from World War Two [two battles were fought in Al Alamein during World War Two].” People from all over the world come to see those burials, Al Beltagy said.
New Alamein City is also supposed to attract people who live in Alexandria to move there because Alexandria is limited and has no room for extension. There is no space to implement new projects.
The price of the construction alone of the towers cost 20,000 pounds per meter, Al Beltagy said. With the cost of the land and other factors, the towers cost 50,000 pounds per meter. New Alamein City is a fully integrated community focusing on residential
HOMe Correro
development,
administration,
entertainment,
commercial
experiences, hospitality, and educational activities. New Alamein City has universities and schools that are already operating.
Of course, there were many challenges during the implementation of the project, including the strong winds that could reach 120 kilometers, the weakness of the ground below the towers, and the commercial area due to the water. They went 60 meters underground with the pile foundations of the projects to be able to figure out how to build tall buildings on the beach without it crumbling. Above the foundation of the towers is the concrete with a depth of three and a half meters. It is extremely wide so that it could carry the tower, Al Beltagy said.
Then, they started researching the project from an architectural standpoint, including evaluating the most appropriate form of the towers to have the beach view, evaluating the most appropriate form of the towers from the wind standpoint (wind is a factor that could destroy a building), and also evaluating the most appropriate form of the towers just in case of an earthquake.
The soil research, the building structure research, and the electromechanical research of the towers and the commercial area took a great deal of time because it was a complicated project. The architectural, structural, and electromechanical drawings alone took them two years to complete for all the towers and the commercial area.
“Part of our job is executing projects that psychologically affect people and encourages them to change and want to be better people,” Al Beltagy said. “It could be from the standpoint of designing a space in a way that encourages people to think and work. Part of our job is educating people on understanding what excellent design work with good materials looks like.”
An architect has a social responsibility to help his or her country when a disaster strikes, such as an earthquake. Al Beltagy is keen on getting involved in humanitarian architecture projects when needed, including building public houses or building new hospitals.
From 2011 to this day, YBA has executed 230 projects, including real estate compounds, resorts, corporate offices, and commercial projects. YBA has won 28 awards.
“I always had this idea of not just launching an architecture firm but establishing a design institution,” Al Beltagy said.
