In the world of architecture, Yasser Al Beltagy plays a different ball game. The mind behind the New Alamein towers, Al Beltagy has been an architect for 27 years. Apart from creating a whole new world in the North Coast, he has worked on all kinds of projects locally and internationally. He has won some of the profession’s most prestigious awards, and he isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Yasser Al Beltagy’s mind was set on architecture ever since he fell in love with an architectural drawing during high school. He was curious and wanted to find out who drew those kinds of drawings.
When he found out the answer to the question, upon graduation from high school, he wanted to enter the faculty of fine arts in the architecture department in a university in Cairo, Egypt. He did just that.
Just like any other freshman, Al Beltagy felt lost and overwhelmed.
However,
once he
adjusted to college life, he became
unstoppable. During his second year of college, he achieved an excellent grade, the equivalent of 100/95, on a project. This was the first time in 10 years that a student received this high of a grade on this project. “It was like a miracle. People wanted to know who I was. I became popular,” Al Beltagy said. During that same year, Al Beltagy alongside another student in the cohort above him entered the international architecture exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy. They presented, and their project ranked as one of the best five in the world among universities that teach architecture in the student awards category.
He graduated as the number one architect in his cohort. Upon his graduation in 1993, he worked as a teaching assistant until 2001 at his alma mater while also working as an architect. Similar to any fresh graduate, during his first year, he worked on both small and big projects for various architectural firms to gain an understanding of the industry, and he worked on projects on his own.
In 1996, Al Beltagy won first place in the United Real Estate Company (URC) Headquarters International Architecture Competition with Arab Consultants in Kuwait for the fower they built. It was the tallest tower in Kuwait at the time. This project was executed for Sheikh Hamad Sabah al-Ahmad.
“This was an important stage.
