Designed to provide an Egyptology centre of excellence for the next 100 years, the Grand Egyptian Museum will occupy a prestigious site on 50ha of land near the pyramids of Giza. Following an international architectural competition, Arup is working on the design of the museum as part of a joint venture, providing structural, civil, façades and geotechnical engineering expertise to take the museum design to the construction information stage.  

Arup is providing structural, civil, façades and geotechnical engineering expertise to take the museum design to the construction information stage. The firm is also bringing its traffic and transportation planning, waste management and logistics, and roads and drainage experience to this challenging project. One of the most striking features of the new museum will be a translucent stone wall, 800m long, rising to 40m in places. 

Central to our work has been finding ways to fulfill the museum’s complex requirements while maintaining its connection to the iconic landscape it inhabits. The translucent wall is a key part of this, as are less obvious design features: for example, the new ‘conservation and energy centre’ will be largely placed underground, and the large, shaded courtyard connecting the museum and conference centre.

Structural engineering 

The translucent stone wall will sit 10m from the main building, propped back to the building structure at mid-height and at roof-level. Elsewhere on site, it will be necessary to construct large retaining walls in order to achieve the architect's vision. The largest of these, the Menjaurus Wall, will be 500m and will reach a height of 35m in places. As well as exhibition space, there will be an 800-seat auditorium. Nearby auxiliary and support buildings will house a restaurant, ticketing facilities and other services.  

The majority of the ‘conservation and energy’ building, which will house special laboratories for cleaning, cataloguing and restoring artefacts, will be underground so as not to detract from the landscape and to aid security and preservation. The highly controlled environment will link to the lower levels of the museum building via a 220m long underground tunnel. This enables artefacts to be transported securely, as well as housing services and offering a dedicated escape route via the 'middle' tunnel. 

Following an international architectural competition, Arup is working on the design of the museum as part of a joint venture.