about the project: the Baron Palace workshop
Students from Vienna, Cairo and Assiut study the past of the palace, its present, its future
The Baron Palace with its Indian-style is an architectural eccentric eye-catcher in the panorama of Heliopolis and Cairo. It was built in 1910 from the Belgian Businessman Baron Edouard Empain as his private residence in the newly founded city of Heliopolis.
Today the palace is empty and since several years is completely closed.
This quite mystical building was the perfect setting and subject of the international workshop held in December 2010, which involved architecture students from Vienna, Cairo and Assiut. The idea was to start the analysis from a town planning level, to understand the historical city of Heliopolis and the role of the palace today. The second step was a detailed survey and building archaeology of the palace: using both modern 3D and low-tech hand measuring techniques, students analysed the building to understand its architecture, its construction technics and the materials used.
In mixed teams, Austrian and Egyptian students worked about Heliopolis and the Palace directly on the ground.
The results of the workshop are now online. Besides presenting the outcomes of the work, this web site would like to be an open platform, to collect scientific information but also myths and personal histories around the Palace and Heliopolis.
Enjoy, and feel free to collaborate! |
