Zooba
The Grand Egyptian Museum
Project Information
Client:
Zooba
Completed:
2023
Location:
The Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Egypt
Project Area:
3,000 sqft
Project Team
Architect:
AE Superlab
Interior Design:
AE Superlab
Construction:
Legend
An Interactive Culinary Cultural Experience
Zooba GEM is a flagship branch of the celebrated Egyptian food brand located at the new Grand Egyptian Museum.
The restaurant occupies a generous corner location, prominently positioned along the museum's soaring main atrium and directly overlooking the main visitor’s entrance and the timeless historic artifacts that occupy the atrium and stepped galleries beyond
Street Food Reimagined in a Cultural Landmark
Zooba GEM offers many of the museum's visitors their first and best opportunity to sample high quality, authentic Egyptian cuisine in a unique, refined, and characterful setting.
Informed and inspired by the museum setting, AE Superlab chose to approach the design as an interactive food experience, educating and informing visitors of the rich and inexorable connections that bind Egyptian food, culture, and history while offering them the opportunity to experience and enjoy the contemporary product of that culinary and cultural history in Zooba’s award-winning food.
Respectful Contrast: Street Identity in Monumental Spaces
In developing the design, a key challenge was marrying the brand's exuberant street-inspired visual and spatial identity (most recently redeveloped by &Walsh for print and media, and by AE Superlab for interior architecture and design) with the more monumental and tonally subtle aesthetic of the museum itself. The design needed to simultaneously remain true to the Zooba brand and capitalize on the unique scale and monumentality of its setting while also maintaining a respectful deference to the design of the museum and to the history and culture it represents.
Synthesis and Simplicity
In response, the design team opted to strip back the design language that they had previously developed for the brand to its structural, and spatial basics. Namely, the conceit of the individual stalls, kiosks, and makeshift shelters within an imagined Egyptian streetscape. Four primary functional zones were identified and each was housed in a self-contained station within the larger restaurant space. The positioning of these stations against a stone clad wall evokes the stalls and kiosks lining the exterior walls of ancient buildings throughout medieval Cairo, while the alternating light and dark granite courses playfully evoke the “Ablaq” walls of those medieval structures
A Curated Meeting of Past and Present
Zooba GEM thoughtfully blends the vibrant street traditions of Egyptian cuisine with the grandeur and historic significance of its museum context. Through a design rooted deeply in cultural heritage yet elevated by contemporary spatial expression, the restaurant not only complements but enriches visitors' experiences, ensuring a dynamic and respectful dialogue between Egypt’s culinary past and its monumental architectural present.
