Grand project: by occupying sight lines drawn between Cairo and the pyramids, heneghan.peng.architects' competition-winning scheme for the Grand Museum of Egypt uses light to span between ancient culture and modern complexity.

UNKNOWN ARCHITECTS FROM IRELAND WIN ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITIONS FOR THE GRAND MUSEUM OF EGYPT NEAR THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA; MAJOR BERLIN RETROSPECTIVE OF RATIONALIST JOSEF PAUL KLEIHUES AT 70; VIEW FROM BHUTAN; CHARLES JENCKS REPLIES TO HIS NEW PARADIGM CRITICS

International newcomers, Dublin-based heneghan.peng.architects, have beaten off over 1500 competitors to win one of the largest ever global architectural design competitions. Their design for the Grand Museum of Egypt, located on the first desert plateau outside Cairo, between the great Pyramids of Giza and the city, will be one of the largest museums in the world. With extensive conference, library and multimedia provision, the building is intended to be more than a mere container of artefacts devoted to egyptology, becoming instead an international centre of culture, and a spectacular landscape feature.

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On their first site visit the architects were awe-struck by the strength, presence and power of the pyramids as seen from the ring-road approach from Cairo. So their objective was to use the building as a physical and notional bridge between modernity and antiquity. Set against the night sky and the floodlit pyramids, the composition's nocturnal appearance was of particular significance, with a translucent stone skin and fractured triangulated geometries providing a contemporary counterpoint to the solidity and geometric purity of the ancient structures.

The 38 000 sq m 'dessert hugging' complex occupies a void within a three-dimensional frame inscribed by a set of visual axes from the site to the three pyramids, that in turn define the museum's structural order. Triangulated structural sub-divisions are used to weave the necessary display technology into the fabric of the museum, with the walls supporting the museum's specific display requirements.

Having won the competition in collaboration with Arup (Structures), Buro Happold (services), and lighting consultants Bartenbach Lichtlabor, the team are now reviewing the brief with the client--the Egyptian Ministry of Culture--before progressing the detailed design. While many may conclude that heneghan.peng.architects were surprise winners, beating more established teams such as those fronted by Will Alsop, Future Systems, and Zaha Hadid, they have in fact won a number of important competitions, two of which most significantly have led to realization. These include the 11 000 sq m [euro]40m local government head offices for Kildare County Council (in association with Arthur Kibney & Partners), and more recently with an appointment to design a [euro]60m Hotel in Kilternan, South County Dublin.

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