Registration Deadline: Aug 22, 2025; Submission Deadline: Aug 25, 2025
Call for Entries:
Digital Heritage Museum of Egypt
The project seeks visions for a museum that employs cutting-edge technology, such as virtual reality, holography, and interactive displays, to bring ancient Egypt to life. It will serve as an educational resource and tourist attraction, promoting cultural preservation through innovation.
Brief:
Cairo — a cradle of civilization, a city layered with the relics of millennia — stands at the crossroads of memory and modernity. As one of the world’s richest cultural landscapes, it faces the urgent challenge of safeguarding its heritage amidst rapid urbanization, climate stress, and evolving modes of engagement. Many invaluable artifacts remain locked in inaccessible vaults or are deteriorating under environmental duress.
The Digital Heritage Museum proposes a bold architectural response: a new kind of cultural institution that uses emerging technologies to digitally preserve, reconstruct, and reinterpret Egypt’s vast and diverse cultural legacy. This is not a museum of artifacts, but a museum of experiences — an immersive gateway into ancient knowledge systems, stories, and lost environments.
This competition invites architects, designers, and students to envision a site-specific, technologically-forward, and culturally-sensitive museum that bridges the past with the future, positioning Cairo as a global leader in the preservation of digital heritage.
Preserving the past, designing the future.
Visions:
The museum aims to serve as a dynamic hub for education, recreation, discovery, and innovation, catering to both local residents and international visitors. It should go beyond housing and displaying digital reproductions of ancient artifacts and environments — such as temples, monuments, and manuscripts, by also offering spaces dedicated to research, critical debates, and creative exploration surrounding heritage conservation.
This institution will foster a unique platform for cross-generational and cross-cultural exchange, providing opportunities for diverse audiences, especially the youth, to interact with and engage the ancient world in groundbreaking, immersive ways that bridge past and present, tradition and innovation.
Site Location:
El-Remaya Square, Cairo, Egypt
The El-Remaya Square site is a prominent urban node located near Cairo, Egypt, next the gateway to the Giza Plateau. Known for its strategic position at the intersection of major highways and tourist routes, it serves as a key arrival point for visitors to the Pyramids and other historic landmarks.
Organizer:
Design Unlimited is a platform dedicated to organizing architecture design competitions and providing construction opportunities for passionate young architects, designers, recent graduates, and students.
Jury:
Alberto Francini / Michael den Otter / Sumit Sahdev / Simon McKenzie / Sherry Li
Each jury undergoes meticulous nomination, consisting of top-tier professionals whose expertise closely aligns with the competition’s theme. This rigorous selection process ensures that every jury member embodies excellence and relevance in their respective fields.
Outstanding participants may receive job or internship offers, supported by the jury panel and their connections, to advance their careers in design and architecture.
Timeline:
May 25. 2025 – Jun 25, 2025, Early Registration – €39
Jun 26, 2025 – Aug 3, 2025, Standard Registration – €49
Aug 4, 2025 – Aug 22, 2025, Late Registration – €59
Aug 25, 2025 – Submission Deadline
Aug 30 – Sep 14, 2025 – Jury Review
Sep 28, 2025 – Winner Announced
*The above are local times (CET) in the competition host country. Dates are subject to change. Please refer to the official website for updates.
Prize:
1st Prize: $3,000 + Certificate + Publication
2nd Prize: $700 + Certificate + Publication
3rd Prize: $300 + Certificate + Publication
3 Honorable Mentions: Certificate + Publication
4 Special Mention: Publication
* All winning projects have the potential to be showcased on various websites, in magazines, and across architectural platforms. Additionally, they may feature prominently in national and international architectural exhibitions and events.