Pergola Community Arts Space / CLUSTER + THISS Studio

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Text description provided by the architects.CLUSTER (Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research) in collaboration with THISS Studio and Orient Productions have completed anindependent outdoor community arts spaceinCairo, located in Giza's Agouza Children's Park, one of the city's few remaining publicly accessible green spaces. Titled Pergola and perched close to the Nile river front, thebright red, ten-metre tall structure offers a new beating heart for an emerging cultural scene in Cairo.Inspired by public bandstands and similar sheltered spaces, Pergola addresses the increasing gentrification and commercialisation of Cairo's public space and neighbourhood parks, offering an alternative approach to urban development anchored in art and cultural programmes. The project positions design as a tool of resistance and preservation as unchecked development, often in favour of foreign investment, is increasingly at odds with cultural preservation and community spaces.