Pergola Community Arts Space

English 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 an independent outdoor community arts space in Cairo, located in Giza's Agouza Children's Park, one of the city's few remaining publicly accessible green spaces.

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.

Pergola opened to the public on the 10th of October as part of a city-wide cultural arts program. The structure enacts a form of activism through its dual ambition: to reclaim public space through community engagement while promoting sustainable construction practices.

Pergola's dynamic, adaptable design allows it to easily transform between active and passive functions. Complete with lighting rigs and speakers, it hosts performances, concerts, film screenings and community events, complete with a compact and secure backstage area for performers.

It could also potentially be used for community-organised events such as birthdays and graduation ceremonies.

Agouza park itself is an example of the city's struggle for public space playing out. Located directly adjacent to the 6th of October Bridge, one of Cairo's main highways, where over the past decade, the green space has been gradually encroached upon.

Pergola was designed to be deliberately conspicuous amongst the vast noise of hoardings. Its vivid, fire-engine red form towers at 10 metres high, easily grabbing the attention of the many vehicles that pass along Cairo's arterial road.

Aside from its steel frame, Pergola is built almost exclusively from recycled plastic waste collected from the Nile and construction sites sourced by three pioneering Egyptian suppliers for plastic reuse: TileGreen, Reblox and VeryNile.

As an outdoor theatre, Pergola will host a six month programme of free events curated by Orient Productions, built around the theme of sustainability.

The programme is designed to engage the park's existing community of children and families, strengthening their connection to the space, while also attracting new audiences beyond the park's immediate neighbourhood.

Through folklore music concerts, contemporary dance performances, clown shows, film screenings and more, Pergola will showcase local contemporary arts in all their forms.

CLUSTER previously collaborated with THISS Studio on a project in Karachi and enlisted the London architects to join the Pergola team, knowing they shared a clear agenda for sustainable design.

Drawing on THISS Studio's international design experience, including public realm projects such as PoliNations in Birmingham, and CLUSTER's embedded local knowledge, the design emerged from a fluid exchange between the two practices.

The process began with a week-long workshop in Cairo, overseen by CLUSTER, that brought together community groups, students, local designers and park stakeholders. Through co-design, model-building and public consultations, the project's direction was collectively shaped and developed over six months.

The very fact that Pergola has been realised is a testament to the patience and planning invested in the project.

Careful navigation of local structures and close collaboration with community partners were key, underscoring the importance of being led by local expertise.

As part of a wider grant programme funded by Art Jameel and the British Council, Pergola stands as one of four major commissions across the Middle East.

Pergola asserts itself as a landmark along the Nile, at once architectural and civic, it reclaims contested ground and demonstrates how collaboration can create something both lasting and genuinely meaningful.

Sash Scott, Co-Founder, THISS Studio, said: Pergola reflects a shared commitment to maintaining and creating community-driven, culturally active public space in the heart of Cairo.

We hope it will become an enduring contribution to Cairo's cultural landscape and a positive example of building with recycled materials, to create celebrated, long-lasting buildings with contemporary cultural value.

|| Omar Nagati, Principal, CLUSTER, said: Arts and culture have the potential of contributing to a more balanced and inclusive approach to urban regeneration amidst a prevailing mode of commercial development that is gradually eroding public space.

|| Ahmed El Attar, General Manager, Orient Productions, said: Independent performance venues are exceedingly rare, with artists, cultural operators, and festivals competing for limited space.