Renovation of Cairo Marriott Hotel

Cairo, Egypt

The Marriott Hotel is located on an island in the heart of downtown Cairo by the river Nile and within walking distance to many of the city’s main historical attractions.

Marriott Hotel is surrounded by six acres of lush gardens and is home to a historic neoclassical style palace built in 1869 as a guest residence for the Suez Canal inauguration celebrations. It played host to many European monarchs most notable is Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. Since it transitioned into a hotel and with numerous expansions witnessed over time, the cohesiveness, centrality and beauty of its major assets were overshadowed.

Sites International lead the effort to enhance and restore the glamour of the open spaces around it to augment its architectural assets and spotlight the splendor and royal sense of this historical site. The landscape design, from concept to construction document, aimed to conserve and enhance all the architectural and landscape assets, including preserving historical fountains, specimen trees, plants and arcades, upgrading outlets that will privilege the glamour of the place, advancing space quality through open views to outstanding features, providing refined pavement materials and detailing, and using lighting fixtures to match the architectural theme. These improvements were furthered by developing nice manicured green buffers around the hotel and blending all landscape elements with the architecture characteristics that include both the modern and neoclassical style.