26/08/2026
Back in 2009, I had the privilege of being one of a few architects invited to contribute to the open-air sculpture museum in Aswan, set within an ancient, abandoned granite quarry.
Participating in the 13th annual International Sculpture Symposium in Aswan was both scary and magical. As an architect, working with granite for the first time, surrounded by accomplished sculptors from around the world, was a daunting challenge. Yet everyone was incredibly welcoming, encouraging and inspiring; including Adam Henein Adam Henein Foundation, who founded the symposium to revitalize the heritage of stone sculpting in Egypt; and Akram El Magdoub, the great architect and symposium commissioner.
While most sculptors brought blocks of granite from the quarry to carve in the open workshop, I chose to work differently. I sculpted the quarry floor itself, and brought abandoned stones from around the site to create what I called my “Garden of Stone”.
For almost two months, I returned every day to that mountain overlooking the Nile and the green fields along its banks. It became much more than a workplace. It was a place to meditate, reflect, observe, and simply be inspired.
And somewhere between the granite, the dust, the enormous sky and the Nile below, something began to shift inside me.
I started questioning whether I really wanted to continue being an architect trapped in an office in a crowded city. That experience became an early turning point—a seed of a much longer journey of self-discovery, questioning where I truly wanted to live, what I wanted to create in my life, and ultimately, why I am here.
Looking back now, I realize that perhaps this was where the journey began. ✨
