Drawings and models for the $250 million new city for learning, part of the American University in Cairo, were recently unveiled. The new campus is situated on a 260-acre desert site 20 miles east of Cairo.

The university, expected to be the anchor for development of New Cairo, is a planned city expected to house three million residents. The new campus has been designed by a team of seven firms, led by Sasaki Associates of Watertown Massachusetts and Abdelhalim joint venture with Community Design Collaborative (CDC) of Cairo, Egypt. The total built-up area of the site will be two million sq ft.

The unveiled plan includes six schools. They comprise the performing and visual arts school, the school of humanities and social sciences, school of sciences and engineering, the business school, economics and communications school, the core academic centre and the administration building.