As part of an international team of architects hired to plan and design a 260-acre “greenfield” campus for The American University in Cairo, we participated in a number of charrettes to establish the framework, character, and quality of the new university. Our commission included designing a new library whose architecture reflects a blend of contemporary and traditional Islamic design. The three-story, punctuated-concrete façade references the mashrabiya screens that have been used in Arabic architecture since the Middle Ages. Today, the library houses the largest English-language collection in Egypt and is one of the finest resources in the world for the study of Islamic art and architecture.