Eslam ElShamy explores lost Egyptian urban heritage through AI, community engagement and immersive media

<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.eslamshamy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eslam ElShamy</a> is an Egyptian architect and a Master of Integrated Design student at Anhalt University in Dessau, home of the Bauhaus. His work spans architecture, storytelling and multimedia, with a focus on speculative design, digital heritage and emerging technologies. This combination reflects the kinds of questions being explored through <strong><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-design-built-environment">MA Design (Built Environment)</a></strong> at Arts University Plymouth, where students develop practice-led projects shaped by co-design, experimentation, place and collaboration. </p> <p dir="ltr">At Arts University Plymouth, Eslam has been developing research focused on lost ancient cities, with a particular emphasis on Egyptian heritage, guided by <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/stephanie-owens">Professor Stephanie Owens</a> and BA (Hons) Game Arts &amp; Animation course leader <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/martial-bugliolo">Martial Bugliolo</a> from Arts University Plymouth, and Professor Dr. Manuel Kretzer and Professor Mathias Jüsche from his home university. Supported by Real Ideas, the project has already included two public workshops in Plymouth: one at Arts University Plymouth’s Postgraduate Centre and a second at Market Hall in Devonport. The work is now being developed towards presentation in the Market Hall 360-degree dome. <br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Eslam’s project draws on his connection to Egypt, and specifically to the Nile Delta.</p> <p dir="ltr">“My connection to Egypt, and specifically to the Nile Delta, is at the heart of the research,” he says. “My grandparents are from the north of Egypt, so this relationship is very personal.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He says he grew up aware of the Delta’s history and of how much of it is less visible than more familiar sites elsewhere in Egypt.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The Delta holds a vast and rich heritage (arguably as significant as places like Luxor) but much of it isn’t as visible or widely recognised because it has been lost, buried, or submerged over time.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He points to cities including Imet, Tanis and Thonis-Heracleion as part of that history.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The Delta is one of the most archaeologically complex regions in the world. Cities like Imet, Tanis, and Thonis-Heracleion were once major centres, and even capitals, yet today they receive only a fraction of the attention given to Upper Egyptian mainstream monuments.”</p> <p dir="ltr">That history shapes the project’s visual language and line of enquiry. As Eslam puts it, Egypt becomes “a lens through which I explore what it means to recover, reimagine, and share a heritage that has been lost”.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">The project developed from Eslam’s thesis, which explores how communities can take part in imagining and experiencing places and histories that no longer physically exist.</p> <p dir="ltr">During his time at Arts University Plymouth, he tested that thinking through two public workshops in Plymouth, combining speculative thinking, storytelling and AI tools. The first took place at the university’s Postgraduate Centre, followed by a second public session at Market Hall in Devonport. Participants were invited to contribute ideas and narratives that then fed into the work.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The workshops were designed around a conviction that communities should be active participants in heritage, not passive recipients of it,” Eslam says. “I wanted to involve people from different backgrounds (not just designers or academics) in the process of imagining lost places and collectively constructing versions of them.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Eslam describes the result as a “shared, co-created hypothesis”, developed into a VR immersive experience.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Through workshops with the community, participants contribute ideas and narratives that shape a shared, co-created hypothesis. This is then developed into a VR immersive experience, where history becomes something you inhabit rather than just observe.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The workshops also changed the direction of the project.</p> <p dir="ltr">“What emerged was consistently richer and stranger than anything I would have produced alone. Participants brought emotional, embodied, and associative responses that shifted the work in real ways.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">AI enters the process early, but Eslam says it is used within a larger framework shaped by archival research, community participation and expert validation.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The process is iterative and structured in stages. AI is involved early on to generate visual and narrative fragments, but these are continuously tested and validated against real archival data throughout the worldbuilding process, leading to the final immersive or VR environment.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He describes AI as “a creative partner rather than a producer of final outputs”, with archival evidence acting as the main constraint and immersive technology turning the material into a spatial experience.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The key opportunity is AI’s ability to open up unexpected directions, while the main challenges are bias and maintaining coherence. That’s why evidence remains the backbone, and human involvement (including community input and expert validation) is essential throughout.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Keeping people genuinely in the loop is what keeps the process grounded and honest.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Eslam says Arts University Plymouth gave him the conditions to develop the project further during his Erasmus exchange.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I chose to develop my thesis through an Erasmus exchange at Arts University Plymouth, drawn by the strength of its faculty and its support for experimental, interdisciplinary work,” he says. “Here, I’ve been able to expand my work within an interdisciplinary environment that actively supports open-ended research and collaboration.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He says the teaching environment, conversations with staff and students, and access to facilities all shaped the work as it developed.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">“A big part of this has been the constant support and guidance from Professor Stephanie Owens and (BA (Hons) Game Arts &amp; Animation course leader Martial Bugliolo), who have been deeply involved in the project from day one. Jason Hirons and Becky Dodman Wainwright, the Master’s programme leaders, have also been incredibly supportive and open to new ideas, creating a space where exploration is genuinely encouraged.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He also highlights the animation studios within Arts University Plymouth and access on site to <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/fab-lab-south-west">Fab Lab South West</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Arts University Plymouth’s facilities have also been essential to the process, especially the animation studios and Fab Lab South West, where I spent most of my time. The staff there are approachable, highly skilled, and always willing to help, which made a real difference in pushing the project forward.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Alongside this, he says that participating in international Fab City workshops through the university helped connect the project to wider discussions around open-source practice and community-led approaches.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Following the two public workshops, Eslam’s project is continuing towards presentation in the Market Hall 360-degree dome in Devonport.</p> <p dir="ltr">“In the dome, I want people to feel like they’ve stepped into another world: immersive, unfamiliar, and thought-provoking. The aim isn’t to give definitive answers about the past, but to create space for uncertainty and open-ended reflection. Something that stays with people beyond the experience.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He sees the project as a framework that could be used in other contexts as it develops.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The framework can be replicated and adapted, opening possibilities for larger installations, collaborations, or platforms where other communities can engage with and reimagine their own lost or overlooked histories.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-design-built-environment">MA Design (Built Environment)</a> at Arts University Plymouth supports students to develop a distinctive practice through co-design and practice-led research, with a focus on how spaces can be shaped for wellbeing, social agency and sense of place. The course brings together interests in spatial design, material thinking, systems-thinking and emerging technologies, within a multidisciplinary postgraduate environment that encourages collaboration and open-ended enquiry.</p> <p dir="ltr">For students interested in spatial practice across interiors, scenography, immersive environments, material innovation and related disciplines, the course offers a way to test ideas through research, iteration and real-world engagement. Eslam’s project shows how that can take shape in practice: combining heritage, participation, technology and immersive experience in a piece of work developed through exchange, experimentation and dialogue.</p> <p><br /></p>