Designed with zero-energy aspirations, this visitors’ center is designed at the historic site of Abu Simbel temples, in the challenging climate of Aswan, Egypt. Passive strategies played an important role in this project including evaporative cooling, natural ventilation, natural light, and also in order to reduce the cooling load of the building. Cooling is achieved using evaporative cooling screens (mashrabiya) that use Nile river water and cools down the building and also acts as the building shading.