The Grand Staircase ascends from the Entrance Court to the permanent exhibition galleries on the top floor stopping off at special exhibitions, temporary exhibition, and Archaeological Main Storage. The staircase is the chronological route within the museum, culminating in the view of the pyramids at the top of the stair. An identifiable reference point, the Grand Staircase allows visitors to easily navigate this vast Museum.

The museum is designed so that the visitor moved through a sequence of spaces to gradually transition from the contemporary world back into the world of the Pharaohs. The monumental forecourt in front of the museum is the first point from which the visitor can grasp the scale and monumentality of the site. Gradually sloping upwards to the entrance, the visitor is led into the Entrance Court, a shaded outdoor space which continues the transition from outdoor space to museum and conference.

A 3-dimensional structure inscribed by a set of visual axes from the site to the three pyramids defines the framework within which the museum emerges, from the overall scale of the site to the smallest of details.The design of the museum utilises the level difference between the Nile Valley and the desert plateau to construct a new ‘edge’ to the plateau. The museum exists between the level of the Nile Valley and the plateau, never extending above the plateau.

The approach to the museum is a series of layers, whereby the visitor moves through a monumental forecourt, a shaded entrance area and a grand staircase that ascends to plateau level, the level at which the galleries are located where for the first time the visitor sees the pyramids from within the museum.

The museum is structured in five bands by the visual axes to the pyramids, the sixth band being the chronological route of the grand stair. Having ascended through the Museum, the visitor enters the permanent exhibition areas from where the pyramids can be seen. The galleries are organised on one floor to allow the visitor to comprehend the scale and magnificence of the civilisation whilst the five bands are spatially structured by the structural roof folds and heavy service walls. A clear organisation is provided to a large space yet still allowing flexible modes of display. Natural light is modulated and controlled by the roof folds.

The museum is envisaged as a cultural complex of activities devoted to Egyptology and will contain 24,000m² of permanent exhibition space, almost 4 football fields in size, a children’s museum, conference and education facilities, a large conservation centre and extensive gardens on the 50hA site. The collections of the museum include the Tutankhamen collection, that is currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and the Solar Boat that is now housed beside the pyramids.