Zaha Hadid, the Baghdad-born, London-based architect, has received two major commissions in as many weeks for large-scale projects to be built in Cairo, Egypt.

First came word of a new speculative development southeast of the city center. The Stone Towers is a 5.5-million-square-foot office and retail complex set in 42 landscaped acres, including a five-star hotel and sunken gardens, all designed by the 2004 Pritzker Prize laureate. Two weeks later, on June 9, Hadid was declared winner of an invited competition for an “Expo City” on the site of Cairo’s longtime fair grounds, combining shopping, hospitality, and convention facilities.