Projeler/Projects: Addis Ababa
YARATTIĞI KAMUSAL MEKANLAR İLE PROJE
YENİ BİR ÇEKİM MERKEZİ HALİNİ ALACAK.
THE BUILDING WILL BE A NEW CENTER OF GRAVITY
WITH ITS NEW PUBLIC SPACES.
90 NATURA • EYLÜL - EKİM 2013 / SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013
community, the Headquarters Building of the Chamber of Commerce is positioning
itself as a true ‘glocal’ architecture, a result of a cooperation between a new
generation of Ethiopian and European architects.
The result
The proposal offers simple and functional solutions. The Trachyte stone can
be quickly and cheaply transported from the quarry, then clad on the façade
of the podium continually. On the other hand, the stone surrounding the
glass-clad tower, is implemented with big gaps in between, creating natural
ventilation and lighting as well as connecting visually to its urban setting.
The angular design of the stone plates provides aesthetic value, as well as
different perspectives to the outside view.
The design furthers an existing green strip from neighboring plots and turns
the space created by the inward direction of the podium to a public square,
offering a third public space with the addition of urban stairs. As a result,
the open meeting spaces on the podium meet other public spaces like the
park, the urban square and the urban stairs on the same level.
In Addis Ababa, whose architectural setting consists of buildings with tin roofs
painted in white, and where residential neighborhoods are mainly thousands
of clay houses with thatched roofs, the Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral
Associations Headquarters constitutes an architectural model, re-evaluating
local values by using local materials in a rational and economic context