EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

TUL - Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Architecture

Project idea

Design deals with the design of the new Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The dominant feature of the project was the garden where I tried to hide the embassy buildings. The intention was not to reveal everything at first sight, but to make the visitor surprised by the gradual uncovering of the buildings among the trees. The proposal is to represent our republic so I have decided to go especially timelessly and create original buildings that will work together. It was very difficult to find something of a typical Czech nature, because in addition to the Romanesque rotundas, baroque villages or rondocubism in the architecture we do not have much original, which is nowhere else in the world. I was thrilled by the idea of ​​a Czech crystal, which used to be world-famous and still has a strong tradition of glassmaking in our country, which is once again in the forefront. But how to transfer the idea to architecture? Doing a full glass building would not be a very happy solution to local climatic conditions, as the interior would be overheated. Another reason is the safety when a full-glazed safety bullet-proof shell would be very expensive. I decided to set out on a journey where the buildings would resemble glass crystals.

Project description

At the beginning I sketched a lot of variants of the situation arrangement and finally selected the most suitable one after consulting with the professor. I divided the land, as stated in the assignment, because there is a black building in the northwest corner that would be difficult to demolish. I designed a gabion wall around it to make the main part of the land more usable. The gabion wall is designed around the entire property as s reminder of medieval Czech castles.
In the smaller part of the property is separate housing of local forces from the whole complex and a large parking. It is mainly used for consulate visitors and as an auxiliary parking lot for larger events held in the main part of the complex. There is another parking space for the staff behind the fence on the site of the local forces and there is an entrance to the underground garage.
It was important to understand how an embassy really works. Fulfilling the requirements of the assignment seemed at first impossible. I followed that it was always possible to shrink and simplify. Therefore, I first shaped the houses very boldly and I was not afraid to make walls at different angles. When solving the dispositions I had to retreat from some of my first ideas. And simplify shaping a lot. I figured that I haven't had so much experience yet to work out a sophisticated layout and design for more daring shapes myself.
Nevertheless, I think that the whole complex works very well as a whole, both inside and out. The garden where I tried to hide the buildings became dominant. The intention was not to reveal everything at first sight, but to make the visitor surprised as the buildings slowly revealed to him. The main mass in the middle of the land falls into three parts and although the residence, office building and staff are in close proximity, I have managed to separate the zones by changing glazed and solid areas.
I focused on the photographs of the land, did my own research of the site and tried to get as many documents as possible. I figured the trees on the land are worthless and decided to keep them partially. Of course the trees would be replaced through the years but for now I think they should stay where they are. We would not destroy the biodiversity of the site. There is not a lot of green parks in the city centre so it would be huge damage to cut down all trees. I tried to place the buildings between them. Trees have a very pleasant shade on hot days and also partly prevent unnecessary overheating of buildings.

Technical information

Land entrances are from the south, north and east. The southern and eastern entrance is the official entrance / exit for invited visitors. The north entrance serves only to employees and local forces. It is possible to connect to the local water, gas, sewerage and electro-heavy as well as light current. But it is envisaged to build a proper source of drinking water by two borehole at a depth of 200 m. The primary source of electricity will be solar panels placed on the roofs so that the area can be almost independent of the surrounding infrastructure. The safety distance of the buildings when the top corner of the employees housing is closest with a distance of 19 m from the fence. The most distant is the official building with a distance of 29 m and larger. The residence is even 37 m or more. The whole area is fenced with a gabion wall with a height of 3 m, on its top there is a safety grid against climbing and over time covered with climbing plants.
The vertical supporting structures of the building are mostly reinforced concrete with reinforced concrete columns and lintels. The horizontal supporting structures are reinforced concrete. Porous concrete masonry are used in sanitary facilities. Gypsum wall partitions filled with acoustic insulation will be used between the offices, if the space is sometimes increased or reduced to make it easy and there is no need to demolish the masonry walls.
The cladding of the house is designed as an red marble facade. In Ethiopia, this stone is mined and its reserves are huge. There is a great deal of emphasis on precision, as small as possible, to make the tile look like one big piece.
There is a durable triple glazing that has very good insulating properties. Also, bulletproof safety glasses are used where needed. The roof is sloping at the main office building, while the residence and employees' housing have a sloping part and a flat part. Other objects have flat roofs. As a covering I chose titanium zinc sheet. Window and door frames are intended in the same titanium zinc shade. The rains are abundant at the site of construction, and retention tanks for rainwater are being considered, serving to irrigate the garden during the dry season. There are also two artificial ponds in the lowest part of the land, which would also hold rainwater. The downpipes are led into the retention tank.
Sewage is discharged into its own wastewater treatment plant and then discharged into a pond where it is cleaned again and used for garden irrigation and toilet flushing.
Entrance to the representative spaces as well as to the buildings and the first floor of the residence is wheelchair accessible.
I worked mainly in Archicad and did my visualizations in Lumion that I respect because they gave me student license for what I am very grateful so that is why I did not erase their logo from main pictures.

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