Czech Republic Embassy, Ethiopia

Project idea

The embassy’s aim is to help represent a country in another. What I did was to think more of the relation that could bring through countries together. Through previous research on existing embassies, it was concluded that the hosting land has more influence on the deisgn in terms of materiality and climate. Researching the Ethiopian architectural buildings, I found the St. George Church, carved out of stones forming outdoor and indoor experiences. It was made as a proof of how skilled the ethiopan medieval stone masons are. The Czech Republic, also, had intrests in crystal minning. That, then, lead to the relation between stone and crystal.

Project description

Inspired by both refrences, I used the square form as a module. Then, statred thinking how this relation could affect my project in terms of material opacity in relation to light intensity.

Technical information

A stone wall could help block the visual connenction between in and out, besides, prevent sunlight. However, a use of curtain wall/ glass partitions would enable users to have a visual connection between in and out and allow sunlight inside as a source of natural lighting, consuming less energy. Also, the of extended roofs were used to reduce direct sunlight that enters the building.