DAR - Embassy of Czech Republic

University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras Campus

Project idea

Even though the primary purposes is to assist citizens who travel to or live in the host country. To assist the needs of an embassy our project aims to create and oasis, a place where Czech citizens can feel like home. Not only does our design gives an oasis to the citizens, it also gives one to the community. This embassy complex throughout different sustainability and local resources provides a local garden to the community, a new urban landscape, new urban infrastructure for better mobility and water fountains. These important components of the project aim to “DAR” a better community, and a safe haven for the Czech’s and the Ethiopian’s relationship to grow and flourish for the good of both of their nations.

Project description

The different analysis and studies led us as designers to rethink the present site and the traditional embassy architecture. The project surges from the research and analysis of both historical and contextual information from the Czech Republic and Addis Ababa. “DAR”, the Czech Republic Embassy in Ethiopia is an oasis centered on sustainability, security, the joining of communities and the re-weaving of the present urban context.

It consists of different layers that are a result of the site analysis, and the reading of the regulations and requirements of the embassy. The projects starts by manipulating the present site conditions, by following the sites axes to continue roads for the continuity of the urban context. As we divided and created urban blocks, we designed a program for each one. As security is main concerns the embassy block is pushed fifthteen meters allround. This lead us to create a much needed green urban landscapes thats serves as a fence and as a place to meet the community's needs. public use. Following the green spaces, a four meter high canal separates the green fence and the main building. The main block holds the main embassy complex which consists of the three main buildings, the visa and consular, the official embassy and the residential. To accompany the main block , the west block holds a recreational area for both controlled private and public use, and the south block holds the relocated local workforce. The ground level of the embassy contains most of its offices and programmatic requirements. For the main level not to be so dense, the design features four large courtyards that address the need of the building above it and the offices surrounding it. This level is the topped with a garden that holds skylights, ethiopian flora and paved areas for the use of the official embassy staff. This garden aims to recreate a public plaza that resembles gardens that through research are discovered to be found in Addis Ababa.

Through the different design measures, “DAR” provides a safe, beautiful green, “oasis” environment to the Czech community living in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian community and rural Addis Ababa.

Technical information

The aim of the project is to create a self sufficient and sustainable environment. As we find ourselves in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia one of the main struggles of the country is the need and the shortage of water. For this reason we based our project on two important colors and factors. The factors are: vegetation and water. As an embassy requirement a well will be dugged out minus two hundred meters into the Earth’s crust. Besides the water resource of the well, we decided to implement a water storage that serves as the canal and the provider of water for the complex and water for the surrounding community. The allround water canal is dugged three meters deep that collects the rainwater directly and indirectly. The indirect source comes from the circular gardens skylights that drain from the roof out to the canal. To minimize the flooding, water pumped systems are located under the outside urban landscapes that surrounds the complex. To not solely rely on the petroleum and solar energy, the building consists of around eighty solar panels systems between each building. These solar panels convert UV rays to energy.

The vegetation used on the project is based on the study of the native Ethiopian flora. It was also considered low maintenance and of great representation of the Ethiopian culture. The green color found in our visual presentation is very abundant since the projects aims to refresh the existing arid site. As the water gives back to the community, the vegetations also gives back, in the south. In this block, a community garden is made . This garden will hold edible fruits and vegetable and are to managed by the community.

To break with the traditional curtain offices in Addis Ababa, a parametric louver facade system was created. As Addis Ababa is a tropical country, temperature rise to over thirty degrees Celsius, the vertical parametric louvers, surged from a solar analysis, to lower the impact of the inside building temperature. These white polycarbonate leaves are attached by a aluminium structure vertically each three meters separate and zero point seventy five meters apart from the building. The louvers also serve as a “night lamp”, making the whole building of the embassy complex a public “landmark” of the area.