Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy / Saraivae + Associados

Architects: Saraivae Associados
Location: Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
Interior Décor: Saraivae + Associados
Project Year: 2014
Website: www.saraivaeassociados.com

- 19 May 2015
- Peninah Mutonga
Commercial Centres , Commercial , Cultural Centres , Contemporary African Directory , Contemporary ,

Government buildings, in any developing country should set the pace for innovation, technology, sustainability and high-tech solutions for local problems. Located in Malabo, the capital and the largest city of Equatorial Guinea, this project intends to develop an architectonic solution of quality and functionality, which conciliates the concept of a modern image, connected to the surroundings context and using contemporary building materials and techniques.

Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy / Saraivae + Associados

It was on this note that the design for the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy (MMIE), born from the idea of having a building, made by two blocks, paid special attention to high quality standards, at both architectonic and building levels, in order to offer maximum comfort, safety and functionality, valuing the intervention from the point of view of the architectonics’ concept and image.

Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy / Saraivae + Associados

Designed to receive exclusively the administration and services of the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy, with the necessary urban approach and landscape in the area surrounding the building, the planning is organized around two interconnected blocks, rectangular in shape, creating exterior spaces that tend to promote their integration with the surroundings.

Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy / Saraivae + Associados

With a clear formal distinction in the facades of the two main blocks, the facade design and building orientation pays attention to the environmental factors and particularly thermal behavior; the north and south facades are more transparent to allow for natural day lighting within the building, while the East and West facades exhibit spans the entire horizontal length, and control of direct sunlight made by peaks and / or sheets of metal shade.

Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy / Saraivae + Associados

The traceability of chosen materials, the goal of assembling a responsible, sustainable building all go along with an evocative and contemporary image – an image of total fusion with the local vegetation, an intrinsic part of the project, creating a new gateway and exit for a country which turns its back on its recent dictatorial past and opens up to the future.

- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...
- © Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Mines, Industry a...

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

If you want your own avatar and keep track of your discussions with the community, sign up to archiDATUM >>

SELECTED WORKS

- White Cube/ OMA
- 26 Aug 2018
Located in the heart of a plantation system, the research centre designed by Rem Koolhas led OMA in Congo aims to become a vector for a s...
- Mandarin Oriental / Pascal Desprez + Gilles & Boissier
- 31 Mar 2017
Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech is set amid lush, lavish gardens surrounded by a walkway that allows guests to fully appreciate their charms...
- House Mouton / Earthworld Architects
- 28 Jun 2016
The brief from the client required the design of a home for a family of four in a bushveld estate. The site is a bushveld plot of 1 hecta...

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIRECTORY

- Embassy of the Netherlands / Dick Van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek
- 13 Jul 2015
The new Embassy of the Netherlands is a building that thrives within its environment, seeking new ways to deal with both the thermal neme...
- Querol House / Alberto Morell Sixto
- 21 Jul 2016
The Charley's Gap House in famous' Blixen's famous Karen is a beautiful abstraction of a little Savannah inside a one acre plot. The hous...
- Arijiju Resort / Life Grand Group
- 02 Apr 2017
Arijiju lies on the lowland. The building behaves as though it has always been on that warm stone hillside with living, grassed roofs tha...