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.

Dakar's International Conference Center / Tabanlioglu Architects

Architects: Tabanlıoğlu Architects
Location: Dakar, Senegal
Project Team: melkan gürsel & murat tabanlıoğlu, salih yılgörür, sertaç tümer, ali çalışkan, utkan yönter, enes yücepur, firat güneş balcı, sema türker, zeynep dündar, esra can, merve babalı, i̇smail ulukaya, gözde çalışkan, melike özkan, gonca atasayan, aliriza saçan, zeynep eker yılgörür , ayşe yalçın i̇çyer
Project Year: 2015
Photographer: Tabanlioglu Architects

Structural: Meinhardt
Mechanical: Okutan
eEectrical: Yurdakul
Fire: Prof. Dr. abdurrahman kılıç
Acoustics: Talayman acoustics / prosistem
Architectural lighting: ZKLD Studio
Landscape: Zeynep Akgoze LD
general coordinator: Envar Sayan
project manager: Erdal özdilek
main contractor: SUMMA
Site area: 77,446 sqm
Usable area: 16,270 sqm

- 21 April 2015
- Kelvin Salasya
Public Spaces , Communal Centres , Conservation Architecture , Contemporary ,

The Dakar Centre just completed this year is an assortment of playful geometry by all words necessary. Steve Bright in Hailstorm was quoted saying ‘…there is always tension in good design; a tension between opposing forces represented by the creative and the prosaic, for design must work as few other artistic endeavors must work. It must work at many levels, at a practical level and at an imaginary level, with subtlety and obviousness, with clarity and suggestiveness, and with simplicity and complexity all intertwined in time and space’.

This presumably best describes the design of one of Dakar’s finest developments - The Dakar Congress Center. This facility offers an eccentric natural hub for presidential meetings and retreats.

Dakar Congress Centre bestows a serene and secure ambiance depicting what happened in history, where kings were crowned beneath the Baobab trees of Senegal. The development exclusively accommodates various substantial spaces such as the main conference hall, museum, restaurants, meeting facilities and VIP units. The construction unifies distinct units connected via water and bridges. The union of independent blocks puts to emphasis the notions of the community’s foundation – creation and harmony – order, fundamental in both social and environmental realms.

The complex exhibits impressive features such as the twisted blades which forms a texture of mesh screen that behaves like sun-break and accords a shaded interior without necessarily impeding the emphasis of transparency. The mesh curtain provides a three-dimensional effect that achieves a floating expression over the surrounding reflection pool.

The development employs prevailing well naturally-lit atmosphere inside the spaces by the reflection characteristics of surface areas within the interiors, the design utilizes light colour and colour reproduction of the illuminants used.

The roof’s upper section is intricately designed with perforated patterns that mimics woven-like material, whose weight is effectively supported by massive columns which altogether adds to its aesthetic appeal, giving the structure an iconic prominence.

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Tripoli Convention Centre/ Tabanlıoğlu Architects
Following the economic revival, an intensive urban and architectural movement began in Libya; new innovative and prestigious buildings in Tripoli started to signify the development, power and contemporary style. Open to the world cultures and where diverse languages meet up, the Congress Cente...

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- © dakar's international conference center by taba...
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- © dakar's international conference center by taba...
- © dakar's international conference center by taba...
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