Architects:
TERRENEUVE Architectes
Location: Nairobi,
Kenya
Project Team: TERRENEUVE architects, agent; Pharos, architects associated in Nairobi; Phytolab, landscape; Quantimax economist Nairobi; Satoba, BET structure; Cap Ingelec, BET fluids; EN3, LEED consultant (Chennai)
Project Year: 2015
Photographer: SCRIPTOGRAM
Program: Realization of the French Diplomatic Campus Embassy, Residence of the Ambassador and Housing Project
Area: 3224 sqm
The project design is strongly marked by the antagonism between the high level of security requirements and its home office. The geopolitical context of increasingly unstable and defensive aspects is dominant in most diplomatic designs and heavily constrains development and architecture of this campus which is aimed at expressing the universality of values held by the French culture: openness, welcome, rights to protection and at the service of the citizens of its host country. The project is hinged on the latter premise of French Culture, which offers an open design, and a strong relationship with the landscape. The layout of the architecture and landscape define protected and welcoming spaces. The existing topography is used to isolate individual entities in the design which are freely placed in the landscape. The facades of decline curves invite the landscape in interior spaces while forming Trust gardens.
The narrow entrance hall through the embassy opens into a large garden that restores a visual journey of the landscape. Easy of the massiveness of buildings is induced by their compact typology and rounding of the corners that give slide look and let in light. The relative freedom of their geometry also eliminates any parallel facade bounds, increasing the prospects of the landscape and mitigates reading of boundary walls. The an undulating mesh of wooden slats make the design permeable to air and facades to light, ensuring a visual and sun filter and an additional defensive structure protection. This also affirms the identity of the Environmental Campus: made from wood and stone, including LEED certification and a generally responsible environmental approach.
Renowned Japanese Architect, Shigeru Ban, winner of the 2014 Pritzker Prize, seen as the “Nobel Prize of Architecture,” has signed an agreement to design up to 20,000 new homes for refugees, in the Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement in Kenya...
This project fundamentally features contemporary architectural style as witnessed by the building’s design to respond appropriately to the client’s needs. The building and facility design was obliged in making this possible without unnecessary energy expense. It showcases innovative passive th...
If you want your own avatar and keep track of your discussions with the community, sign up to archiDATUM >>
The Sacred Heart Cathedral of Kericho is located 250 km west of Nairobi, Kenya. It lies within the Highlands, close to the Rift Valley, e...
In 1984, His Highness the Aga Khan announced his decision to finance the creation of a park for the citizens of the Egyptian capital. The...
The Medina of Fez constitutes an outstanding example of a medieval town created during the very first centuries of Islamisation of Morocc...
The first library of Muyinga, part of a future inclusive school for deaf children, in locally sourced compressed earth blocks, built with...
Thorsten Deckler from the Johannesburg based Architectural studio 26'10 South calls the Brixton House a compact live-work compound for a...
For many years I regularly visited Morocco. From the first trip I was bewitched by that country and the three projects studied to date ar...