Register: JUN/12/2019, Submit: JUN/12/2019, Eligibility: Architecture students; individually, teams, Fee: Free, Awards: 1st Prize: 2,000 EUR, 2nd Prize: 1,500 EUR, 3rd Prize 1,000 EUR

The Czech Embassy complex in Addis Ababa will be a business card of the Czech Republic. Its mission will be primarily to express the cultural level of the state and the traditions of Czech architecture within the European and the world context of cultural heritage. It will be a place where foreigners can learn basic information about the history of the Czech Republic, culture and economy. In its own form and content, the embassy complex should express an adequate level of state representation, reflect the genius loci (the environment and the conditions of the site), all this together with meeting at the same time the requirement for functionality and purposefulness. The prerequisites for the architectural design are its expressive timelessness, high quality of execution, rational layout and the choice and use of adequate materials while sticking to the typological attributes of purpose-built buildings (offices and residences) for diplomatic missions.

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The architectural solution must also comply with basic safety, economic and, above all, user and operational requirements.

SITE, BASIC REGULATIONS

The construction of a new embassy complex will take place on vacant land of 13.304 m2, located at Bole Kife Ketema Kebele 6, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The current terrain of the land is flat with worthless natural growth of trees and grass, there are temporary buildings of the plot guard. The northern and eastern boundaries of the plot are, beside the fence, lined with a reinforced surface sewer draining mainly rainwater. The southern boundary in its eastern part is formed by the walls of neighboring buildings (private residences), in the central part by the free space of a blind alley (originally planned to be extended faid interconnected with the road running along the eastern boundary of the plot, but due to sprawl development and its subsequent legalization a blind corner appeared there), which is presently used by a car service, and in the western part the plot borders on a road which currently serves as the main access road to the plot. The most problematic is the western boundary directly bordering on school buildings (the fencing is thus partly formed by the peripheral walls of the school buildings, which are not marked on the cadastral map at all), but mainly on an obviously illegal construction (corrugated plate-covered containers placed on top of each other) of a building serving an unknown purpose, which is, moreover, located in the northwest recess of the site. As the demolition of the illegal building is difficult to claim under local conditions, we recommend separating this part of the plot by an inner wall, build a road on it, and use the newly formed plot for building a support facility and housing for so-called “local workforce” /In Ethiopia it is advisable as a motivation element and for keeping high-quality local workforce to build so-called social housing, e.g. a separate building, fenced of from the whole complex with its own entrance; a suitable location is in the western part of the plot/ and a parking for the embassy staff. The inner wall would then be provided with a “rear entrance” for the staff and local workforce. The plot would, at the same time, be “rounded” (in the southwest part a usable right angle would be created). The plot is situated near utility systems (gas, high- and low-voltage installations, water, sewerage). An own source of drinking water with sufficient capacity will be built on the plot – a well, the expected drilling depth is 200 m. The only spatial regulation in the area is the limitation of the height of buildings up to 4 above-ground storeys. The land development index is not set.

SAFETY REQUIREMENTS, SPACING OF BUILDINGS

The structure(s) of the Addis Ababa Embassy should be located within a sufficient distance from the site fencing perimeter. The distance from the surrounding development should be kept, the spacing between the designed buildings and the fencing should not be less than 10 m, although a distance of af 25 m is more suitable. The height of the perimeter fencing should be 2.5 – 3 m with ant-climb barriers, e.g. an ornamental grille with spikes in the entrance representation part and full concrete fencing in the other parts. The site can be accessed from three sides, the building of the consular and especially the visa department can be situated on the plot boundary. The terrain on the plot should be open, it should not have excessive height differences and should not be too rugged. The Addis Ababa Embassy falls under the “S-Secret” category, therefore, it is imperative to build at least one apartment unit in the embassy complex (the optimal solution, for the reason of substitutability, are two apartment units).

REQUIREMENTS FOR ZONING OF THE EMBASSY COMPLEX

While developing the embassy complex, the site must include the following zones: official, representative, residential, housing, technical and economic, circulation, recreational, zone of local workforce.

The official, representative and residential zones must be suitably separated from the other zones. This regulation also applies to entrances into individual zones. In the technical and economic zone, we recommend situating the support facilities of a caretaker-service engineer, gardener, technical support facilities (water management, substation). The circulation zone defines entrances, sidewalks, pavements for the arrival of vehicles and garaging/parking. In the recreation zone, we recommend a swimming pool, playground, “tukul” – a circular roofed structure with an open fire, etc. In the zone of the local workforce, working support facilities and social housing will be built.

REQUESTED PROGRAM OF THE EMBASSY COMPLEX

The design of the embassy complex must include the following structures or separate functional units respectively:

  • Official Embassy Building
  • Residence
  • Consular and visa office (separate building)
  • Apartment building for the embassy staff
  • Building for local workforce

THE EMBASSY COMPLEX IN GENERAL

The estimated usable floor area of the buildings in the complex is about 2,300 m2 (max. 2,800 m2).

The design principle is the operational separation of individual buildings (in the case of pavilion construction) and operations (in the case of a multifunctional monoblock).

Website: inspireli.com