Dutch Embassy

Chancellery entrance.

Project details

• Project Name: Dutch Embassy
• Location of Site: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Design Team: Dick van Gameren, Bjarne Mastenbroek, Rahel Shawl, Remco van Buuren, Mike Davis, Matteo Fosso, Willmar Groenendijk, Jack Hoogeboom, Lada Hrsak, Sebastiaan Kaal, Miguel Loos, Jeroen van Mechelen, Holger Muhrmann
• Client: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia
• Contractor/s: Elmi Olindo Co. Plc
• Site Area: 55000 sq. mt.
• Built-up Area: 3300 sq. mt. (gross surface area chancellary and apartments)
• Cost of Construction: Cost USD 7332000
• Date of completion: 2005

Words from the architect

The site of the Dutch embassy consists of five hectares of eucalyptus woods, dropping steeply into a valley. The historic villa on the edge of the site has been expanded, while the embassy and residence of the ambassador, three homes for staff members and the entrance are new.

Chancellery entrance.

The landscape intersects the volume on the borderline of the two functions. At this point the road embedded in the landscape passes over the building, before dropping to the covered visitors entrance of the residence. The roof has been implemented as a shallow pond, a reference to the Netherlands in the uneven Ethiopian landscape.

Roof landcape.

Materials: Concrete was used because its the only construction material readily available in Ethiopia. The concrete is also very suitable in the Ethiopian earthquake conditions.

Salon residence.

The gatehouse, camouflaged in the colours of the Dutch flag, peers over the wall on the street side. The extension of the villa, which is occupied by the Vice Ambassador, has been placed beneath the existing house, which now seems to float above the garden. The three homes for staff are situated behind a wall, next to the wall that surrounds the site. The difference in gradient means that they are placed one behind the other like terraces, and that all residents enjoy an unobstructed view.

Chancellery.

The embassy with ambassador's residence is situated in the centre of the terrain in a long, horizontal volume that seems to have been carved out of the landscape, like a traditional Ethiopian church carved out of the rock. The outside walls are of rough concrete in the same red colour as the ground.

Reception.

The embassy is simple in structure, with offices on either side of a central corridor. This corridor rises with the gradient of the site. The entrance is situated at the lowest point of the corridor, at the end. There is enough space here for an intermediate level, where the ambassador's office is situated. It is connected via a stairway to the rooftop path leading to the residence.

Entrance to the residence.

The residence has two storeys. The upper floor contains the formal reception rooms, while the lower one contains the private rooms. Light shafts and patios link the areas inside and outside the building. As a result of the difference in gradient of the site, both floors are at ground level, so that they can be used entirely independently of one another. Three concealed stairways - one for the ambassador, one for his family, and one for staff - form the internal routes between the floors.

Credits

• Text: Dick van Gameren architecten
• Photographs: Christian Richters