THE SITE:

 The site is an administrative area where the existing government buildings parliament is located; it is also nearby to the congress hall and the grand palace. The site has a monumental history in the Ethiopian political progress and religious gatherings.

DESIGN APPROACH:

 Orientation: The office block is arranged in such a way that the afternoon sun and heat gains is considered and special attention is given to the location and orientation of the tower.

Modern Thinking: This new development (a new era) is an open building concept, contrary to the historical surroundings and stands out from its neighboring buildings because of its unique features.

SUSTAINABILITY:

Ventilation: The building uses natural ventilation. Warm air is being admitted through the façade. In the plenum below the raised floor the warm air is being cooled by the thermal mass of the structure. During daytime the stored cooled air in the plenum is being used to cool the ventilation air.

Energy efficient design-

The environmental challenge is to design a building that is both transparent and energy efficient. Coupling the requirement for low energy design with an open and transparent building lead to considerable effort in the design of the facades to ensure a balance of transparency, control of solar heat gain, optimization of natural lighting and maximization of the thermal performance of the skin of the building.

Natural ventilation-

By taking the advantages of Ethiopia’s favourite climate, the building is designed to operate as a fully naturally sustainable building, utilizing and optimizing a full spectrum of this technology. An open down in between the building helps easy air movement and an extension of nature in to the building.

 A responsive facade-

The exterior skin operates in order to maintain a comfortable internal environment. They are design in order to reduce solar and heat build up in the office space creating a comfortable working space.

GREEN ROOF

Green roofs contribute to control heat in building and a healthier city and surrounding.

Automatic control-BMS

All building services should be controlled by a central automatic system, combined with a special security system.

The central elements for producing electricity, cooling energy, heating energy and water should be installed in the basement (level –1). The cooling towers are placed on the roof of the shopping area. On the roofs of the flat building part a photovoltaic system (thick-film system, amorphous cells) could be installed. For the future, when gas or oil decreases more, the photovoltaic system should be installed to reduce the electrical energy consumption.

Photo voltaic panels

Service rooms don’t really need all day light but they need ventilation system that will be powered by photo voltaic panels which will be mounted on the roof.

 Foot print area=4,700 sq.m

Total built up area=30,400 sq.m

Plot area-7860 square meters.

Project duration:-November 2015-March 2021

Project Estimation:-750 million birr