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.

French Diplomatic Campus in Nairobi/ TERRENEUVE Architectes

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

- 20 May 2015
- Kililo Mtamu
Modern Africana , Embassies , Sustainability , Materials ,

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.

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Award-winning Japanese Architect, Shigeru Ban, signs deal to design new homes for thousands of refugees in Kenya
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...

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French School Group Jean Mermoz / Terreneuve Architects
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...

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