The winning entry of the architectural design competition for the headquarters of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Associations (AACCSA) in Ethiopia aims to contribute to the spatial improvement of the urban environment, and to create an architectural dialog engaged in a global context with a strong local identity. It does so by integrating public spaces at ground level, continuing the “busy-ness” of the street within the building. A façade made of “woven” locally-quarried trachyte stone – reminiscent of Ethiopian stone architecture and ancient textile techniques – regulates ventilation as well as sunlight.

Design principle 1: The public street as potential, creating “busy-ness” outside and inside the building. In the context of Addis Ababa, the street is the main public space that meets the community’s need for interaction. It is the place where the rich, middle and low-income classes meet in a complex interaction of people, commerce, stories and goods. Still today, roads in neighborhoods “are not just paths or thoroughfares. They are rather vibrant places of multi-tasking. Domestic activities and businesses extend and flow out into the streets ... furthermore, the streets are a social space of interaction.” – Dr Elias Yitbarak, What is Zemenawinet?

Within the project, there is potential to create this function of Addis Ababa’s streets: both on the outside and the inside of the proposed building. Firstly, on the outside, the building site is defined by three streets, and the building gives back valuable public space that facilitates trade, social interaction and exchange, in the form of three urban typologies: the urban park, the urban square and the urban stairs.

Secondly, on the inside, the building is defined by the grand ramp, that flows from the urban square into the building and circulates around the prominent space. The good characteristics of the street – informal meetings, trade and commerce, networking, vibrancy – become a main feature of the inner circulation activities of the Headquarter Building of the Chamber of Commerce. In this way a vibrant “busy-ness” and networking environment is instigated that is particularly necessary for the entrepreneurial world.

Design Principle 2: Ethiopian “glocal” architecture. The trachyte stone that will be used for façade cladding on the podium and for the structural façade on the tower is a locally quarried stone, and refers to the massiveness of vernacular and religious Ethiopian stone architecture. The façade of the tower also refers to the “Netela” (woven Ethiopian textile) that elegantly shows the threads of cotton and has a character of both shadow and transparency.

By linking this local material and façade to an architectural expressive form that could connect to a global entrepreneurial community, the Headquarters Building of the Chamber of Commerce is positioning itself as a true “glocal” architecture: a result of a cooperation between a new generation of Ethiopian and European architects, and of a growing Ethiopian economy that does not necessarily loose its identity.