Case Study
Case Study
Case Study
EiABC, AAU
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
March, 2022
Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
Acknowledgment
I would express my appreciation to our teachers for chaperoning the trip, and
for putting forward checklists to pay attention to, both during the trip and on our
report.
I would also like to extend my gratitude for the different stuff member we met
along our trips like, the it director at hope university college, Ato Tesfa
(Administrator of Addis Ababa exhibition center), and generally who ever helped
facilitate our site visit.
Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
ABSTRACT
This report contains the Early stage of the project. The project I have chosen is a
convention center. The report begins by stating international standards and
definition of a convention center and goes on to discuss local and international
case studies on the matter.
Later on, the report demonstrates and describe the site using maps and diagrams.
Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
TABLE OF CONTENT
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
1. THE PROJECT
The project is a convention center located at Meskel square. The project lays on a
site where the Addis Ababa exhibition center and Juventus sports center is found.
The project aims at enhancing and activating the current exhibition center, by
creating a link to the immediate environment, and create a functional iconic
center.
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
2.1 Definitions
2.2 Standards on
* Louisiana Super dome, Longest span dome : 680ft = 210m clear span; 252ft
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
3.0. CASESTUDY
case study)
I haven’t originally had much information about the “hope university college”
other than the fact that it’s a private school that teaches Architecture. I’ve never
heard of the campus’s architectural experimentation, or features so my
expectation of the campus was more of a basic 4 or 5 story building, each floor
consisting of a row of four walled spaces of may be varying areas along side a
single corridor/ balcony.
So my first instinct when we were told to do a site visit there, and perform a case
study, was “may be the school really has more experience to offer than
merely class rooms”.
Coming from the other end of the city, Jemmo (location of the site) was definitely
a distant place for me. But it also some how made sense, as the campus ground
covered a very large area. We weren’t able to enter the campus the first day we
went there, due to paper formality, but we were able to have a first glance form
the gate. And also spent the day trying to capture the essence of the outside
environment.
The road, from the main street to the college, isn’t paved and has almost no
vegetation coverage which made it very dusty and warm. But nevertheless the
fact that the college is found a walking distance away the busy street, did provide
a break from the chaos an sound pollution.
Program wise: the surrounding has a stationary, shops and few options of places
to eat in a very close proximity (and so much more along the main road).
The cafe, immediate to the college, has a wide space and appealing interior. Here,
I’ve observed how students would come in groups and hold discussions; while
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
some come by themselves (individually) and do school work; and others use it as
a hangout spot.
Before we reach the gate there are a row of trees the make a line starting from
around 50m away from the gate. These trees make a sort of buffer zone between
the road that leads up to the college, and a farm land on the other side.
The first thing one notices, while approaching this educational center is the gate
and how on a perspective view, is hut shaped structure with a welcome sign on
its entrance. For a person standing out side, the welcome sign lies right under the
name of the institute written on the gate.
FIRST EXPERIENCE
We went again the next day to visit the campus. To my surprise, the university
was nothing like I expected. There is a hut like structure right at the front, center.
While entering the compound, to my left was the library. The library is designed
to blend with the environment on one side and rises to wall on the side facing the
fences. The roof blends with the green on the ground so seamlessly. Students
would sit on top the roof (at different heights). There were few green coverage
around the central building, that connect to the paved pathways. It could use
more shade however, since there aren’t many tall trees.
There were water features (weren’t filled at the time) around the plan of the
central building, which I assume would cool down the micro environment. I was
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very impressed by the interior space of the central building. It’s naturally lit, well
ventilated, monochromatic, and spatial.
The key element I would take from the space is the way it made us behave in
the space, we kept voices low when we communicated with out any instruction.
It was a very important element because the space serves as a conference room,
meeting hall, or other types of gathering where people need to be able to listen to
one another. And it also has offices around the structure, connected by a hall way
in the circumference around the hall.
Each building was labeled in letters from A to F and on each building below the
label is a list of activities the building hosts and on which floor. This made it
very easy to navigate through the University and understand the zoning system.
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Self direction was very easy, we didn’t needed any guidance during our
complete tour of the entire campus.
The hall way has a beautiful scenery and ventilation, as it integrates with the
landscape to some degree.
The six buildings along the hall way, are actually placed with some sort of
pattern where similar buildings align, and occur at an interval.
The soccer field is found to the West. And it’s connected to the guest house
residential area.
MATERIAL
There is material harmony through out the site, aside from unity in form.
Flat stones are used from the gate (to facade the guard house), to making the
roof of the meeting hall. While bamboo is used as a facade on two
building(which helps counter the wind, and create soothing sounds), masonry
works and structures are very dominant through out the site.
Class rooms
There are three types of class rooms:
1. Lecture halls : have individual sitting chairs and the spaces are lit by top
windows and the door.
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2. 1 level class rooms: these class rooms are naturally lit by rows of windows
(about 150cm tall ) with white curtains.
Cafeteria
There are 3 spaces to be used as a cafeteria, but only one of these is functional at
the moment.
The third space can be accessed at two points. One is from the outside corridor
from which we can access the second space. Or from the the ground floor stair
out side of the cafeteria. Since this last space is some what secluded it can be
used as a teacher’s cafeteria/ lounge space.
Storage space
There were smart approaches in terms of crating storage spaces.
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Architectural studios
Architecture studios have and interesting curved curtain walls on front, and
windows on the rear. The spaces are elongated on these faces and narrow on
the other two faces.
Some studios have a wall painted in geometric shapes and line plays.
Teacher’s office
These offices have interesting arrangements which, I believe, help in sufficient
space management as seen n the demonstration below.
Workshop
The workshop is found on the far end building (Block G) . which makes the sound
pollution manageable. The workshop is a warehouse connected to another
building. This building also has a space that’s connected to the warehouse
trough it’s roof and an intermediate open space between.
The intermediate space is also functional in case of welding or large structures
that can’t be made inside the ware house.
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But aside from that students would just sit on the grass of the green areas and
the roof of the library(which has no shade, thus discouraging to use this space
past noon, when there’s high temperature).
Library
My personal favourite space in the entire university was the library. It was very
fascinating to see it’s exterior and being able experience it. But the interior was
far more interesting that I expected.
The entrance created a sort of welcoming enclosure (in the intention to support
the inclination of the roof). The interior space has two open downs. These open
downs contains an tree that grows above the structure. This created and
seamless indoor -outdoor connection.
The lower slopes of the roof are digital hubs, where natural lights appear from
the roof.
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CASE STUDY)
The convention center is found in one of the busiest streets in Addis. The main
building is found hidden away from the road, which makes it easy to miss. But
there art art works on the columns of the LRT railway, that attracts attention to
that surrounding and hints an exhibition center around.
SURROUNDING
and Next to the convention center there’s a high rise building and on the other
side there’s… right across the street is a stadium, the surrounding generally
includes banks and other public institutes.
MATERIAL
I. Marble: is used mainly on the floors, stones are usually included in interiors
to represent age.
II. Concrete : for structural support, and is locally available
III. Steel: handrails and bridge, good tensile strength and light structure, its also
very appealing to the eye.
IV. Aluminium: is used to skin the exterior.
V. Colour: all these materials gave it a more or less monochromatic look, this
works when exhibitions are held as it drives the attention the the art being
displayed and not the space itself. But at Hallways and lobby area a few color
full gestures could've add life to the emptiness, in my opinion
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LANDSCAPE GREENARY
The convention centre is surrounded by large trees from the grand ,massive stair
that lead up to the cultural centre. On that level lie a group of structures arranged
in a court yard system, enclosing a green area. This green area has a strong
character including water feature, greenery, sculptures, paved walkways and a
bridge.
Image 23
When coming out from a building into this courtyard, the enclosed outdoor area
presents itself with a beautiful scenery and provokes the urge to explore.
Image 25
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Walking around the pathway, and over the bridge really gives a chance to view
and experience the courtyard from different angles.
The red coloured flowers add flavour to the landscape, although even more
colours could've made it even more vibrant (in my opinion).
Image 25
CONCEPT
From my understanding the concept is driven from two of Oromia’s cultural
identity,
the Irreecha ceremony and the Gadaa system.
ART WORKS
Image 26
Aside from the sculptures there are two other
types of art used around the cultural centre,
Murals and mosaic works.
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SCALE
The sense of scale one feels in a space differs from
one space to the other. The entrance, although
elongated to the side and had a high roof, felt
almost relatively natural. On the building with
high roof windows, adjacent to the library has a
huge space, that perhaps makes us feel smaller.
The courtyard, didn’t, personally defy my scale
because the buildings surrounding it provided a
sense of enclosure and limited span (shelter).
Around the corner of the compound, traditional ruler huts are used as
guard house. This detail exhibits the traditional way of construction
which some what stay true to the culture, but I believe seeing more of that
character on the main building or vise versa would’ve created more
coherence and harmony.
LIGHTING
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EXPECTATIONS Vs REALITY
My first expectation of a sports club was mostly a outdoor activities and playing
fields, like soccer, ground tennis, swimming pool… and indoor activities would
include table tennis, basket ball court… I was expecting to see busy fields and an
active(live) environment where people are jogging, getting ready to exercise,
maybe groups in uniforms and such.
The reality was a lot more calm than I expected. The area on which the sports
center lays wasn’t wide enough to accommodate luxurious spaces for each
activity, so they had to manage the space in a way that used it most efficiently.
Which meant most activities are held inside.although it makes sense that meal is
a very important part of fineness, I didn’t expect to see the dinning, bar, and
snacks area to be given that much emphasis.
While walking to Juventus sports club from the convention center, it was
refreshing to watch and experience the wide roads and Meskel square. Because
at a small level it shook us up from the calmness and silence we were immersed
in, and prepared us for the sports club we were headed to.
THE SURROUNDING
With a school right at its front and Meskel square adjacent to it, Juventus sports
center fits just right to its surrounding.
ZONING
SELF ORIENTATION
There is only a single building structure and its partitioned in very functional
clear way. This helped orienting ourselves and event understanding the space,
very easy.
GENERAL EXPERIENCE
Image 28
Parking
The first thing we notice when we enter the Juventus
sports club is the naturally shaded area with a large
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Outdoor fields
The the out door field has four main fields, three soccer fields and a ground
tennis. Since they don’t have enough space for the standard football (soccer) field.
They have made the three field side by side, and the goal post wasn’t the typical
(netted box), but rather a mere representation.
The ground tennis area however, is far more spatial, except for the lack of
audience seating area.
Indoor field
The indoor field includes and timber floor and glassed windows. It is a flexible
space, made to host a volley ball game, or basket ball court. To the right from the
entry point of this space is a stage that was closed by curtains, meaning this
space can also be used as a concert hall, hold events, celebrations, or
conventions…
Basketball court
Behind the curtains there are three activities. The back stage(stacked with tools,
materials, chairs…), a semi back stage (which also includes the lighting system),
and the main stage (which had cushions and wall climbing equipment)
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Rest rooms
The rest rooms are beautifully designed. To enter the rest room one must first
pass through a hall way lead straight out side. This helps in preventing bad smell
from polluting the interior spaces and other activities.
Another character of the restrooms the hallway slightly declines as I approaches
the rest room, and there is clear room height difference, right before the men’s
rest room.
There are three types of rest rooms there, the men’s and women’s rest room
have inspiring faces of me and women (respectively) on a wall that breaks visual
contact with the inside of the rest rooms. The third type is for the disabled.
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Table games
The table games room includes many games that mainly require balls, like ping
pong table, pool table, tennis table… this space has visual contact with the
basketball court.
Image 30
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Dinning hall
The Dinning hall has three types of dinning spaces separated by partition walls.
The first one ha a restaurant feel to it, while the second one is attached to a juice
and cocktail serving area, while the third one is a little secluded has a more cozy
and home like feel, with very large art pieces filling its small space.
All three of these spaces had also been identified with their own unique ceiling
characters. The first one had a grid with wooden lines ad white back ground(big
squares), while the second space had grids but with smaller squares, that had
wooden extruding lines and wooden(brown) background. The third one
however had a plane white ceiling.
The sizes of the spaces also decrease as we go from the first space to the third.
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Parc de la Villette
Image 18
Berrnard's HyperTent, a
hyperbolic paraboloid
structure, is the latest
addition to the iconic Parc de
la Villette. Prompted by the
opening of L'Espace
Chapiteaux, a space for
contemporary circus
performances, the new ticket
booth located on the podium
of Folie L4, originally a music
venue, carefully negotiates its
presence within the context.
The morphology of the project allows for the two structures to coexist
without interfering. At the same time, the materiality of the HyperTent
makes for an iconic presence in juxtaposition with the adjacent folie.
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
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On the eastern edge of the site, student housing and commercial and service
areas provide a clear border on the public plaza. Extending to the south to
include the Metro station, shops and restaurants are sheltered by a covered
gallery with the hotel and student lodgings above. The large scale of the building
is mediated through a series of articulations and variations in height of the
different volumes that make up the complex. Only the central bodies of the
building are carried up to level eight at the top. The outer facades clad in
serigraphed glass and aluminium louvers maintain a clear dialogue with the
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convention center, the coloured window jambs anticipate the exuberance of the
inner courtyard.
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Case study report Bamlakfekad Mengesha
Commercial and service areas open directly onto the public plaza on level two. A
70-room hotel surrounds the south courtyard, and shared student apartments
are reached through access galleries around the north courtyard on level four.
On level six are shared apartments around the north courtyard, and studio
apartments in the southeast wing of the building. Only three wings of student
apartments are carried up to level eight.The shared apartments are arranged
around the access galleries. Semi-private living spaces in turn lead to the
individual bedrooms, each with it’s own private bathroom. All the bedrooms are
located on the outer perimeter, with the living spaces opening directly onto the
access galleries surrounding the courtyard.
Studio apartments are arranged on both sides of the long interior north-south
corridor running through the main wing of the building. To encourage social
interaction among students, a variety of common spaces have been laid out at
various points along this main internal thoroughfare. Double- or single-height
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spaces are closed off with brilliantly coloured glass panels, continuing the
polychromatic theme of Catherine Bolle’s Le Chromoscope surounding the
courtyards in the access galleries.
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Reference
1. https://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/2014/07/04/epfl-
quartier-nord-swisstech-convention-center-in-ecublens-switzerland-by-richter-
%C2%B7-dahl-rocha-associes/
2. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Parc-de-la-Villette-Bernard-Tschumi-
with-Jacques-Derrida-From-left-to-right-Plans_fig29_261555579
3. https://www.slideshare.net/KIRTHI_88/presentation-case-study-convention-
center
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bKSldyBhGo
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKqs_bWkb4A
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKjStZBldz4
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_2YhFoxIc0
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq0BNnK3kZ4&t=69s
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