MOZAMBIQUE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTER

 

This centers identity plays with Mozambique's cultural sense of neighborhood and the tendency to build with stages of what is public and private paces. These spaces are a linear in sequence with in an individual building, and clustered radially around a tree for community gathering point. The layout is intended to reach out to the large city, and world, while grouping itself around a nature gathering park. This exterior core area serves as a means to congregate with the other users of the building complex, allowing for the opportunity to reflect upon what is learned, yet maintain a sense of natural being.

 

Modern materials contrast with the natural environment, yet be used in traditional ways, to reflect upon the theme of technology=nature+culture. The facade, facing the inner park and the outward city, is made with computers cables rapped and weaved around steel rods, used as ‘light’ shading device and allows for natural ventilation to circulate through the building with ease. This additionally lends itself as a poetic visual connection between the park and city, maintaining a sense of lightness and control over the space. The north sides are walled with CMU masonry which doubles as environmental control (sun protection, heating and cooling) and as a divider between each pavilion. The south side walls are operable metal paneling and open themselves up to the spaces between each building, providing a mini park experience, reserved for each individual building type.

 

Location: Maputo, Mozambique, Africa

Credits: Project: Elizabeth Irene Benson