The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia sent a request to the Japanese Embassy to build a memorial in commemoration of the 2000th year on the Julian calendar by creating a cultural center that would bridge the two cultures. The site is located in Fassil Ggebbi, a world heritage site in the old imperial capital, Gondar. Our concept was to integrate the 2 cultures architecturally by relocating each countries traditional dwelling to its designated site. A new sense of space and value was created by relocating traditional Japanese dwelling that was no longer in use to an entirely new and social and cultural setting.

The Japanese Pavilion operates as a socio-cultural exchange center to home exhibitions and open markets for music, dancing, and other performing arts. On the other hand, the Ethiopian Pavilion operates as a gallery space as well as a water distribution depot for its neighborhood where rain water is collected and naturally purified. The water purification system is planned to be installed at a later date.

The structural frame used for the Japanese Pavilion was extracted from an old traditional dwelling from Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Under the supervision of Atelier Tekuto, the traditional dwelling was shipped and transported to the site, and rebuilt using traditional materials expect the structural frame and the shoji frame.

Similar to the traditional Japanese dwelling, the traditional circular Ethiopian dwelling was also abandoned and was transported and rebuilt on site using the skill and technologies available locally. The Glass Blocks, provided by Japan Electric Glass Co., are used as a medium to structurally to elevate the roof and to allow light to penetrate the gallery space.

Through re-locating tradition and architecture, the project attempts to create an entirely new approach in how architecture is perceived beyond global and regional limits.

The Two Traditional Dwellings

Besides the structural framework reused from each countries traditional dwelling, most of the materials to complete the project was obtained locally. Instead of using traditional Japanese paper for the shoji screens in the Japanese Culture Center, we used a type of thin clothe known for its distinct characteristic. Taking a look at local churches as an example to our design, we used a traditional method of bamboo bracing to construct the ceiling. The roof consists of a layer of zinc sheeting to protect its interior from leakage, and is coated with papyrus on its exterior.