This is funny: While browsing architecture offices websites in look for new works to publish in ArchDaily for our beloved readers, I found this project. I bookmarked it to contact the architects the next day, and when I woke up I had an email from Kristin Jarmund Architects offering us this project for publishing.
Well, enough of this, lets go to the project description.
The new Norwegian Embassy is to be built on the north end of the existing embassy site in the Patan part of Kathmandu. The building is integrated into the slope of the site, allowing plateaus of outdoor space to extend into the building. A south facing intimate patio is directly linked to the vestibule inside.
The facade, facing the Himalayan Mountains, is architecturally expressed by an added volume, which raises above the main entrance of the otherwise single-storey building. This added volume contains – among other functions – the Ambassador’s office and is accented by a dynamic zigzag panoramic window, which footprint makes a tribute to and reflects the Himalayas.
The Embassy is constructed from local materials, with local labourers, and the intention is to integrate the building with the surrounding city texture.
Architect: Kristin Jarmund Architects
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Building type: Representation and Offices (Consulate)
Client: Statsbygg, The Directorate of Public Constuction and Property
Size: 800m2
Budget: 10 MILL. NOK
Schedule: Completed June 2008
All photos by Guri Dahl / Kristin Jarmund Architecs
how can one “integrate the building with the surrounding city texture” when the building sits behind a high fence like seen in photo no.2? (or am i missing something here?)
ok, it’s an embassy and all, but this sentence seems funny to me…
There is currently a exhibition with this architect in Norway, filled with more juicy panegyric.
http://WWW.STUDARCH.COM
nice one, partly like wright’s but jk is right about fence ) i reckon if they intended to make it environmentally integred they had to make bamboo or rod (i’m not sure if i found right word) fence. nevertheless i’m fan of scandinavian architecture
Whats scandinavian architecture? Italian line slash Zen garden slash Writes rocks slash fixed impression of half closed dores of E-1027 kind off?
Mixed with bamboo?
Well… for the american embassy in Nepal everything was imported. The workers, The material. So i think after all that Kristin Jarmund Architects has done a nice job here and deserves credits for high moral standards… in spite of the fence.