Designing a compound for the British Embassy in Algiers had to reconcile two competing imperatives: the requirement for privacy and high security on diplomatic premises, and the need to project an impression of openness and welcome.
The steeply sloping site in the government district of El Mouradia, overlooking the Bay of Algiers, posed additional challenges. A new embassy building had to respect its sensitive setting in a mature garden, adjoining a nineteenth-century neo-Moorish ambassadorial residence, known as Villa Emerald Park; views from the residence to the bay had to be protected. Taking cues from the context, the curved office building responds to each requirement through the complete integration of architecture and landscape design.
Client: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Dates: 2005—2009
Architect and Landscape Architect:
John McAslan + Partners
Consultants
Arup
General Contractor:
Mace
Awards
Winner
Embedding architecture in landscape
In plan, the three-storey, 1800m2 building is defined by a series of parallel, gently curving walls that embrace a formal lawned terrace in front of the existing residence and maintain a deliberate setback from the compound perimeter. The geometry of concentric arcs radiating from the central lawn organises retaining walls, staircases and pathways through the gardens, creating a layering of landscape and architectural elements. The building is also cut into the sloping terrain so that its southern end, closest to the ambassador’s villa, is partly underground, while the public entrance at the northern end opens onto a forecourt at the lowest part of the site. Its ground floor extends beneath the circular lawn in the centre of the gardens, illuminated by curving lightwells.
On its completion the embassy building was the first substantial example of 21st-century contemporary Modernist architecture in the Algerian capital, but its architectural language and material palette also draw explicitly on local references.
The primary structural frame is exposed reinforced concrete, whose thermal mass helped to achieve a high BREEAM rating. The street-facing elevations are clad in sandstone that resonates with regional masonry tradition. The most distinctive design gesture is the screen of six-metre-high steam-twisted hardwood fins on the glazed east facade: these slender timber members, inspired by the spiral columns in historic Algerian palaces and fabricated in Wales, provide shade from the sun and produce dynamic shadow patterns in the interiors. Hand-crafted components in both facades were produced by British and local makers, and include carved lettering by sculptor Richard Kindersley at the entrance.
Inside, the primary route circulation runs along the outer edge of the building behind the curved concrete wall, beneath a glazed roof and two‐storey slot windows that produce a quality of daylight modelled on the desert buildings of southern Algeria. Offices and secure zones face into the heart of the compound. Here, the palette is calm and robust: exposed concrete, glazed screens, dark carpeting and warm wood detailing in stair treads, balustrades and ceiling slats.
Planting the garden
The landscape design was conceived to improve movement through the compound and between new gatehouses on its northern and southern edges. Within the curving geometry that governs the layout of the whole site, the gardens provide distinct areas for entertainment and recreation, and have a formal order that recalls the setting of grand English country houses. The planting plan preserved rare plant and tree species, including through relocation of mature palms. Introduction of additional native species saw an overall increase in the number of plants and trees on site.
Outside and in, the embassy has an expression commensurate with its representative role: rich but not extravagant, and responding to complex circumstances with calm composure.
