JEMO COMMERCIAL

TYPOLOGY: Competition LOCATION: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA   ARCHITECTS:  RAAS ARCHITECTS, CLIENT Jemo Multi-purpose consumer’ Cooperative society.  DESIGN COMPLETION DATE: 2016  CONTRACT VALUE: –  BUILT AREA 31951M²

The proposal for the commercial center is located in an area locally known as “Ayertena-Alembank”. With a plot of 7305m2, the mixed-use building has an open market (Gulit Gebeya) and a public plaza on ground level so as to maximize the public interaction with the site and the surrounding in urban context. Also, a public plaza is introduced in the middle of the building.
Although the main functions are divided on ground level by the public plaza and Open market, the bridging concept connects the building with a “Hyper market type”. The bridge itself gives an intimate shaded place under it. The current site situation has 236 small rental shops for its members that has to be demolished during the phasing construction. A horizontal connecting terrace is introduced over the hyper market with a green terrace for public leisure activity. The connecting volume act as a datum to tie up the big volumes above and gives a sense of scaling to the surrounding. Stacking of blocks comes with the functional layout arrangement that also helps the phasing of the construction which was one of the targets that the client had.