Pavilion in Addis Ababa - Meriem Chabani - France

Temporary pavilion exploring uses and meanings of the Ethiopian domestic space

As part of the first workshop on domestic space organized by the association, New South – a research platform cofounded by TXKL Partners and presided by Meriem Chabani – a temporary pavilion was constructed on the campus of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development, in the city of Addis Ababa.

The experimental structure explores the uses and meanings of the Ethiopian dwelling through basic notions of domesticity: where one sleeps cooks eats and gathers. Through a series of design workshops, the team devised a prototype dwelling, making use of locally sourced materials. A bamboo trellis armature, proposed as a suggested roofline, sits upon brick walls of varying heights, these elements taking on different forms – enclosure, divider, furnishing or detail – and reinterpreting spatial relationships and expectations for the meaning of home.