The design concept for the Pan African Parliament complex in South Africa draws inspiration from an understanding of Africa as a place that is at once ancient and contemporary. Expressed together, the ancient and contemporary form a building which is memorable and iconic.
The Parliamentary Chamber is seen as an official space of Pan-African dialogue, and is central to the organization of the building. The Chamber space is created in the void formed between two inverted pyramid-shaped public viewing galleries on either side, which connect the public with the processes of parliament. The interior of the Chamber is lined with a rich pattern of horizontal wooden baffles that soften the hard concrete shell, and enhance the acoustic quality of the space. Crafted by local artisans, the intricate wooden interior resembles a tapestry, which speaks to the cross cultural weave of the African continent.
The building’s distinctive form is bold yet subtle. Patterns of light and color visible over the double glass skins shift and mutate across the sold mass of the concrete volumes behind. The dialogue between the massive and light references the ancient and expresses the contemporary.
The building volumes traverse the topography and create a break in the natural slope of the site, providing a nexus for public experience, and congregation. Water is cycled and stored in a central lake and wetlands around which the landscape is organized. Parking spills out onto a pedestrian promenade, which crests the lake and gardens and engages the visitor in a sequential experience of man-made and natural landscape as the full compositional poise of the Parliament structure is revealed. Regenerated wetlands and lake spill into the existing wetland habitat, integrating the new structures into the existing ecology.
The building uses an integrated approach to energy optimization where multiple building elements are designed with synergy in mind. The building is sited to maximize use of solar, wind and site resources and is configured to act as a funnel for driving passive ventilation mechanisms in the façade. The chamber structure acts as a self shading device for circulation spaces below and is sited over the water feature to promote natural cooling and ventilation. The concrete mass of the chamber and galleries allows passive cooling of the spaces within. The high performance dual-skin façade is a passive mechanism that provides natural ventilation, energy savings, daylight and glare control, sound insulation, and thermal comfort.