0709Pavilion & Furniture

Flow

Pavilion competition for the Netherlands Embassy, Addis Ababa

A bamboo pavilion shaped as a trefoil knot, imagined as a living landmark of exchange between Ethiopia and the Netherlands.

Flow is a competition pavilion for the Netherlands Embassy, imagined as a living landmark of exchange between Ethiopia and the Netherlands. Its form begins with the trifolium clover, native to both countries, which is abstracted into a trefoil knot and stretched into a single flowing roof.

Its three interwoven loops stand for the Past, Present, and Future, each marked by a different way of sitting: raw tree trunks, a curved timber bench, and a sculptural slatted seat.

Set in Entoto Natural Park and about eight meters across, the pavilion is built from layers of bamboo, a renewable, low-carbon material, with a façade grid inspired by Mondrian. Though it did not win, the competition taught me to turn a cultural story into structure, material, and furniture at every scale.

Drawings & views

Model view of the pavilion from above with its three-loop roof and a curved water feature — Fig. 01Three interwoven loops: Past, Present, and Future.Full sizeof figure 1 (opens in a new tab)

Exploded view separating the roof shell, bamboo structure, seating, and base of the pavilion — Fig. 02Exploded view.Full sizeof figure 2 (opens in a new tab)

Four elevations and a roof plan of the pavilion on a dark background — Fig. 03Elevations and roof plan.Full sizeof figure 3 (opens in a new tab)