A space for cultural exchange and to foster relations between the Global North and South

The push for all countries to decarbonize is impacting the ability of global south countries, such as Botswana to develop, this has resulted in ongoing discussions between the Botswanan government and global north political leaders regarding subsidizing decarbonization. Unfortunately friction is building with Botswana unhappy that subsidies are coming in the form of loans and not grants.

With the aim to create a building that would foster relations between countries, the proposal takes the form of an ambassador's residence and culture center, opposed to a business style Embassy. The center would be a space to celebrate and embrace bringing together the cultures and people of Rome and botswana. It would be a place to hold parties, intellectuals meetings, artists, galleries and more. Situated just outside the Porta latina gate the site is bordered by the historic aurelian wall and is home to a stunning existing Italian villa and Italian stone pines.

The project consists of three main buildings, the Existing Villa which was repurposed to be the Ambassador's house, a Gallery connection in the form of a loggia, which is a more traditional vaulted space based on the primer task, and the Culture centre, a new vaulted contemporary space for events and cultural exchange. The scheme also includes other points of interest such as Botswanan huts and a traditional Italian grotto which are open to the public. The culture center takes inspiration from the architectural history of Rome, and strives to honor these architectural languages in a contemporary way. The motif of rustication seen on site, with raw less refined materials closer to the ground is implemented into this building. The rusticated bricks on the lower level alongside the pendant lighting aim to rationalize the scale of the building, acting as a datum. The rustication also blurs the meeting point between man made and natural, this is also done through the placement of loggias of the rear and front of the building. The beautiful vaulted ceilings seen across Rome, including the stunning vaults found in the San Sebastian Wall Museum highly influenced this design.

Taking a contemporary twist on traditional elements of a vault and mirroring site materiality, the culture center will comprise of bespoke brickwork, with a contemporary brick barrel vaulted roof as the feature piece. The roof consists of a sequence of vaults constructed in a way that enhances their shape, unlike a traditional vault the curvature of the barrel vault is truly appreciated both internally and externally. The end vault is left completely open, like in Kahn's Kimbell art museum, to act as a portico, allowing the public route through the site to be maintained, alongside encouraging interaction with the centre.