Arba Minch University

Department of Architecture and urban planning

Course Integrated design 1

Project museum design

Local case study

Prep by Amanuel Girma

Biruk Asfe
Fitsum Amsalu
Kidus Tekalign
Mikias Solomon
Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

 The first structure was designed to accommodate meetings

GAMO GOFA CULTURAL CENTER or it’s a Zone meeting hall. It also has an administrative
offices & a museum. The second part with traditional houses
which is called the Nationalities village has supportive
functions like restaurant, shops, cultural display areas, offices
and workshops.
ZONE HALL

NATIONALITIES
VILLAGE

GUEST HOUSES
1. INTRODUCTION
 Found in Arba Minch, Ethiopia,
 Designed by Architect Tadele and Hagos Aman,
 It’s been under construction for the last four years and still
going on,
 The structure has two main building parts and guest houses
for tourists.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

2. LOCATION 3. NEIGHBORHOOD
 The cultural centre is found in Arba Minch town,
around Sheicha village near Bekele Mola Hotel.  North- Bekele Molla hotel,
 East- The good views of ‚Yegzer dildiy‛ Abaya & Chamo Lake,
 It is 3.9km far if one take the shorter route but It’s
 South- MIDROC property,
5.4km far on the ‚sheicha‛ square route to the south
 West- police camp & Residential buildings.
direction from ‚Gamo‛ square.

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Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

4. ACCESSIBILTY AND VENTILATION 5. TOPOGRAPHY

 The main road which goes from ‚Sikela‛ to ‚Sheicha‛
ends in front of the Gamo–Gofa cultural centre as a
dead-end. The site is accessed in this route.
 The wind from the lakes blows from east to west and the
conventional wind comes from the north-east direction.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

 The main concept of the Nationalities village is to show that

6. CONCEPT
 As we mentioned earlier, the project has two building parts, the
one with the meeting hall and the other with the vernacular
houses.
 The meeting hall is designed in a shape of a Banana leaf.
vernacular/ traditional buildings are not below modern buildings
in fact they are better or preferable in construction techniques
and sustainability so that the designers put the vernacular
structures above the modern structure.

 It is a G+1 building with restaurant, shops, offices and workshops

as supportive functions in the ground floor. On the upper floor,
there are five huts representing the five tribes in the Gamo-Gofa
region which are Oyda, Gofa, Zaysie, Gedicho and Gamo.
 Each hut is made just like the hut in the tribes and is built by the
local house maker or a professional from the specific place.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

7. FUNCTION
A. ZONE HALL, MUSEUM B. NATIONALITIES VILLAGE
 This building is mainly to display the customary elements or the
 The main building’s purpose is basically for meetings. There are traditional materials used in the region. For example, inside the
two types of meeting halls in the main structure. A one without Gofa house, Gofa’s traditional clothing, farming instruments,
tables which can accommodate 220 people and other type with cooking, eating or drinking materials will be displayed.`
tables for 100 people.
 It also has a museum, shops and administrative offices as
supportive functions.

 Below these vernacular houses, there are supportive functions

such as:
 Restaurant: the restaurant can hold about a 1000 people
at once, it has its own big kitchen and four types of
stores i.e. dry store, wet store, store for fish and for meat.
 Workshops: the workshop is for the traditional cloth
making technique called ‚shmena.‛ It helps to understand
how the local dress is made.
 Shops: its mainly for the sale & purchasing process of the
outcomes from the workshops.

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Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

8. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

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Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

9. CIRCULATION 10. VENTILATION

The circulation is of two types; the major circulation giving access The nationalities village has good ventilation. It has a break
to the site and the minor circulations creating access between point in the north that allows the conventional wind to
functional spaces. circulate in the court yard. The fenestrations at the south
 The site have two major accesses, one directly leads to the end transfer the wind to outside facilitating cross ventilation.
main meeting hall and cultural centre building having its
own parking space on the way. The other major access leads
to the cultural guest houses for tourists having its own
parking space,
 The circulations between functional spaces are a bit
narrower than it should be from our point of view.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

More over the water body inside the court yard helps to cool 11. BUILT FORM
the coming wind before it enters the building. The cool wind
then passes through the building that reduces the room
temperature.  The site has two main functional blocks which are Museum and
conventional building blocks and the site is also zoned according
In addition the kitchen is located at the south end of the block to these building functions,
that helps to avoid unwanted smell.  Museum block integrates supportive function of restaurant at
the ground floor
ZONE HALL,
MUSEUM

PANORAMIC
VIEW

NATIONALITIES
VILLAGE

GUESST
HOUSES

PARKINGS

MAIN GUEST HOUSE

ENTRANCE ENTRANCE

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 Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

12. FENESTRATION 13. MATERIALS

The building has uniform openings at the facades that create
harmony and balance to the overall form
The restaurant fenestrations create a link between the natural
environment and the built environment since it is clear and open.
Moreover this opening helps to enjoy the good view towards the
Abaya & Chamo Lakes.
. build a vernacular house in the region.
The Gamo-Gofa cultural centre is one of the projects that
integrated the traditional building system with the modern
construction technique.
As the main idea of the project is to show that the vernacular
houses should not be seen less than the modern buildings, the
materials used for construction were the same materials used to
The main materials used for construction are:

Uniform fenestrations CONCRETE: since concrete is a strong and durable material it

at the south is used as the main building material in this project,

Restaurant’s view
towards abaya &
chamo lakes

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Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

STONE: WOOD:

BRICK:

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

STRAW: HOLLOW BLOCK:

BAMBOO: ROPE: use of ‚QACHA‛ & ox skin as a rope.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

PROJECT POTENTIAL PROJECT WEAKNESS

 The site is situated at a good location for such cultural
Circulation
centre.
 It can be easily accessed from the main road by vehicle and  Circulation spaces between functional spaces are narrow to
pedestrians. serve the number of people using the functional spaces.
 It has a good infrastructural facilities like;  Disables and seniors ramp circulation width are not
 Electric line sufficient.
 Drainage line
 Phone line etc.
 Has its own guest house for incoming tourists.
 Additional recreational facilities found nearby for tourists.
 Has more than 1800 panoramic good view to chamo lake,
abaya lake and ‘YEGZER DILDIY’ plus to the dense forest.
 Has additional service rooms and access for disabled people.
 Enough parking space for both the main functional space
and for the guest rooms.
ENTRANCE TO
THE CULTURAL
HOUSES RAMP
WIDTH

CIRCULATION
ON TERRACE

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Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

 Traditional houses interior spaces are not well organized

and planned for better collections arrangement and
circulation.

 Vertical circulation width is not standardized.

 Not preserved from environmental impact like rain, sun
and wind
Space efficiency and functionality
 The spaces of cultural houses are not efficient to hold
peoples flood inside and cultural material collections. Lighting
 It is not logically proportional area between restaurant  Deficiency of inside light quality of traditional houses.
and museum space. The restaurant has a capacity of
 Small window openings and blind walls.
holding 1300 customers at a time.
 It appreciate for artificial light
 It’s not in optimum condition for preservation

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning

Integrated design 1
INTENDED PURPOSE
The intended purpose of the cultural centre is to function as
cultural museum representing the five tribes in the region namely
Zeise, Gamo, Gofa, Gidicho and Oida.
The cultural centre is also expected to hold large conferences and
meetings as well.
There has been a clash of interest in supposed purpose. There has
been an idea to rent the five cultural houses to the tourists as guest
house. There are evidences that prove the idea. There is a PVC pipe
installed to one of the cultural houses for drainage to be used as a
toilet
LOCAL CASE STUDY
Project; Museum design
Since the project is still underway it is difficult to give an analysis
whether it is serving the intended purpose or not.
EFFICIENCY
At this stage it’s hard to describe if the project is efficient or not
because it is under construction.
In terms of quality the project is inspected by the consultant, the
specific tribes and the zone construction office at large. As we have
seen it has a good efficiency in terms of quality.
In terms of time the project is delayed. It has been 4 years since the
project started but still there is much to done. This is due to
 Administration related issues.
 Structural difficulty
 Design problems and changes
 Budget allocation
EFFECTIVENESS
Since the project has not yet started its proper function it is hard to
identify how much population it serving. When it is completed it is
expected to serve the whole region.
Architecture & Urban Planning
Integrated design 1 Project; Museum design

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
When the project is fully completed it will have a great role to the
surrounding neighbourhood in terms of;
 Tourist attraction,
 Economic development of the surrounding,
 Provision of infrastructure,
 Utilization of the available natural environment.

LESSON LEARNT
 How to integrate vernacular designs into modern design
requirement,
 How to use the site effectively in terms site potentials and
factors like good view, slope analysis and orientation,
 How to design long span structures in terms of structural
stability,
 How to use the readily available construction materials,
 How to integrate supplementary functions into the main
function,
 How to design an efficient structure in terms realization of
the project, which includes cost management and structural
stability,
 How to consider the disabled people in to the overall design.

LOCAL CASE STUDY Architecture & Urban Planning