Strong foundation - Issue 141 - Magazine
Khadija M Farah An embassy is commonly a fortress or museum but in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, the French mission is a total manifestation of diplomacy: soft power in the hard form of timber, stone and concrete. It was designed with the environment in mind but also with aesthetics and, of course, security as priorities. The quiet compound sits on a hilltop between two valleys sloping towards the narrow, murky Getathuru river and, beyond that, Nairobi’s Karura Forest. The embassy’s lawns and stands of mature bombax, cedar, cypress, fig and jacaranda can make it feel more like an extensio...
Source: monocle.com