DANISH, NORWE-GIAN, ICELANDIC EMBASSY, MOZAMBIQUE

VLA won first prize in 1997 in a competition for establishing Denmark’s, Norway’s and Iceland’s embassy in the east African country of Mozambique.

The building was given a form language which is derived from local building customs without seeming monumental.

The embassy complex consists of two nearly identical, independent embassy buildings with a common building located between the two main volumes. The common building houses a cafeteria, terrace and kitchen on the ground floor. The first floor houses a library which, with the help of mobile acoustic walls, can be divided into two large meeting rooms. The second floor is a large, shared roof terrace with views out over the Indian Ocean as well as Avenida Julius Nyerere. The two embassy buildings are physically connected by a steel pergola placed above the second floor. The basement level houses a shared parking garage as well as various storage and technical rooms.