| Chinese Architects Wish Africans All Like New AU Conference Center |
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| Friday,July 20,2007 Posted: 21:07 BJT(07 GMT) |
| From:ECCOE, Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia Original:News |
"We wish everyone will like it," said Chinese architect Ren Lizhi, referring to the new African Union (AU) conference center he presented to the African heads of state and government here Sunday at the opening of the 9th African Union Summit.
Chinese President Hu Jintao promised last November during the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to build a conference center for the AU to support African countries in their efforts to strengthen themselves through unity and support the process of African integration. It is one of the eight steps Hu pledged at the summit to forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and strengthen bilateral cooperation in more areas and at a higher level.
Ren, architect leading the design team for the building, said the conference center as a Chinese gift for African people has taken into full consideration of African culture and African people's opinions to make it widely accepted by African people. "The conference center will be the tallest and a landmark building of Addis Ababa," said Ren during the presentation, the last phase of the opening ceremony.
"We have made many revisions on our original design after our survey among many African people," Ren's boss, Ding Jiemin, told Xinhua.
A 12-minute video presented the African leaders a three- dimension view of the complex, which comprises a 99.9-meter-high office building and a 30-meter-high conference hall with a vault totally covering 11.3 hectares.
"Chinese architects have given a lot of thoughts to the building, which has simple but effective design," said William N. T. Evans-Anfom, president of the Ghana Institute of Architects. He said he liked the symbolism applied in the design, like the 99.9-meter height of the office building symbolizes date of the Sept. 9, 1999, when African heads of state and government issued the Sirte Declaration, laying foundation for the establishment of the AU.
A diplomat, who said she is not supposed to disclose her title and name, described the design as "fantastic" after listening to the presentation, saying that the new complex will well accommodate AU's demands. She said she is particularly impressed by the modern style of the complex and the size of the main conference hall, which has 2, 550 seats, several times bigger than the current AU building.
A model and design pictures of the complex were set up near the entrance of the summit meeting hall. Participants came to visit it during the meeting breaks and some took a souvenir postcard printed with the design.
Ren, whose official title is deputy president of the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tongji University, a prominent university of China, told Xinhua that the complex will maximally use natural light and draft to be energy-efficient. The complex, whose foundation laying ceremony was held at AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa on May 25, the Africa Day, is designed to be very modern to meet the demands of the AU development, Ren said.
The complex also includes many auxiliary facilities including medical center, multi-functional halls, theater and library.
Ding Jiemin, president of the institute, said the construction of conference center will be a monument in the development of China-Africa friendship and also development of the AU. "China wishes to achieve harmony and common development with Africa, we sincerely hope that Africans will like our design," Ding said.
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