Despite being an interesting testimony to the time it was built, as well as a memory of the 14thOAU Summit Conference that occurred in 1977, the Libreville Conference Center is now not only obsolete to host the 23rdedition of the same event, but above all lacks an architectural identity capable of signaling the actual moment of the country. Gabon is now an emerging nation that presents itself as a key element in the economic and political restructuring of Africa.

Made with prefabricated structure of reinforced concrete and glass walls, the edifice of the conference center is the constructive expression of a past, industrial and developmental time, when the country had just ceased being a colony and was still preparing for the major urban growth that would follow. Today, the growing service economy of Gabon, associated with globalization, calls for greater clarity in the definition of certain constructed signs. Therefore, we propose to involve the existing edifice with a circular translucent skin, made of ultra resistance concrete slabs, a material capable of thermally protecting the construction from the heat prevailing in the region. With a diameter of 110 meters, the new building is perfectly capable of housing the entire desired program, and it also provides a new image for the Center: a perfect cylinder, loose from the ground, and almost diaphanous, given its irregular perforation. And if the visual reading of the hexagonal shape of the building is almost impossible in the current situation, the form will be revealed in confrontation with the new circular perimeter, in the internal spaces of the future Center.  It is a simple operation that reveals the hidden virtues in the existing work by adding lightness to it. Thus the Conference Centre will really gain the dignity of a "palace" - a word that has named it from the origin in the French language.

This new envelope, however, does not mean a great obstruction in relation to the surroundings. Because the skin is not only hollow, but the new roof of the complex will only shade the environment, allowing, therefore, the entry of air and rain to create a desired permeability between the inner and outer spaces of the building. Thus, we propose a second glass covering, an internal curve, which protects the central hall of the complex, while maintaining the visual reading of the rest of the construction, as well as the atmospheric events in its interior.

By cutting and removing a slice of the existing hexagon, we were able to accommodate an excellent auditorium with 1,000 seats, capable of being divided by an insulating curtain into two independent 500-seat auditoriums with no loss of spatial solution, i.e., we avoided cutting it through the stage, which would create two arena-shaped audiences. Thus, the core of the building is entirely intended for reception and distribution (lobby) functions, covered by the glass dome and linked to the auditorium foyers and coffee areas. The floor below is used as a place for exhibition and ballroom, connecting to the main access quota. The slab floor of the lobby, and ballroom covering, is made of a triangular wooden trellis that opens cracks in the glass allowing light to pass through to the floor below.

All the circulation system is mounted from the expansion area of ​​the edifice by building three clearly identifiable towers on the heads of the interspersed hexagons connected to the old building through bridges. The technical accesses, public and VIPs are conveniently separated, working independently.

Externally, the Conference Centre communicates with the Banquet Hall and Spectacle Hall, as well as with the parking area, through a pleasant entrenched path covered by a sheet of water, which gives landscaping unity to the complex. Elevated in relation to the rest of the city, the Cité de la Démocratie offers views of the beautiful estuary of the Gabon River and of the Libreville Center. Cylindrical and ethereal, the new Conference Palace is the symbol of the meeting of African peoples around the principles of freedom, tolerance and democratic sustainable development.

credits

Place
Libreville, Gabão

Date
2012

Constructed area
21.340 m²

Design Development
PPMS Arquitetos Associados – arquitetos Pedro Paulo de Melo Saraiva, Fernando de Magalhães Mendonça, Pedro de Melo Saraiva
Metro Arquitetos Associados – arquitetos Gustavo Martins Cedroni, Martin Corullon
Siaa Arquitetos Associados – arquiteto Cesar Shundi Iwamizu

Collaborators
Alex Lima de Holanda, Andrei Barbosa, Bruno Salvador, Bruno Jin Young Kim, Dulci Cipriano, Felipe Fuchs, Filipe dos Santos Barrocas, Maria Francisca Lopes, Marcelo Macedo, Marina Ioshii, Luis Tavares, Paula Hori, Rafael Goffinet , Rafael Carvalho, Rafael de Souza

Landscape
EKF Arquitetura de Exteriores: Arqª Evani Kuperman Franco; Mauricio Soares Alito; Robson Rodrigues de Camargo

Zoo concept
Liliane Milanelo

Golf concept
Roberto Ferrari

Structure
Kurkdjian & Fruchtengarten Engenheiros Associados - Eng. Jorge Zaven Kurkdjian

Foundations
MG&A - Engº Mauri Gotlieb

MEP – HVAC
LMSA Engenharia de Edifícios S.A.

Project Management
Luís Elvas / João Brás

HVAC
João Brás

Electrical
Marcelino Lopes

Communications
Paulo Teixeira

Security and Safety
Catarina Neves

Hydraulics
Márcio Pereira

Lighting
Luis Elvas

Building Management System
Valter Campos

Acoustic
Odete Domingos

Sustainability
João Pedro Santos / Miguel Coutinho

Eletronic Model
Ricardo Canton

Graphic Design
Marcio Tanaka

Architectural Descriptive Report
Guilherme Wisnik

Artistic concept
Fernando Lemos