Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development
(AAAID)

Competition date 1983
Design period 1983-1984
Start of site work 1984 (18 months)
Completion/inauguration 1985

Original owner/patron
Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID)
Architect
Technical Studies Bureau (TEST), Abdalla Mohamed Sabbar (chief architect), assistants were Hussain Kinani (Sudan) and Ahmed Almaghrabi (Egypt)
Landscape designer
TEST
Other Designer
University of Arizona – the design of the ‘ceramic cooling towers’, electro-mechanical group in Kuwait
Consulting engineer(s):
TEST (Kuwait Office) Structural engineers Adam Omer and Yousif Abdulla
Building contractor(s)
Sambu Korean Company that was chosen through a tender process

Arab countries founded the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) in 1975 and 1976 in preparation for Arab countries to meet about a food security program for the Arab World. According to Abdulla Sabbar, the project is an example of one of the few moments of Arabs unity. Arab countries agreed to build the project in Sudan, as the country with the most prosperous agricultural land and water. Sudan would also be the centre of agriculture to produce enough food for all Arab countries. The ministers of finance of 12 Arab countries met in Kuwait to deliberate on agricultural investments. The Arab countries involved donated 2 billion Arab dinars for this agricultural initiative, including constructing the building(Arab dinars were worth approximately 3.5 USD in the 70s). The second decision was to hold a competition for the design of the head office building. The representatives and the Government of Sudan allocated a prime site for the project. The organisation invited 32 consultants from across the Arab world, including TEST. TEST won the competition with the proposed design. 

In mid-1984, the design was ready for construction. Various companies submitted tenders, and the Korean company Sambu won the tender. The architect was involved in building a large stadium in Saudi Arabia with Sambu at the time. The contract was worth 9 million USD, and the building was submitted one month earlier than the original contract period, resulting in no fines for tardiness. 

The architect designed the external cladding using local materials. The exterior wall features local red bricks, and the reinforced concrete cladding on top uses a unique local mix. The contractors performed on-site sandblasting of the concrete panels to expose the aggregate and produce the desired finish. The architect wanted more than the initial pebbles used in the aggregate and tested several types of aggregate. While travelling in Sudan, the architect identified off-white boulders to the east of Khartoum that were suitable for the desired effect. The architect would later learn from geologists that the stone was marble that had yet to fully mature as it did not cure under the heat or pressure required to form marble before it came out to the surface. The architect mixed the crushed boulder stones with grey Portland cement, which had a metallic finish. The mixture, tested multiple times by the architect, weathered well and did not require maintenance.

The Sudanese Government chose a site in the most developed part of Khartoum (at the heart of what we know now as Khartoum Two) given the importance of the project. After the architect won the competition, he lectured the representative Ministers of Finance, who were members of the organisation in Kuwait. The architect used drawings to present the project and, in the end, appealed to the representatives stating that ‘it would be a sad story if Q4 and a half storey tower is built among all the beautiful villas, one and two storey villas in central Khartoum’. He suggested that the Ministers appeal to the Government of Sudan to provide an even better location instead of building the project in the existing built environment, as it would not fit cohesively. The site was a park in the middle of the villas and was the only open space available. The architect argued that it would be sad if a tower replaced the public space. The ministers were surprised. The Minister of Saudi Arabia supported this idea considering it respectful and civically minded. After a discussion, the remainder of the representatives agreed to seek an alternative site and requested that the architect speak, on their behalf, with the Government of Sudan and return to the organisation for final approvals. The search for a new site and negotiations took two months, but the Government of Sudan finally allocated an area with a single-storey office building for Sudan Airways. The site featured two plots with two villas that the architect decided to demolish, and it took two months to adapt the proposed design to the new site.

The architect designed the modular building from the outside inward (floors, walls, and ceiling) in 30, 60, and 120cm modules, including the tiles, partitions, and windows. The interior and exterior forms are strongly related to one another. There are no visible columns within the interior, while the exterior walls contain structural columns. The air conditioning entailed a collaboration orchestrated by the architect between Carrier Company and a company in Denmark (that designs modular partitions and ceilings) to ensure coordination between the electro-mechanical and the internal fixtures. The fixtures included flush doors made of wood and partitions and ceilings made of aluminium. All the wiring and communication systems were under the floor, and all the air-conditioning was in the ceiling providing the flexibility to reconfigure the space using the partition walls. The intention was to achieve 90% flexibility in re-organising the interior because AAAID was a new organisation anticipating future growth and evolution. Therefore, the architect deliberately created a flexible building to serve these changes. Lighting, communication systems, and air-conditioning all had to work together in zones. The architect travelled to The Netherlands to visit Philips company to request the latest technology they have in telecommunication. Philips delivered a solution within six months, which used the ‘cassette system’ requiring the replacement of one cassette unit with another when it malfunctions. According to the architect, the unit was a novel design process for Philips.

An article in the Architectural Record describes air conditioning systems for the desert developed by a researcher at Arizona University called ‘ceramic cooling towers. The research showed its potential efficacy, but the concept required proof-of-concept testing in a building. The architect flew to Arizona and met with the professors, requesting the use of their system in the building. The university provided a 20% discount on the price and offered to supervise the installation. The ceramic cooling towers use porous terracotta cones filled with water, allowing the water to ooze out. Hot, dry air moves upward and out of the structure (through convection) and evaporates the water on the cone’s surface, which absorbs heat, producing cool thermal radiation and air. A basement was a circular brick wall made from mud from the Nile. The wall was 3.5 meters in diameter and topped with a pipe with holes allowing the water to drip into the circular wall. As the wall becomes wet, a powerful fan on top forces the air down over the structure, leading to evaporation and the cooling of the remnant water. The core of the structure pumps up the chilled water. At each level, an air handling unit cools and pumps the air. The passive cooling system operates without gas or other fuel; chilled water goes up and down a tower. The air conditioner contains sensors that adjust the air flow according to the temperature in the room. Floor 14 and level 15 are rotated 90 degrees from the main building with a 9.6 meters cantilever out of the envelope using reinforced concrete. Every floor has a green balcony, and the roof becomes a garden. A small outdoor space to the west side of the site became a club for the employees. There was no intervention in the landscape; the architect decided to preserve it, including the large trees. The ‘ceramic cooling tower’ had a spiral form around it that transformed the top of the air conditioning system into a stage for entertainment surrounded by a large grass surface. The space became a popular evening destination among locals. 

The use of ceramic cooling towers is a system that traditionally exists in courtyards, and in this building, it became a vertical element incorporated into a high-rise building. The project was also novel in using modular mechanical and telecommunication systems to create a flexible and adaptable interior. The project, furthermore, developed a new material for the cladding using stones from local boulders. The project represented Pan-Arab unity, serving Arab interests for Sudan to aid in Arab food security.

Rapporteur
Suha Hasan

Relevant Archives
Abdalla Mohamed Sabbar’s Office Archive
Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Resources
Abdalla Mohamed Sabbar (Founder of Technical Studies Bureau), Zoom interview with Suha Hasan, July 23, 2022.
Al Adhwaa, The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment Discusses Executing nine projects in Sudan, Al Adhawa 749, June 7, 1980.