Embassy of Kuwait Complex

Commission date 1974
Design period 6 months in 1974
Start of site work 1975
Completion/inauguration end of 1976
Classification Administration (ADM)

Owner(s)/patron(s)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait
Architect / Landscape Designers / Consulting Engineers
Technical Studies Bureau (TEST), Abdalla Mohamed Sabbar (Chief Architect), Maath Alousi (from Iraq), and 10 others within the office.
Interior Designer
Roche Bobois (interior designer), France
Contractors
Arabian Construction Company ACC, Lebanon

The Embassy of Kuwait Complex in Khartoum stands as a symbol of the growing political relations between Sudan and the Arab region beginning in the 1970s. It conveys a new aesthetic that combines new building technologies that respond to their context. The building was commissioned at a time when Kuwait was actively cultivating diplomatic ties with Sudan with an interest in future investment in Sudan. Coincidentally, the Sudanese Nubian architect Abdalla Sabbar, was also the housing and planning advisor to the Government of Kuwait. At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait (lead by Minister Shaikh Subah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Subah) had a dedicated stand-alone department that would commission the design of Kuwaiti embassies around the world. This department (and the undersecretary Al Duwaisan) commissioned an embassy in Khartoum, expressing the preference that it be a glass tower. In his capacity as both the advisor and the architect, Abdalla Sabbar suggested expanding the project brief to include a residential complex to serve the embassy and advised against it being a glass tower. Instead, he suggested a low-rise complex that would not be a hazard to the nearby airport, and most importantly would be cohesive with the character of the context, comprising primarily of low-rise buildings. Prior to the Embassy in Sudan, Sabbar’s newly found office Technical Studies Bureau (TEST) was had been commissioned to design the Embassy of Kuwait in Beirut and another Embassy in Bahrain. TEST was also commissioned to design the Sudan Embassy in Kuwait, which was never realized due to changing political climate between the two countries. It took 16 months to construct the whole embassy complex as it would serve an urgent function: serving Kuwait’s then growing interest in investing in Sudan. The project was completed at the end of 1976.

The embassy complex was built on a triangular shaped site located on Africa Street. It consists of a primary embassy building and a consulate (which both face the main street to the west), the ambassador’s house (on the east corner of the site), and seven semi-detached townhouses (staggered on the north). The embassy building has two floors and is arranged around a central interior courtyard with a balcony on the first floor overlooking the space below. An exterior courtyard was designed as a communal space in the middle of the complex, featuring a swimming pool and a children’s play area. Bordering the pool to the north and next to the Ambassador’s House are six rooms for the cleaners, cook, drivers, and janitors employed at the embassy.

The embassy was constructed in two envelopes: an external, permeable arcade with arches that is open to the sky, surrounding the internal building which was constructed of glass and steel. The gap between the layers is two meters wide and features indoor plants, designed as an aesthetic and a functional element as they contribute to a cool ambient temperature. The architect stated that the arcade referenced ‘desert architecture’ featuring arches inspired by Arabo-Islamic architecture. This was not uncommon during the period of Pan-Arabism, when there was a search for a common identity that manifested in the design of buildings.

The internal layer was designed according to the client’s desire to construct a glass and steel building, with the gap between both layers providing shade and producing cooling convection currents. The indoor garden featured ‘tropical plants’ such as palms. These plants cool the air, and in turn glass surfaces of the inner-building envelope. This, in conjunction with the vent at the top, creates a stacking ventilation effect. The garden is well watered and maintained as the water vapour from these plants combats the uncomfortable dry air of Khartoum increasing the humidity. The courtyard has a skylight letting through direct sunlight. Fathi Basheer argues that although the intention was to create a green building, the roofing defeats the purpose of the building. The building does not have any interior columns and was constructed with strip foundation, a grade beam, and locally produced red brick. The external finishing used rough sand cement plaster with a sand-like hue. This finishing has survived for decades without maintenance or re-painting because it weathers well in the context. According to the architect, the project was the first instance of centralised air conditioning across a complex, in Sudan. It combined two methods of building: what is considered a traditional method of using a load bearing wall on the exterior and the use of modern steel and glass in the interior. Roche Bobois, a French company designed and manufactured the interior. Arabian Construction Company ACC, a Lebanese company, was contracted to construct the embassy, and several other government buildings in Sudan, given their reputation for high quality work.

The project was a symbol of the unity of the countries during a period of Pan-Arabism, as well as Kuwait and Sudan's interest to develop strong bilateral political and economic ties. This unity was also reflected in the choice of architect, who was from Sudan and advising the Government of Kuwait. Similarly, this unity was reflected in the involvement of another architect from Iraq and Lebanese contractors. At the time Sudan was more open to the world. The project was built prior to economic sanctions and the international isolation imposed on the country, which is reflected in the involvement of a French company in the design of the interiors. Ironically the project also came to represent the disintegration of Arab unity that began during the Gulf War when Arab countries aligned with either Kuwait or Iraq, Sudan choosing the latter. The Embassy was abandoned and the complex ceased operations during the war. It would never again be fully occupied. The building was completely abandoned in 2014, due to the changing diplomatic relations between Sudan and Kuwait and the political conditions. The embassy was relocated elsewhere in Khartoum and performed less diplomatic work in the country.

According to the architect, at the time the Embassy of Kuwait Complex in Khartoum was the largest Embassy of Kuwait. The former Bashir regime in Sudan intended to demolish the building and approached the embassy to do so. However, an appeal was sent from the Sudanese Institute of Architects (SIA) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait to save the building from demolition and they in turn agreed to keep the building. In 2014 the architect proposed converting it into a cultural complex in the name of Kuwait. Due to the strained relationships between the governments, the project did not move forward.

The building integrates the aesthetics of traditional and modern architecture. The deliberate use of Arab and Islamic elements in the building presents a different approach to modernism; one which emphasizes the importance of traditional and local heritage in conversation with modernity. At the time many Arab architects were developing a modern language that was rooted in the context. The deployment of arches as an icon of the context and of Arab identity was common. Although the architect does not reference Nubian architecture explicitly, the building nevertheless could be seen as drawing inspiration from Nubian architecture, which is the culture of the architect Abdalla Sabbar. The project was nominated for an Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

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.
Mohamed Faisal (Employee at Embassy of Kuwait and an architect), telephone conversation with Suha Hasan, July 19, 2022.
Fathi Bashier. Heritage and Modern Regionalism in Khartoum. International Conference Sustainable Futures: Architecture and Urbanism in the Global South, Martyrs University, Kampala, Uganda. 2012.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Archnet. Embassy of Kuwait. www.archnet.org/sites/872
Ibrahim Z. Bahreldin, Omer Siddig Osman, and Amira Osman. The Work of Abdulla Sabbar, in Sub-Saharan Africa: Architectural Guide, Volume 4, ed. Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai. (DOM Publishers, 2021), 94.