File 2.0 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interim Headquarters

23 drawings : 1 pencil on vellum, 6 ink on mylar, 9 blacklines, 7 optinegatives
1 photograph

File consists of 23 drawings (1 site plan, 13 plans, 2 sections, 1 elevation, 3 exterior perspectives, 1 detail: furniture, equipment; 2 combination drawings: 1 plan I section, 1 section I elevation I detail) and 1 slide photograph of exterior. The Interim Headquarters was designed to increase the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs space (12,000 m2) in Jeddah, prior to the Ministry's relocation to the capital, Riyadh. The concept for the Interim Headquarters was developed in the context of a programming and master plan study for the Ministry's Jeddah site as a whole, and on a long-range organization and management study for the Ministry. The Jeddah master plan study recommended the refurbishing of the existing headquarters, to preserve its historical and cultural value, and the continued use of the site to serve as the Jeddah Branch of the Ministry after the planned move to Riyadh. In order to complete the facility in the shortest possible time, the building was designed as a simple rectangular volume with a very regular structural grid. The building 'skin' received special design attention, to achieve the objective of a high quality 'background' building, which would not detract from the historic old Headquarters building in the centre of the site. The Interim Headquarters consists of a two-storey office block sitting on a solid base, which emerges out of the sloping site. The upper part of the glazed 'box' is surrounded with wood lattice screens, which simultaneously provide solar shading, hide unsightly mechanical equipment, and establish a visual relationship to the residential buildings of old Jeddah. Subsequent to the completion of the Ministry's new headquarters complex in Riyadh, the Interim Headquarters has continued to serve as the Ministry's Jeddah Branch, as planned.