Black and white

This is my entry for Jake's Sunday post challenge "black and white".

It's part of the the decor inside one of my favourite coffee shops. The new building has replaced the wooden building in the third photo. 

I kind of miss the old building, which was less posh but had more comfortable chairs.

For more entries, visit Jake's blog.

Design

This is the Eastgate Centre! (It's the building with lots of chimneys on top.)
 

What makes it truly remarkable is that this "green" building is ventilated and cooled by natural means, inspired by the self-cooling termite mounds of Africa!

 Eastgate Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe -  image by David Brazier,

  (CC BY-SA license)
 source: this Wikipedia article

Opened in1996 in central Harare, it is a mid-rise shopping centre and office block which has over 5 000 m2 of retail space, 26 000 m2 of office space and parking for over 400 cars.

Inside, a comfortable temperature is achieved without conventional air-conditioning and heating so it consumes less than 10% of the energy that other buildings of the same size require. Isn't that fantastic?

The architect, Mick Pearce, specialises in eco-friendly buildings that are low cost and low maintenance, using resources that are available locally. Unsurprisingly, he has won several awards for his designs.

You can find more pictures and information at: Green Building in Zimbabwe Modeled After Termite Mounds | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

and here.


For more info on this Sunday Post Challenge visit Jake's blog.