Washington, DC (5 October 2011) – The United States Embassy Compound in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, has achieved LEED Silver certification. Designed by PageSoutherlandPage, the embassy is the first LEED certified building in West Africa, the fourth LEED certified building on the African continent and the fifth U.S. diplomatic facility worldwide to achieve LEED certification.
This award-winning, $73M design-build project is one of 17 embassy compounds worldwide designed by PageSoutherlandPage. The international architecture and engineering firm has been the architect for three of the four projects in Africa, which also happen to be three of the five U.S. diplomatic facilities. The other two LEED certified African embassy compounds designed by PageSoutherlandPage are located in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
With the firm’s pending LEED applications, PageSoutherlandPage will have designed more LEED certified buildings on the African continent than any other design firm.
The 6,986-square-meter new embassy is projected to reduce operating costs by 17% compared to a standard building. The building’s sunshades and light colored stone façade reduce solar heat gain. Additionally, the embassy employs many energy‐efficient technologies including solar hot water, LED task lighting, occupancy sensors and variable frequency drives.
The embassy is situated within a quarter mile of two bus routes, and on‐site bicycle racks and showers provide low‐carbon transportation alternatives for employees and visitors. A constructed wetland treats 100% of wastewater onsite. The native wild flowers, growing within the wetland, bio‐degrade captured effluent. The resultant clean water is reused in the drip irrigation system where treated effluent percolates back into the soils, replenishing the ground water table.
The building façade colors and pattern language are deeply rooted in the local building heritage. Although this building currently sits alone in a new development district, it draws from a rich indigenous building and decorative arts tradition which is still very much evident in much of contemporary building design practice.
This design-build project was delivered by PageSoutherlandPage and B.L. Harbert International, LLC. The Page Southerland Page team included John Gies, Jameson Terry, Anthony Alafriz, Ben Webne, Hunter Cotterman, Sarah Odom, Javier Rodriguez, Cliff Johnson, Greg Savage, Marquisha Powell, Orisa Velasquez, Elizabeth Kirkwood, James Wright and Thomas McCarthy.
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