Project Description

Cultural Centre and Gardens of Bamiyan

Project
Cultural Centre, Gardens, Landscape

Location
Bamiyan, Afganistan

Gardens Size
2,4 ha

Cultural Centre Size
2220 m²

Year
2015

Team
Elisabet Barceló, Julio Gil Fariña

3D renders
Julio Gil Fariña

Three principles are sought in the Bamiyan Cultural Centre design:
1. Provide to Bamiyan citizens and visitors a garden that overlooks the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
2. Build a Cultural Centre highly adapted to the topography and with a low visual impact.
3. Design a sustainable garden and Cultural Centre

The Cultural Landscape of the Bamiyan Valley is integrated in the garden’s design. From the main entrance, visitors will see the Buddha Cliffs in the background and will enjoy the view while approaching the building through a diversity of native plants and streams of water. Thanks to the chosen position of the building, sunken in the ground, the garden offers panoramic views to the Valley from its different levels.
Inspired by the Mughal garden’s tradition, the garden of the Cultural Centre offers a game of lights, shadows, water and fragrances. A high diversity of indigenous vegetation found in the Valley as well as in the Babur Garden in Kabul has been chosen: weeping willow, white poplar, cherry-trees, pomegranates, black locust, laurel, roses, etc.

Similarly to the local architecture, the Bamiyan Cultural Centre is anchored to the ground and it adapts to the topography by means of terraces and half buried volumes. Water and vegetation get inside the building through courtyards that create unique connections to the outdoor. On one hand, these courtyards provide a space for contemplation and enjoyment, and on the other hand, they offer temperature and light control.

The garden and Cultural Centre follow an environmentally conscious design. Attention has been drawn to the use of local materials and to the design of a self-sustained garden and building. On one hand, a solar garden will transform the solar energy into electricity for a self-sufficient use of the building. On the other hand, there is a natural waste water treatment plant. This will return clean water into de water net, provide natural fertilizers from its derived wastes and will be integrated into the landscape as it will be covered by water plants.

Landscape, tradition and new technologies merge to offer the Bamiyan citizens and Afghans an innovative centre that will act as culture integrator.