Dubai Port World Headquarters | João Athayde e Melo

In 2017 Dubai Port World, the company that manages a Container Terminal in Maputo Port, launched an architectural competition for the layout of their local administration building. It was won by SECON, but the project was only commissioned 4 years later. By then, the site location moved a few hundred meters from the original one and it got slightly smaller. The project had several changes from the original program, including resizing. Still, the main concepts of the project where kept.

In a plot next to the port main road and lacking any major references, the strong and clear shape of a square suits fine. A central garden, a green heart, sets the pace for the building. It´s a small oasis in the harsh port landscape, which brings light and greenery the entrance lobby and the dining area. Nearby, two vertical access areas help to define and separate the main functional areas - Administration and Training.

The main entrance is facing northwest to the parking area. A new internal road, for the terminal workers buses, is set on the south side of the building, connecting the Container Terminal to the main road.

The building can be summed up in a few clear gestures - a plateau for shared areas, a South block for administration and a North block for personnel training. Everything united by a central core - Two buildings within one.

Inside, the intention was to obtain great natural lighting and transparency without losing the necessary privacy of the various sectors, hence the generous use of glass partitions.

The building’s façade is characterized by its structural columns which act also as shading blades, helping to reduce the cooling costs passively. The overlapping of the structural and shading solutions resulted in a strong image, suitable for the institution aspirations. Pollution from the nearby open air coal terminal dictated that there should be no natural ventilation, this is the reason why most of the windows are non-opening.

The roofs are technical, for HVAC, water purification, solar thermal and communications systems.