Mario Cucinella Architects won a competition to design Algeria’s telecommunication agency headquarters. Exquisitely bold, the proposal is rooted in the traditional Mediterranean architecture and it is a re-interpretation of the Algerian landscape and the sand dunes. The building is an icon, and the place where modernity and tradition melt, in form – derived from the Mediterranean tradition and the solar diagram, and in the treatment of the surface of its body.

The dunes in the Algerian desert landscape seem like natural buildings, therefore the architects aimed to mimic the natural environment, avoiding the greater impact of the built structure. However, building had to be highly visible and representative, due to its purpose and the fact that it is situated on a lot along the highway of great importance and is very near to the new urban park Bab Ezzouar. As an institutional building, new ARPT headquarters are designed as a reference point within the neighborhood and a city, a point where tradition merges with modernity in order to create new and unexpected symbolic and cultural scenarios. Therefore, the proposal for the Headquarters is highly iconic, far from traditional aesthetics of the built surroundings, and it exploits the direct contact with the new park area.

The very shape of the building came as a result of a desire to create a structure which would work according to the sustainable, bio-climatic principles and which would successfully incorporate natural passive cooling techniques of the past, such as tu’rat. The new headquarters building is aerodynamic and convex of the North side in order to divert the hot winds, while the concave South side captures the cool breezes during the night, promoting the natural ventilation of the building. The new ARTP headquarters represent successful synergy of form, energy and tradition.