Mercato
2016
Advisor: Emanuel Admassu
Collaborator: Jeff Yinong Tao
Addis Mercato locates in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is the largest market in Africa. To accommodate the current expansion, the city established a new zoning requirement to build every block up to a minimum of five stores. The project engages the market’s transition from a horizontal patchwork of shops to a collection of malls. New mall ‘types’ are invented by subjecting them to the constraints of the market and the city.
Mercato is shaping and shaped by numerous merchandises of different varieties, the buyers and sellers from time to time. Shoppers navigate through diverse conditional space that is restrained by negotiable shop boundaries and impassable structured components. The marketplace is transforming from day to night, shaped by floating events and shifting unregistered trading activities.
