Located in Lisbon?s affluent quarter of Restelo, the new Embassy of Egypt stands on a plot in Avenida Dom Vasco da Gama which is typologically characterized by a string of large free-standing villas of the 1940s and 50s, many of which have been gradually been converted into diplomatic representations.

An embassy building is just as much a harbor and a safe-haven for its citizens, as it is the state?s foreign representation at the highest level.  It combines the idea of sheltering and safety, with the symbolic values of the country?s history and culture.  In this case, the compactness yielding from the plot?s regulatory constraints ultimately served as a design metaphor, having in mind Egypt?s founding tradition of massive stereotomic; one that emphasizes a certain idea of solemnity, the latter an essential element of embassy protocol.
With this in mind, the building is essentially a monolith composed by three thick slabs combined with an interweaving mass of patterned walls with bas-reliefs discreetly evocative of ancient Egyptian geometric motifs.  Following the classical post-and-lintel system, these walls are interrupted at specific positions to form windows, while on the upper floor each corner forms a balcony by receding and revolving from one angle to the next. The facade is in precast concrete panels of a deep anthracite pigment that emphasizes the monumental gravitas of the ensemble, at the same time contrasting with the lightness of the window frames, which ar...