BDC Signs Agreement for Architectural Design of BIH

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and SHoP Architects, on Friday 16 April 2010 signed an agreement appointing the latter as the official architects for the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH). Botswana Development Corporation (www.bdc.bw) has been contracted by Botswana Innovation Hub (www.bih.co.bw) to manage and coordinate design and construction of infrastructure, which includes master planning/urban design, infrastructure design and construction of the icon building and annexes.

SHoP Architects PC from New York, USA won the international architectural design competition of the Botswana Innovation Hub buildings late last year. SHoP´s proposal had the best combination of innovativeness, environmental sustainability, functionality and cost-effectiveness. SHoP won this competition against 17 other companies from Europe, USA and Africa that had submitted their proposals for the design of the BIH.

SHoP has been renowned as a leader in the transformation of intricate theoretical design into easily understood construction models by rethinking and challenging standard architectural practice. Their current work includes the Barclays Center Arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, a two-mile esplanade and park for The City of New York along the East River Waterfront, projects for the Fashion Institute of Technology and Goldman Sachs, both in Manhattan, and a new building for Google in Mountain View, CA. SHoP Architects’ work has won numerous awards and they have been consistently cited as producing some of the best work of a new generation of architects.

“We are neither ivory-tower elitists nor superficial stylists. We believe in both ideas and profitability. Our expertise and ambition extends beyond the design of buildings. We look at an entire project and consider the site, the cultural, and economic environment, the client’s physical needs and financial models, as well as construction techniques, branding, marketing and post-occupancy issues,” says the statement from SHoP’s Founding Partners.

The Botswana Innovation Hub, is under the Ministry of Infrastucture, Science and Technology, and is one of the key projects identified by the country to promote an information and knowledge society that harnesses creativity and innovation. At the core of this creation of a science and technology park is the country’s need for economic diversification and growth as well as acceleration of employment for Batswana. A key strategy behind these will be to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the focus areas namely; Information Communications Technologies (ICT), Mining technologies, Energy/Environment and Biotechnology.