Project: Franco German Embassy
Location: Baridhara, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Client: Government of France; Government of
Federal Republic of Germany; Ministry of Foreign
and European Affairs
Architect: Stephane Paumier Architects (S.P.A
Design Pvt. Ltd.)
Design team: Stephane Paumier, Atika Jain, Ashwin
Bhargava, Sagarika Suri, Gayatri Eshwaran, Gargi
Roy, Chinmay Kumar Mohanta, Hugo Badia-Berger
Site Area: 7895 sq. m.
Project Area: 6500 sq. m.
Civil Contractors: National Development Engineers
Ltd. (NDE)
Structural Engineers: Axis Structural Consultants
Services: MP- Utility Consultants E-Gazi
consultants
Other Consultants:
Resident architects: Synthesis Architects
Project manager: Deltadesh Pvt. Ltd.
Model-maker: J.K Modelers
Initiation of Project: 2013
Completion of Project: 2017
Other details: Photographs: Amit Pasricha;
Artist: Elsa Sahal; Landscape architect: Arnaud
Hug, Paysagiste, D.P.L.G Tours
Kaiwan Mehta in conversation with
Stephane Paumier, Director, S.P.A Design
Kaiwan Mehta: This is indeed a unique project
— can you tell us the basic history of this pro-
gramme and building?
Stephane Paumier: The decision by the two coun-
tries to come up with joint embassies is an outcome
of the Elysee Treaty of 1963 that encourage joint
initiatives. The Élysée Treaty was one of friendship
between France and West Germany, signed by
President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Kon-
rad Adenauer on January 22, 1963 at the Élysée
Palace in Paris. The signing of this important
treaty marked the end of centuries of rivalry be-
tween France and Germany, and the beginning
of a foundation for cordial relations.
In practice, I have myself been a beneficiary of
the treaty in learning German at school and
benefiting from the continuous exchange with
Germany when I was at school. It was a powerful
movement when I was growing up, that has
unfortunately passed with the collapse of the USSR,
globalisation and the domination of English, I
guess. The Franco German joint embassies
projects, however, is more recent; it is a Chi-
rac-Schroeder initiative, developed in around
- It has taken place in a new building, built
for that purpose for the first time in Dhaka. It is
somehow also an embryo of what European
embassies could become in the future.
KM: What were your first thoughts and ideas
when you approached designing for a programme
and building such as this one?
A A
FGE Site Plan
0 10m