Nairobi 01

Architect: Pranav Iyer
Firm: Ground 11

Nairobi 01 is designed as an extension of the fabric of the city as well as the representation of the historic routes of the city itself. The facade is a contemporary play on the historical derivation of the city’s name and the modern perception of Nairobi as the green city in the sun. Gestures towards the green ideology start from the ground itself, where the security cabins are integrated into the landscape, and large green atria are provided inside the building on the lower floors. On a larger scale, the green walls climb up the facades where the pinnacle of the tower is a dense tropical garden. The glass panelled facade represents a waterfall, and is complemented with green wall facades over balconies, filtering the built mass both in terms of porosity and aesthetics. This element controls heat gain by the building envelope, while taking the garden to each floor, making the balconies into meaningful spaces rather than sterile scars on the building facade.

The various layers of the facade successfully filter out extremes and increase indoor climate quality using both, active and passive methods. The waterfall touches the ground on the corners and lifts along the facades, allowing entry and enhancing transparency of the facade functions as a skin and is designed to be interactive at a very visual scale through the use of multiple shades of glass that represent depth of the water itself.


Variable intensity LED lights on each mullion node respond to wind speed and create waves of light on the facade caused by the breeze. The facade functions as a waterfall as well as a falling fabric, depending on various times, parameters and visual cues.