ArchiAfrika-April-Magazine-English-final-v2
ArchiAfrika-April-Magazine-English-final-v2
ArchiAfrika-April-Magazine-English-final-v2
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>ArchiAfrika</strong><br />
M A G A Z I N E<br />
hugh<br />
MASAKELA<br />
APRIL 2013
table of CONTENTS<br />
4<br />
6<br />
10<br />
18<br />
28<br />
32<br />
38<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
By Tuuli Saarela, Editor of <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
CHAIRMAN’S CORNER<br />
- All Roads Lead to Lagos via Mumbai and Accra<br />
By Joe Osae-Addo, Chairman of <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> Foundation<br />
AFRICA FLOATS TO MILAN<br />
By Nat Nuno-Amarteifio<br />
INTERVIEW WITH HUGH<br />
MASAKELA<br />
Interview with Hugh Masakela<br />
THE ROAD TO HERITAGE<br />
COMpETITION<br />
By Hugh Masakela<br />
GREEN & YELLOW DIVIDES<br />
ADDIS ABABA<br />
By RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholar, Thomas Aquilina<br />
IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGIN<br />
By Jurriaan van Stigt<br />
54<br />
62<br />
74<br />
84<br />
90<br />
96<br />
CAIRO URBANISM<br />
- trash becomes cash<br />
By Zeina Elcheikh<br />
THE REAL ECONOMY<br />
- informal housing, work and the future<br />
a look at Accra and Lagos<br />
By Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy<br />
BUILDINGS TELL A STORY<br />
- 20th century architecture in Kenya<br />
By Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
MSc Arch Architect MAAK<br />
pRESERVING ACCRA’S<br />
ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE<br />
- the need for restoration and preservation<br />
Excerpts from a discussion between Nat Armarteifio, Osei<br />
Agyeman, Senam Okudzeto and Joe Osae-Addo from AiD 13.1<br />
INTERVIEW WITH NIKOS<br />
SALINGAROS<br />
By Zaheer Allam & J. Soopramanien<br />
AFRICAN pERSpECTIVES<br />
LAGOS ‘13<br />
- conference announcement & call for papers
EDITORIAL<br />
Tuuli Saarela<br />
Editor of <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Africa is in an economic boom period, but what<br />
are the true effects on the urban environment?<br />
Is African heritage threatened as we construct<br />
gleaming new skyscrapers? Can we re-establish<br />
the concept of sustainability as a part of our<br />
heritage and identity, rather than an idea that<br />
is a purely Western concept? In this month’s<br />
issue we travel the length and breadth of the<br />
continent to answer some of these questions:<br />
from North Africa (Cairo) to South Africa<br />
( Johannesburg) to the East African hubs of<br />
(Nairobi and Addis Ababa) as well as West<br />
Africa (Dogon, Accra and Lagos).<br />
The contributors in this issue of the<br />
<strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> all speak to common<br />
themes of heritage, identity, sustainability and<br />
urban renewal. These will be explored further<br />
in the 2013 issues of our magazine, to prepare<br />
us for a fantastic debate and exchange of ideas<br />
at the sixth African Perspective Conference<br />
taking place at the Golden Tulip Festac Hotel<br />
in Lagos Nigeria from December 5-8, 2013.<br />
Check out the conference announcement and<br />
call for papers. All Roads Lead to Lagos!<br />
In this issue, we will explore our heritage<br />
through the perspective of one of our great<br />
musical heroes, Hugh Masakela. Hugh has<br />
long been an activist fighting for the promotion<br />
of African heritage who reminds us that our<br />
heritage is something we must preserve,<br />
protect and promote- something that must be<br />
recorded and captured before it is lost under<br />
the deceptive pretense of progress.<br />
Hugh Masakela and <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> are pleased<br />
to announce the first Road to Heritage<br />
Competition for African designers, students,<br />
amateurs and professionals to present<br />
creative proposals to create and promote<br />
spaces of heritage. The competition brief<br />
will be announced in July and entries will be<br />
considered by a world-class panel of judges.<br />
We will <strong>final</strong>ly announce the winner in<br />
December at the AP Conference in Lagos.<br />
In this issue we also visit Kenya to discover<br />
how our heritage and our histories are<br />
under threat. In Nairobi, rapid development<br />
threatens the city’s visual history and Janfrans<br />
van der Eerden reminds us that old buildings<br />
have a story to tell, eliciting thoughts on<br />
how we can organize to preserve buildings of<br />
historical and cultural significance.<br />
Must our histories and heritage be necessarily<br />
lost under the tides of economic development?<br />
Can we learn anything from Gilbert Nii-<br />
Okai Addy who draws parallels between<br />
contemporary Accra, Lagos and 19th century<br />
London- cities which all practice slum<br />
clearing, and cities which ultimately fail to<br />
bring about changes in social policy towards<br />
poor people. Interesting thoughts.<br />
From Addis Ababa, we hear from RIBA<br />
Norman Foster Travelling Scholar Thomas<br />
Acquilina who discovers the causes and effects<br />
of a new government directive to use green<br />
and yellow iron sheets in demarcation of<br />
building sites. He goes beyond beautification<br />
to discover the informal settlements that were<br />
pushed out and also how the informal economy<br />
springs up around them. His writings from six<br />
African cities focus on the recycling practices<br />
of Africans.<br />
Some of our peers have begun to question the<br />
value of sustainability beyond a very alluring<br />
moral facade. Is sustainability too expensive<br />
for Africa? What about the uncomfortable<br />
stigma of sustainability as something that<br />
is actually opposed to progress? While<br />
sustainable approaches can help to bring basic<br />
services to areas that need it most, long-term<br />
viability may depend on the capacity of the<br />
solution to generate income. In Cairo, we<br />
learn from Zeina Elcheikh about how Trash<br />
becomes Cash in the informal settlement of<br />
Ezbet Al-Nasr.<br />
Our contributor Zaheer Allam brings us<br />
an exclusive interview with Professor Nikos<br />
Salingaros, the father of the immensely popular<br />
theory of urban design and fractals, which<br />
seems to have struck a cord with an African<br />
audience. In the interview, we hear Nikos<br />
thoughts on emergent economies, renewable<br />
energy and sustainable construction.<br />
Finally, we are reminded that collaboration<br />
can bring about genuine development of<br />
craft. It is well known that Europeans have<br />
long visited Africa for inspiration, but it<br />
is clear that they also systematically study,<br />
capture and re-interpret our traditional<br />
designs into European architectural styles.<br />
The experience of Foundation Dogon<br />
Education and its Chairman Jurrian van Stigt<br />
shows us that true collaboration is never onesided<br />
but an exchange. An enduring love for<br />
the Pays Dogon and a respect for traditional<br />
architecture, have enabled Dutch and Malian<br />
partners to build schools in Dogon and even<br />
imported Malian design into the architectural<br />
heritage of Amsterdam.<br />
Can contemporary designers establish a true<br />
balance between modern design and African<br />
heritage? What does this look like? Can we<br />
redefine sustainability “In Our Own Words”<br />
and reconnect to our sustainable indigenous<br />
pedigree? We hope that you will continue the<br />
discussions as one of our next contributors for<br />
the July 2013 issue. Do get in touch with the<br />
editorial team if you want to contribute to the<br />
discourse!<br />
Regards,<br />
Tuuli Saarela<br />
4 5
CHAIRMAN’S<br />
corner<br />
ALL ROADS<br />
LEAD TO<br />
LAGOS VIA<br />
MUMBAI AND<br />
ACCRA<br />
Joe Osae Addo<br />
Chairman, <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong><br />
I woke up on the 30th floor of the Renaissance<br />
Hotel in Mumbai to a spectacular view of<br />
the lake and the high rises beyond, a far cry<br />
from the intensely chaotic, but seemingly<br />
synchronized traffic of the previous night’s<br />
arrival in the city from Mumbai airport. The<br />
experience of arriving in Mumbai is strangely<br />
familiar to that of arrival in Lagos and to a<br />
lesser extent, Accra. The familiarity of these<br />
experiences is a clear vestige of colonial British<br />
rule.<br />
Deep thoughts abound as I<br />
reflect on what Ghana, and<br />
the other colonies, could have<br />
become and suddenly I find<br />
myself reminiscing about<br />
the Ghana of my childhood<br />
in the early 1970’s. Ghana in<br />
those days appeared idyllic<br />
with exposure to a modern<br />
way of life firmly rooted in<br />
the passionate love for our<br />
traditions, passed on from<br />
our grand parents.<br />
The previous generation of non-Accra folk,<br />
were born and raised in our hometowns and<br />
villages rather than the cities, and therefore<br />
the first generation of us city children would<br />
still visit the village frequently, and truly<br />
looked forward to our monthly trips out to<br />
experience the change of pace. To me as a<br />
precocious child, modernity embodied being<br />
able to straddle modernity and traditionalism<br />
with ease and without conflict.<br />
Nothing symbolized modernity and Accra<br />
living more than the Ambassador Hotel<br />
(now Movenpick Ambassador Hotel—to<br />
which it bears no resemblance at all), with<br />
its extraordinary swimming pool and grand<br />
international style architecture. As a nine year<br />
old, what mattered most were the delicious<br />
scones and Cornish pies! It was these great<br />
pastries, be it the local or western inspired<br />
ones, which made my Accra tick. My thick<br />
waistline emerged all those years ago, and I<br />
blame it entirely on the Ambassador Hotel!<br />
Early 1970’s Accra was a child’s dream.<br />
Afternoon Boys Scouts meetings at the Ridge<br />
Church School, where I attended primary<br />
school and where my dear mother also<br />
happened to be headmistress, to the Children’s<br />
Theater at the Arts Center, to the music lessons<br />
at the National Symphony where my piano<br />
teacher Mr. Vanderpuye worked: this was my<br />
way of life. We would sometimes ride our<br />
‘banana seat bikes’ around the Ridge School<br />
with dear friends, Amand Ayensu, Joseph and<br />
Michael Kinsley Nyinah, Robert Millls, Adjei<br />
Adjetey, with Afua Sutherland Park and<br />
George Padmore Library as our stomping<br />
grounds. Even then I knew that open space<br />
and good architecture mattered- as embodied<br />
by the spaces described and the Ambassador<br />
Hotel. Life was not so bad at all.<br />
Swimming at the Ambassador was the special<br />
treat any child would crave for. The pool as I<br />
remember it had bright blue tiles, which gave<br />
the water the look of the ocean and made it<br />
appear so large that it commanded my respect.<br />
We jumped from the diving boards with gusto<br />
but were mindful not to be a nuisance to the<br />
regular swimmers. One such ‘hip’ gentleman<br />
that seemed to live in the pool (hahahah) was<br />
‘the famous South African’ Hugh Masekela.<br />
Yes, that was how the pool attendant described<br />
him to us at the time. Hugh was a gentle kind<br />
man, and often obliged our Cornish pasty<br />
habits. We knew that this man was in exile in<br />
Ghana and was a very famous musician. We<br />
revered him, even at that age.<br />
These are very sketchy<br />
memories, but I remember<br />
his easy and commanding<br />
smile and certainly his<br />
generosity and that he lived<br />
in the scion of modernism,<br />
the Ambassador Hotel.<br />
I wonder what he thinks of the new Movenpick<br />
Ambassador, whose amenities I still enjoy<br />
with my family today. My sons Kwaku and<br />
Juhani often run around the hotel, as if they<br />
owned it, much as we did over 40 years ago.<br />
Certain things never change! It’s a shame that<br />
they will never experience the connection to<br />
heritage that such buildings conjured for us<br />
residents of post-colonial Accra.<br />
6 7
As <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> and AiD embark on<br />
engaging in the discourse of preservation and<br />
conservation, these old memories come to<br />
mind, and remind us all of the need to engage<br />
and preserve something of the old Ghana and<br />
Africa that we used to know. AiD has selected<br />
the Children’s Library, a design of Max Fry<br />
and Jane Drew, as a case study of how buildings<br />
can be improved through restoration rather<br />
than decimated by directionless renovation.<br />
Now back to Hugh Masakela, who is our<br />
featured personality for this edition of our<br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>. To me he embodies the aspirations<br />
of a new Africa- proud of its heritage, while<br />
embracing modernity: a redefinition of what<br />
Africa stands for in this global world. He is<br />
the embodiment of the true ‘adventurer in the<br />
diaspora.’ Hugh and his extraordinary wife<br />
Elinam and their children are dear friends of<br />
ours and we are honored that they agreed to<br />
be part of this issue.<br />
With our upcoming theme for 2013 being ‘All<br />
Roads Lead to Lagos’ one cannot ignore the<br />
symbolism of Hugh Masakela being featured<br />
in this issue, as he was very good friends with<br />
another great African activist, Fela Kuti from<br />
Nigeria. Their music is the voice of Africa<br />
and a constant reminder to all us of why our<br />
culture matters.<br />
Hugh Masakela is the kind of advocate for<br />
the cultural and creative renaissance of Africa<br />
that <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> wants to be associated<br />
with, and to learn from.Hugh, thank you<br />
for being ‘a shining light’ and a great role<br />
model for creative people engaging in Africa’s<br />
development agenda. AYEKOO!<br />
Regards,<br />
Joe Osae Addo<br />
Chairman, <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> Foundation<br />
Above: Sketch by Joe Osae-Addo<br />
8 9
AFRICA<br />
floats to<br />
MILAN<br />
By Nat Nuno-Amerteifio<br />
10 11
Above: Kunlé Adeyemi and Nat Nuno-Amertefio in conversation at The Milan Design Week, 2013.<br />
Previous Page: Inset: Makoko Floating School.<br />
Image Courtesy of NLÉ, Shaping the Architecture of Developing Cities<br />
The Milan Design Week hosted designers,<br />
inventors and thinkers from around the world<br />
and enabled them to explore their work and<br />
ideas to their contemporaries. It took place<br />
in <strong>April</strong> when the city draws in breadth after<br />
the winter and watches the trees break into<br />
the first hopeful buds of spring. Events and<br />
exhibitions were displayed in venues across<br />
the metropolis. This gave participants the<br />
opportunity to explore Milan’s incomparable<br />
architectural heritage as well as enjoy its<br />
remarkable transportation infrastructure. This<br />
includes gaily painted trams that look vaguely<br />
familiar until you notice their similarity to<br />
the trams of San Francisco. Indeed the trams<br />
of Milan furnished the prototype for those<br />
in San Francisco. Another engaging urban<br />
feature of the city is the presence of hundreds<br />
of motorcycles and bicycles parked at different<br />
spots and available to residents for a nominal<br />
fee.<br />
The Afrofuture exposition convened<br />
exports from the continent to consider the<br />
impact on African cities of some of the key<br />
questions from various disciplines including<br />
architecture, politics and technology. Using<br />
images from different cities we illustrated<br />
how these questions and issues are shaped in<br />
our discourse and the solutions that emerge.<br />
Presentations were from Lagos, Accra,<br />
Luanda, Nairobi and Dakar.<br />
One topic that provoked animated discussion<br />
was new designs coming from the continent.<br />
This followed the presentation by Kunlé<br />
Adeyemi, a young Nigerian architect<br />
practicing in Amsterdam and Lagos. He<br />
gave an illustrated talk on a school project<br />
he created for an aquatic village called<br />
Makoko in Lagos. Adeyemi belongs to a<br />
new and stimulating generation of African<br />
architects whose works are shaping the<br />
unfolding narrative of contemporary African<br />
architecture. Other practitioners are Joe Osae-<br />
Addo of Ghana and Francis Kéré of Burkina<br />
Faso. These artists, who have arrived at the<br />
apex of their profession, come equipped with<br />
profound understanding of post-modernist<br />
design concepts. They were also educated<br />
in an era when environmental sustainability<br />
was a serious issue. The combination of these<br />
factors and others such as unfair economic<br />
arrangement of international trade has<br />
given them the confidence to examine the<br />
fundaments of design theories in our time. They<br />
have drawn valuable lessons from traditional<br />
African architecture including the social<br />
organization of construction. The application<br />
of these insights gives their projects a fresh<br />
neo-Bantu stamp that is remarkably free of<br />
atavistic posturing. Adeyemi’s presentation<br />
was a welcome introduction of promising new<br />
design from the continent.<br />
Below: Platform prototype. Image Courtesy of NLÉ, Shaping the Architecture of Developing Cities<br />
12 13
These artists, who have<br />
arrived at the apex of their<br />
profession, come equipped<br />
with profound understanding<br />
of post-modernist design<br />
concepts. They were also<br />
educated in an era when<br />
environmental sustainability<br />
was a serious issue. The<br />
combination of these factors<br />
and others such as unfair<br />
economic arrangement of<br />
international trade has<br />
given them the confidence to<br />
examine the fundaments of<br />
design theories in our time.<br />
They have drawn valuable<br />
lessons from traditional<br />
African architecture including<br />
the social organization of<br />
construction. The application<br />
of these insights gives their<br />
projects a fresh neo-Bantu<br />
stamp that is remarkably free<br />
of atavistic posturing.<br />
Inset: Makoko Floating School<br />
Image Courtesy of NLÉ, Shaping the Architecture of<br />
Developing Cities<br />
14 15
Another submission that was full of assurance<br />
was by Cyrus Kabiru, a designer from<br />
Nairobi. He is a brilliant artist who currently<br />
specializes in creating “concept” eyeglasses.<br />
His pieces are fabricated from discarded<br />
machine parts. They are cheeky for their<br />
originality and breathtaking for the audacity<br />
of his imagination. He is master at combining<br />
familiar items in unfamiliar ways. Imagine<br />
a pair of tooth brushes arranged to serve as<br />
frames for eyeglasses or a pair of handcuffs<br />
similarly reconstructed. His works are quixotic<br />
and even though they are not intended for the<br />
mass market, they demonstrate an astonishing<br />
creativity that promises a lot to African fashion<br />
and design.<br />
It was an exhilarating<br />
week in Milan. It is obvious<br />
beyond argument that<br />
ideas already exist that will<br />
massage African design<br />
into the 21st century. What<br />
is yet to be developed is the<br />
academic vehicle to expose<br />
them to our design colleges<br />
and technical schools. One<br />
can only hope that this<br />
magazine will land on a<br />
friendly table.<br />
The Milan Design Week was produced by the<br />
City of Milan. The Afrofuture portion was<br />
curated by Nana Ocran and Big Ben.<br />
Left: Cyrus Kabiru’s Artwork<br />
Image from http://www.ckabiruart.daportfolio.com/<br />
16 17
ioGRAPHY<br />
Hugh Masakela is a world-renowned<br />
flugelhornist, trumpeter, bandleader,<br />
composer, singer and defiant political voice<br />
who remains deeply connected at home, while<br />
his international career sparkles. He was born<br />
in the town of Witbank, South Africa in 1939.<br />
At the age of 14, the deeply respected advocate<br />
of equal rights in South Africa, Father Trevor<br />
Huddleston, provided Masakela with a<br />
trumpet and, soon after, the Huddleston Jazz<br />
Band was formed. Masakela began to hone<br />
his, now signature, Afro-Jazz sound in the<br />
late 1950s during a period of intense creative<br />
collaboration, most notably performing in the<br />
1959 musical King Kong, written by Todd<br />
Matshikiza, and, soon thereafter, as a member<br />
of the now legendary South African group,<br />
the Jazz Epistles (featuring the classic line up<br />
of Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim and<br />
Jonas Gwangwa).<br />
In 1960, at the age of 21 he left South Africa<br />
to begin what would be 30 years in exile from<br />
the land of his birth. On arrival in New York he<br />
enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music.<br />
This coincided with a golden era of jazz music<br />
hugh<br />
and the young Masakela immersed himself<br />
in the New York jazz scene where nightly<br />
he watched greats like Miles Davis, John<br />
Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus<br />
and Max Roach. Under the tutelage of Dizzy<br />
MASAKELA<br />
Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Hugh was<br />
encouraged to develop his own unique style,<br />
feeding off African rather than American<br />
influences – his debut album, released in<br />
1963, was entitled Trumpet Africaine.<br />
18 19
In the late 1960s Hugh moved to Los Angeles<br />
in the heat of the ‘Summer of Love’, where<br />
he was befriended by hippie icons like David<br />
Crosby, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. In<br />
1967 Hugh performed at the Monterey Pop<br />
Festival alongside Janis Joplin, Otis Redding,<br />
Ravi Shankar, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. In<br />
1968, his instrumental single ‘Grazin’ in the<br />
Grass’ went to Number One on the American<br />
pop charts and was a worldwide smash,<br />
elevating Hugh onto the international stage.<br />
His subsequent solo career has spanned 5<br />
decades, during which time he has released<br />
over 40 albums (and been featured on<br />
countless more) and has worked with such<br />
diverse artists as Harry Belafonte, Dizzy<br />
Gillespie, The Byrds, Fela Kuti, Marvin Gaye,<br />
Herb Alpert, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and<br />
the late Miriam Makeba.<br />
In 1990 Hugh returned home, following the<br />
unbanning of the ANC and the release of<br />
Nelson Mandela – an event anticipated in<br />
Hugh’s anti-apartheid anthem ‘Bring Home<br />
Nelson Mandela’ (1986) which had been a<br />
rallying cry around the world.<br />
In 2004 Masakela published his compelling<br />
autobiography, Still Grazing: The Musical<br />
Journey of Hugh Masakela (co-authored<br />
with D. Michael Cheers), which Vanity Fair<br />
described thus: ‘…you’ll be in awe of the many<br />
lives packed into one.’<br />
In June 2010 he opened the FIFA Soccer<br />
World Cup Kick-Off Concert to a global<br />
audience and performed at the event’s<br />
Opening Ceremony in Soweto’s Soccer City.<br />
In 2010, President Zuma honoured him with<br />
the highest order in South Africa: The Order of<br />
Ikhamanga, and 2011 saw Masakela receive a<br />
Lifetime Achievement award at the WOMEX<br />
World Music Expo in Copenhagen. The US<br />
Virgin Islands proclaimed ‘Hugh Masakela<br />
Day’ in March 2011, not long after Hugh<br />
joined U2 on stage during the Johannesburg<br />
leg of their 360 World Tour. U2 frontman<br />
Bono described meeting and playing with<br />
Hugh as one of the highlights of his career.<br />
Hugh is currently using his global reach to<br />
spread the word about heritage restoration in<br />
Africa – a topic that remains very close to his<br />
heart.<br />
“My biggest obsession is to show Africans<br />
and the world who the people of Africa<br />
really are,” Masakela confides – and it’s this<br />
commitment to his home continent that has<br />
propelled him forward since he first began<br />
playing the trumpet.<br />
Sources/copyright: GRIOT GmbH, Wulf v.<br />
Gaudecker and Hugh Masakela<br />
“The Official Site”<br />
South African trumpeter Hugh Masakela and Nigerian singer Femi Kuti perform during the opening ceremony of the 2010<br />
FIFA World Cup in JOhannesburg. Photo: AFP<br />
20 21
An Interview with<br />
HUGH MASAKELA<br />
poet, philosopher, cultural activist<br />
How many African cities have you visited?<br />
And what are their common features<br />
(in terms of culture, people, design and<br />
architecture)?<br />
I have visited over 30 cities in Africa.<br />
The majority are overcrowded. In most of<br />
them, the impoverished live with very poor<br />
service delivery in sordid squalor and under<br />
extremely unhealthy conditions. Wealthy<br />
countries in Africa have luxurious upper<br />
class neighborhoods, modern malls and<br />
urban development that match Western<br />
metropolises. The most disturbing factor is<br />
that none of the cities boast African-style<br />
designs. Kigali in Rwanda and Windhoek in<br />
Namibia are outstanding for their cleanliness.<br />
Some cities have vibrant cultural groups, clubs<br />
and concert venues. Many countries suppress<br />
the development of cultural excellence,<br />
merely dismissing it as frivolous as it is likely<br />
to upstage the coveted political limelight.<br />
How do you manage to stay current and<br />
topical with the rapid economic changes<br />
engulfing the continent?<br />
Self-education, intense practice, vigorous<br />
physical exercise, playing with outstanding<br />
young musicians and constantly touring the<br />
world.<br />
What are your views on wealth creation<br />
and the creation of a vibrant educated<br />
population who can contribute to<br />
sustainable development and growth of<br />
the continent. Is it really happening?<br />
Most political establishments in Africa<br />
systematically keep the underclass ignorant<br />
and devoid of crucial information that could<br />
help to improve the quality of life. It seems<br />
that wealth creation is limited to the business<br />
and political establishments. Same old, same<br />
old!<br />
I am pessimistic about the development that<br />
is only addressed in summits, conferences<br />
and talk shops but never trickles down to the<br />
masses, who only seem to be noticed when<br />
they are needed for election votes.<br />
22 23
Discuss the rapid growth and<br />
modernization and your thoughts on the<br />
contemporary African city. Could your<br />
experiences in developing hybrid music<br />
genres be an inspiration to how our built<br />
environments could evolve into something<br />
truly African?<br />
Rapid growth in almost all the cities that<br />
experience it, projects imitations of western<br />
metropolises. There is very little if any African<br />
character in them. Perhaps if business and<br />
government could aggressively promote<br />
heritage restoration in the arts; this could be<br />
an element that would inspire African town<br />
planners, designers and architects to project<br />
indigenous styles into our developmental<br />
initiatives.<br />
How has music influenced contemporary<br />
African creative endeavors including<br />
design? What is the link between music<br />
and design?<br />
It appears to me that most<br />
African contemporary music<br />
strives very intensely to imitate<br />
USA and European styles. At<br />
this rate, it is obviously pointing<br />
design and town planning in a<br />
very Western direction.<br />
Unless there is some sort of semblance of<br />
heritage restored into our lives, all the things<br />
we create will suffer from the neo-colonial<br />
frenzy we so extremely try to emulate. There<br />
is no link that I can identify at this writing,<br />
between music and design. African visual<br />
art is the only element that mostly retains an<br />
indigenous quality on our continent, undersupported<br />
as it is.<br />
24 25
What are your views on contemporary<br />
music , culture and how does Africa fare?<br />
Do you see the need for better collaboration<br />
among creatives to promote Africa<br />
globally?<br />
For African culture to have a visible face,<br />
African society is going to have to collaborate<br />
in forming a Heritage Restoration Society<br />
similar to the World Wildlife Fund; an<br />
institute that will aggressively promote and<br />
protect the massive and diverse content of<br />
ancient indigenous qualities whose erosion<br />
we witness by the hour.<br />
How should Africans respond to often<br />
neglected or suppressed heritage and<br />
culture? Is there real interest from Africans<br />
(besides UNESCO and foreign funders)<br />
in preserving some of the unique heritage<br />
of our communities (ie. Sophiatown was<br />
recently renamed back to its original name,<br />
how do we preserve and protect places of<br />
heritage? And does this necessarily mean<br />
becoming political?<br />
I have included a heritage proposal which I<br />
emailed separately in an attempt at illustrating<br />
an example of heritage restoration. It cannot<br />
be preached. It has to be presented through<br />
edutainement. Foreign funders will only come<br />
to the party once the African diaspora begins<br />
to lead. The UN and funders would not know<br />
where to begin.<br />
Discuss current politics on the continent<br />
in the context of north Africa, democratic<br />
reforms and revolutions. What does this<br />
mean for the rest of Africa ?<br />
Until African political leadership ceases from<br />
viewing inaugurations as royal coronations,<br />
we are hurtling down a dangerous path of<br />
power grabs, dictatorships, revolutionaries<br />
who turn into brutal autocrats and academics<br />
who discuss African progress on television<br />
specials, in books and election campaigns. We,<br />
the ordinary people, are hopelessly praying<br />
for “The real thing to come along,” that great<br />
“African dream” we have been hearing about<br />
for the past six decades. When are we gonna<br />
wake up and smell the fufu???<br />
For African culture<br />
to have a visible face,<br />
African society is going<br />
to have to collaborate<br />
in forming a Heritage<br />
Restoration Society similar<br />
to the World Wildlife<br />
Fund; an institute that<br />
will aggressively promote<br />
and protect the massive<br />
and diverse content<br />
of ancient indigenous<br />
qualities whose erosion<br />
we witness by the hour.<br />
26 27
Hugh Masakela & ArchiAfrica present:<br />
competition<br />
THE ROAD TO<br />
HERITAGE<br />
The first Road to Heritage Competition, organized by Hugh Masakela in collaboration with <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong>,<br />
is a ground-breaking design competition in which we seek African designers, students, amateurs and<br />
professionals to present creative and inno-native proposals on how Africans can preserve and promote<br />
our heritage. We seek participants to showcase their ideas in our magazine as well as website, compete<br />
for prize money and bring ideas to the attention of a prestigious jury.<br />
WHY HERITAGE MATTERS<br />
Text by Hugh Masakela<br />
More than 80 % of Africa’s peoples come<br />
from indigenous traditional origins. Our<br />
cultural roots are cultivated in customs, oral<br />
history, praise-poetry, art, design, architecture,<br />
artisanship, agriculture, mysticism, song,<br />
dance, couture, cuisine, pageantry, ceremony,<br />
rituals and moral values. Respect, humility<br />
and generosity have always been the crucial<br />
cornerstones of African life.<br />
Africa’s abundance of unfathomable wealth in<br />
raw materials attracted interest among many<br />
foreign communities. Explorers, militias and<br />
traders began to invade North, West and<br />
Central Africa in the 14th century in search<br />
of treasures. Next came religious groups of<br />
missionaries and prophets with determined<br />
resolve to convert the “natives from barbarism”<br />
and away from their customs. Subsequently<br />
armies and ships laden with superior weaponry<br />
overran most of Africa, confiscating land, food<br />
supplies, and livestock, pillaging and intent on<br />
lording over the indigenous peoples.<br />
Centuries of conquest lead to a merciless slave<br />
trade which saw millions loaded into sailing<br />
vessels that carried Africans to the western<br />
world, a time during which families were<br />
forcibly separated, native languages outlawed<br />
and traditions systematically destroyed.<br />
On the continent, the remaining millions were<br />
colonized. Africa was eventually carved up into<br />
scores of European-created “new” countries.<br />
The native populations were transformed<br />
into legions of cheap-labour armies. Many<br />
converted into Islam and Christianity. Forced<br />
migration to new industrial centres and<br />
farmlands along with minimal education led<br />
to the gradual erosion of traditional heritage.<br />
28 29
Indigenous customs began to disappear:<br />
African civilization saw the evaporation of<br />
our folklore and indigenous origins, which<br />
were gradually abandoned.<br />
By the 21st Century, most Africans (even<br />
though their customs and beliefs were not<br />
totally erased) began to be convinced that their<br />
own heritage was heathen, pagan, backward,<br />
savage, barbaric and primitive due to the<br />
messages created by religion, advertising,<br />
television, misunderstood foreign education<br />
and urbanization.<br />
Today many urban households in Africa<br />
have abandoned communicating in their<br />
mother-tongue. Some even forbid the use of<br />
any language that are not European. Unless<br />
the restoration of heritage into the lives of<br />
Africans is not promoted, future generations<br />
will not define ourselves in our own terms and<br />
words, perhaps claiming that “we used to be<br />
Africans very, very long ago.” This would be a<br />
major tragedy.<br />
This competition is a small means by which<br />
we can re-introduce elements of heritage<br />
restoration into our communities. We do not<br />
seek to preach to the masses, but wish this<br />
competition to use mostly entertainment and<br />
educational methods.<br />
The time has come for us to harness our heritage<br />
and spread it far and wide using modern<br />
technology and all Western civilization has to<br />
offer.<br />
The ideas shared in the competition will<br />
be a most exciting legacy for present and<br />
future generations—not to mention the<br />
foreigners who come to Africa to admire our<br />
geographical sites and wildlife because they<br />
cannot find our people as they are preoccupied<br />
with imitating other cultures. The ancestors of<br />
Africa await this initiative with excited hope<br />
and overwhelming enthusiasm. So does the<br />
rest of humanity. What is now left is to make<br />
it happen!<br />
The competition brief and rules will be published in the<br />
July 2013 issue of the <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, along with<br />
the members of a prestigious jury and the prize money. The<br />
competition is open to African designers, students, amateurs<br />
and professionals who have ideas on how we can actively<br />
preserve and promote our heritage. The winner of the<br />
competition will be announced at the African Perspectives<br />
Conference in Lagos in December 2013. Winning designs<br />
will be showcased at the conference, as well as on the<br />
<strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> website and <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
For more information, please contact Dahlia Roberts at<br />
dahlia@aaaccra.org.<br />
30 31
By RIBA Norman Foster<br />
Travelling Scholar,<br />
Thomas Aquilina<br />
Green<br />
&<br />
Yellow<br />
DIVIDES<br />
ADDIS ABABA<br />
32 33
A travelling research project on informal recycling practices in six African cities (Cairo, Addis Ababa,<br />
Kampala, Kigali, Lusaka, and Johannesburg).<br />
Adane Y., taxi driver, inspected his disposable<br />
photographs meticulously, 6x4 copies slightly<br />
spoiled by a coarse grain and overexposure.<br />
Almost all of them showed the same subject:<br />
a construction site fence painted repetitively<br />
in green and yellow vertical stripes. But with<br />
each image Adane described something<br />
else he saw or intended to capture. When I<br />
pressed him on the reappearing fence, he told<br />
me plainly “it is just in the construction.”<br />
One of my field methods is the distribution<br />
of disposable cameras to residents. These<br />
photographs intend to document a kind of<br />
lived experience and construct a narrative of<br />
each city. With Adane, I asked him to shoot a<br />
typical drive through Addis Ababa. Some of<br />
his photographs were framed by the edge of<br />
his taxi window or dashboard (an old Russian<br />
Lada taxi immaculately kept). His journey<br />
was located between old town, Piazza, and<br />
desirable new location, Bole. In both examples<br />
the fence was there, and provided a clue for my<br />
project. The ongoing investigation – Material<br />
Economies – as part of the RIBA Norman<br />
Foster Travelling Scholarship consists of a<br />
movement (or a line) in each city that follows<br />
the life of a particular material, usually<br />
recycled. This allows me to understand its<br />
arrangement and sequence as it is positioned,<br />
changed or renewed. I trace the intersections<br />
and movements of informal economies, which<br />
take different turns and direct me to different<br />
locations. I encounter a complex interplay of<br />
urban relationships, actors and tactics, mostly<br />
informal and diffuse, and many are invisible.<br />
By following Adane’s implied material, I learnt<br />
that this fence made from corrugated iron<br />
sheeting and always painted with this uniform<br />
colour palette and pattern is a government<br />
regulation in Addis Ababa for every new<br />
building site. A contractor suggested this<br />
directive was a way of “beautifying” the city<br />
before an African Union summit two years<br />
ago. The fence has since become ubiquitous<br />
and shows a city under construction. My<br />
interest, however, is not the aesthetics but<br />
how this canvas is transforming everyday life.<br />
The fencing often encloses large vacant sites<br />
that were once informal settlements. It first<br />
masked a demolished popular neighbourhood,<br />
Filwuha, adjacent to the Sheraton Hotel,<br />
lined with mature palm trees. Residents were<br />
relocated to city-edge condominium plots.<br />
Only a local mafia and handful of surviving<br />
settlers remain. My guide and old Filwuha<br />
neighbour, Biruk G., said it is “just a matter<br />
of time before all old villages are removed<br />
from Addis.” His village will soon be cleared,<br />
and his current stationery business will have<br />
to end. His clients and networks won’t travel<br />
with him and he’s already thinking up a new<br />
occupation as a condominium broker.<br />
Inhabitants in these<br />
environments are readily<br />
repositioned, whether they<br />
are compelled to relocate<br />
livelihoods, or engage in a<br />
form of street occupation.<br />
34 35
In front of the Filwuha fence peddlers<br />
would accumulate and displayed a series of<br />
activities. When a nearby church celebrated a<br />
religious festival priests gave offerings to the<br />
churchgoers at the fence as an overflow service.<br />
Candles, missals, umbrellas, and small plants<br />
were available to buy. Women sold “shameta,”<br />
a local barley juice out of recycled tin cans.<br />
By late afternoon, small stalls populated with<br />
chat-chewers. Chat, fresh evergreen leaves,<br />
a mild narcotic stimulant and lucrative cash<br />
crop. Redressed and punctured with vendor’s<br />
operations the fence becomes the setting for<br />
the stuff of a city to take place.<br />
People use this ambiguous space between<br />
official and unofficial, private and public to<br />
find work. These often-tenuous occupations<br />
result in learned manoeuvres and a constantly<br />
negotiated space, which are sometimes within<br />
original spatial practices. Mobile economies<br />
proliferate; whether it is cellular money<br />
transfers or emerging vendors. Residents are<br />
willing to convert themselves into all kinds<br />
of agents, which reinforces their capacity to<br />
engage with the city, enabling them to grab the<br />
next opportunity, even if they can participate<br />
minimally.<br />
Previous Page (Above): Adane Y.’s disposable photograph<br />
of Bole Road, Addis Ababa<br />
Previous Page (Below): View out from Adane Y.’s taxi<br />
Left: Resident<br />
Below Left: Churchgoers at street corner<br />
Photographs by Thomas Aquilina © 2013<br />
I found myself discovering the kinds of<br />
journeys, daily exchanges and transactions<br />
made by residents within their city. I<br />
followed the relocation of urban majorities<br />
to peripheral condominiums. Across the city,<br />
condominium plot, Gemo, 15-kilometers<br />
from the city centre is where Biruk’s old<br />
neighbour, Atale A., arrived via a ballot<br />
system. Her neighbours drew other plots. The<br />
site is a cluster of insipid and identical fivestorey<br />
buildings with external staircases and<br />
patchy grass open spaces. The phone signal<br />
was unreliable. Atale’s apartment is known<br />
as a “credit home,” and makes a monthly<br />
payment to the government.<br />
The capacity to survive in the old village,<br />
Atale explained, was based on a saturated life.<br />
Where people contributed and divided the<br />
spoils, quick to fill in, substitute and make up<br />
for established relations. Life was grounded; it<br />
took place on the street, where conversations<br />
and networks were shared. In Gemo, this<br />
kind of existence appears no longer workable.<br />
Urban Africans need to invent new solutions.<br />
These narratives focus on the resiliencies of<br />
urban residency in Africa, and with it, the<br />
possibilities. Since travelling it has become<br />
clear the African city is going somewhere, but<br />
it is also always on the point of turning into<br />
something else.<br />
Follow on Twitter @thomasaquilina<br />
36 37
in<br />
of the<br />
SEARCH<br />
ORIGIN<br />
Jurriaan van Stigt<br />
38 39
Since 1980 I have been in love with Mali,<br />
Sudanese architecture, the music of Boubacar,<br />
Toumani and Ali Farka Toure, but in particular<br />
the architecture, culture and anthropology of<br />
the Dogon. It humbles me to write about<br />
what we, at the Foundation Dogon Education<br />
and architect professor Joop van Stigt, have<br />
been able to build in the last 20 years in Mali.<br />
Our inspiration was shaped in the fifties and<br />
sixties when architect Herman Haan, Aldo<br />
van Eyck and others visited the Dogon and<br />
published their experiences in the famous<br />
Dutch magazine FORUM. The publications<br />
in this magazine had a big impact on the<br />
Dutch architectural style at that time.<br />
At this time, Joop van Stigt worked on the<br />
building site of the Orphanage designed by<br />
Aldo van Eyck in Amsterdam. Van Eyck sent<br />
him a postcard with a picture of Djenne- and<br />
on the back was this text and a fast drawing of<br />
his design of the building with small cupolas.<br />
(Picture of front and backside of the postcard,<br />
and translation of the text… will be the first<br />
time ever this is published) Back in the<br />
Netherlands, the building was constructed as<br />
it stands now with a characteristic honeycomb<br />
dome-vaulted structure, which is still famous<br />
and considered part of Dutch heritage. The<br />
orphanage symbolizes a big opportunity<br />
in thinking about scale. It was the start of<br />
thinking in structure: the city as house, a house<br />
as a city, inside and outside, the big scale and<br />
the small scale. In the Orphanage, there is a<br />
realization of a duality in every task: there is<br />
a visible cellular structure, but also freedom.<br />
Previous Page: Dogon, Bandiagarra Cliffs<br />
Left: FORUM magazine<br />
It is this theme that van Eyck found so<br />
intriguing in the Dogon so many years ago.<br />
The experience described was van Stigt’s first<br />
encounter with Mali and became a motivation<br />
to go there himself. He made his first trip to<br />
Mali in 1972, and has kept going ever since.<br />
After his retirement as professor in Delft<br />
specialized in building constructions, heritage<br />
and renovation, he presented his book Dogon<br />
Architecture, Art and Anthropology and<br />
started the Foundation Dogon Education.<br />
The first aim was not to make “architecture,”<br />
but to create wells, water supplies and school<br />
buildings. Throughout the years, the experiences<br />
grew into much more than simply building;<br />
he learned to work with the Dogon people,<br />
exchange knowledge and experiment with<br />
new techniques. By analyzing the extremely<br />
ingenious adobe construction methods of the<br />
Dogon, it was possible to further develop his<br />
imported methods in order to be able to build<br />
in a sustainable way with locally available<br />
materials. The mantra of building in Dogon<br />
became “pas simple, pas bon” (not simple not<br />
good) and stayed as a theme of van Stigt in<br />
his work in the Netherlands where he became<br />
known for looking for the most economical<br />
solution combined with a clear, simple and<br />
true beauty of the building. It can be argued<br />
that he learned this skill from the Dogon and<br />
Sudanese mud architecture.<br />
40 41
“Everything from mud and some wood!<br />
Wonderful World! We are a bit white -<br />
healthy feeling however. Nowhere have<br />
I laughed so much and making jokes.<br />
Every morning a whole pineapple!<br />
Delicious Mangoes. Niger fish and<br />
chicken. Hot – beautiful birds, women<br />
and towns (will show slides and film).<br />
Tomorrow begins the big hike along the<br />
Dogon gap with intact primeval culture.<br />
Donkeys carry the stuff – It is fine with<br />
my now-no-care-child.<br />
“<br />
I’m 27 on the construction site, brown,<br />
--- and ready for new steps.<br />
Don’t forget a Santa Claus gift hi hi hi<br />
AvEyck<br />
42 43
In 2008 the Fondation started to build with<br />
hydraulic compressed earth blocks, a next step<br />
in the continuation of the traditional adobe<br />
building methods in the Dogon, (see the book<br />
‘beyond construction’). The decision to do so<br />
responded to a need for the architecture to fit<br />
into the landscape and connect to the culture.<br />
Our first buildings using this method were in<br />
Sevaré, and included housing, extension of the<br />
technical school and a small hotel. Everything,<br />
including bearing walls and facades of<br />
half brick (14 centimeter) were built with<br />
earth blocks, even carrying concrete floors<br />
and overstrains of 7 meters. The buildings<br />
are located in the new town which houses<br />
modern Malian housing, architecture, some<br />
old French colonial architecture, all of which<br />
are strongly influenced by the Sudanese style.<br />
The most important objective here was to learn,<br />
build and show that there is a natural beauty<br />
in building with earth. The information centre<br />
of mud architecture in Mopti built by the Aga<br />
Khan Foundation designed by Francis Kéré<br />
was in this case a great support for changing<br />
the mind set in building methods. Now there<br />
are a lot of new skilled builders in the region<br />
of Mopti Sevaré which will hopefully give a<br />
boost to build, construct and design a truly<br />
sustainable Malian architecture by local<br />
architects and masons.<br />
With the experience of knowledge we gained<br />
in Sevaré, the Fondation started building<br />
more primary schools in the Dogon area<br />
with compressed earth blocks. The villages all<br />
require a different approach depending on their<br />
location along the cliffs of Bandiagarra, the<br />
plain or the plateau. However, every building<br />
the Fondation constructed throughout the<br />
years was realized with the strong support and<br />
contribution of a village who prepared sand,<br />
red earth and water.<br />
In 2012 the first school complex, three<br />
school classrooms, housing for teachers and<br />
sanitation with barrel vaults was completed.<br />
This complex near the village of Balaguina,<br />
on the plateau one hour’s drive from Sevaré,<br />
is almost 100% earth bricks (excluding<br />
the concrete foundation). The bricks were<br />
produced on site by transporting a brick<br />
machine to the location. The buildings rise<br />
literally out of the earth from which they are<br />
made. The village has contributed immensely<br />
to the production of the bricks on the site.<br />
The school is designed with two verandas,<br />
which can be seen as the buttress to the barrel<br />
vaults above the classrooms. Each classroom<br />
is dilated, the roof is constructed with brick<br />
masonry on its side. The <strong>final</strong> layer of the roof<br />
is finished with 4 centimetres of red earth and<br />
a little (5%) cement.<br />
Previous Page: Postcard from Aldo van Eyck<br />
Inset: Renovation, primary school in Sangha 1907<br />
Next Page: Internship project students of the Technical<br />
School (ETSJ), February 2012<br />
44 45
46 47
In 2012 the first school complex, three<br />
school classrooms, housing for teachers and<br />
sanitation with barrel vaults was completed.<br />
This complex near the village of Balaguina,<br />
on the plateau one hour’s drive from Sevaré,<br />
is almost 100% earth bricks (excluding<br />
the concrete foundation). The bricks were<br />
produced on site by transporting a brick<br />
machine to the location. The buildings rise<br />
literally out of the earth from which they are<br />
made. The village has contributed immensely<br />
to the production of the bricks on the site.<br />
The school is designed with two verandas,<br />
which can be seen as the buttress to the barrel<br />
vaults above the classrooms. Each classroom<br />
is dilated, the roof is constructed with brick<br />
masonry on its side. The <strong>final</strong> layer of the roof<br />
is finished with 4 centimetres of red earth and<br />
a little (5%) cement.<br />
For light and ventilation, we used locally<br />
produced ceramic gargoyles. It gives the school<br />
building it’s architectural recognition. The<br />
porches of the veranda’s are inspired by the<br />
particular way openings and facades are made<br />
in several Sudanese style buildings. The floors<br />
are also made of earth blocks but instead of the<br />
normal 8.5 kilo bricks (90*140*290) we made<br />
them 5 kilo to reduce the use of material and<br />
cement. In every brick, we used 3% cement<br />
mix to make the blocks water resistant and<br />
termite proof.<br />
The houses for the teachers and head master<br />
are positioned along the road and near the<br />
well. The basic houses are each orientated in<br />
a different direction to obtain privacy. This<br />
architecture is more inspired by the plasticity<br />
of the architecture of the granaries, houses<br />
and Ginna’s of the Dogon.<br />
Left: Atelier of the Technical School (ETSJ) in Sévaré<br />
48 49
There are two main issues that had to<br />
be reconciled with building modern<br />
buildings such as schools using<br />
traditional Dogon architecture.<br />
Firstly, in Mali and especially in<br />
the Dogon area, cellular buildings<br />
with small sized spaces are the most<br />
common type architecture and part<br />
of the traditional building method.<br />
Even Mosques are bigger buildings<br />
on the exterior, but on the interior<br />
are still divided into small spaces<br />
with small spans. The second issue<br />
is the position of the schools and<br />
housing for teachers in relation to<br />
the village. The school buildings are<br />
a clearly different size, scale and<br />
structure. In contrast to the Dogon<br />
tradition which says one’s village<br />
is one’s home, the Foundation built<br />
outside the villages. On the one<br />
hand this exclusion from the village<br />
gives freedom to architecture, but<br />
on the other hand it demands reestablishing<br />
a connection to the<br />
genius loci. The first school of the<br />
foundation was built using building<br />
methods already common for<br />
school buildings throughout Mali,<br />
and became very utilitarian. The<br />
challenge in the future is to adapt<br />
these issues and respond to them<br />
more directly.<br />
Inset: House Hogan Arou<br />
50 51
Above: Traditional method mud block<br />
Below: Ensemble of the primary school in Balaguina<br />
Above: Overview of 15 years of work by the Foundation<br />
Education Dogon Jurriaan van Stigt, “Beyond<br />
Construction,” 2012<br />
The book beyond construction,(plus que construire) can<br />
be ordered through the internet book publisher www.<br />
Pumbo.nl<br />
Below: Detail of a saho at Bia, near Niafunké Sergio<br />
Domain, “Architecture Soudanaise,” 1989<br />
There will be a fenced area around the houses<br />
with hangars for the kitchen. The school<br />
started in October 2012 after a very rainy wet<br />
season, which proved that the construction<br />
without a ‘raincoat’ is sustainable. Also<br />
the interior climate due to the use of the<br />
compressed earth blocks is very pleasing.<br />
The process I have described to the readers<br />
of <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> continues, as there<br />
is still a lot to be learned in the future. We<br />
hope that our buildings inspire and motivate<br />
more and more of the upcoming builders and<br />
architects from Dogon. Architecture is not<br />
about revolution but about evolution.<br />
Jurriaan van Stigt<br />
Chair Foundation Dogon Education<br />
Architect at LEVS architecten<br />
Chief editor FORUM <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Information<br />
www.dogononderwijs.nl<br />
52 53
CAIRO<br />
URBANISM<br />
tra$h becomes ca$h<br />
Zeina Elcheikh<br />
A group of 21 students from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and<br />
Germany converged in Basateen district in Cairo in the informal area<br />
of Ezbet Al-Nasr to think about design analysis including basic urban<br />
services, local economic development, land and shelter, governance,<br />
and environment. An exhibition of their proposals in February 2013<br />
selected the initiative of three students: Nahla Makhlouf (Egypt),<br />
Sandy Qarmout ( Jordan) and Zeina Elcheikh (Syria) to implement as<br />
a means of addressing the garbage problems in the neighborhood.<br />
54 55
Garbage is almost everywhere in the area.<br />
The huge amount of trash was causing<br />
serious health problems, originating from<br />
the natural degradation of organic waste or<br />
from burning it, which is usually the only<br />
way to get rid of it. Some of the residents<br />
collected and sorted wastes through a<br />
recycling micro industry, including metal,<br />
plastic, cartoons, glass recycling. However,<br />
there was no way of recycling organic wastes.<br />
The people in Ezbet Al-<br />
Nasr represent a low-income<br />
community, and the three<br />
students agreed upon developing<br />
a concept that involves garbage<br />
to solve an environmental<br />
problem but also to provide<br />
additional income. They came up<br />
with the motto: “Trash Becomes<br />
Cash”.<br />
Contacts were made with several NGOs<br />
and individuals interested in recycling and<br />
environmental issues. Getting to know better<br />
about professionals’ work in these fields in<br />
Cairo, helped in framing the work of the<br />
team. The students decided to introduce<br />
biogas to the residents of Ezbet Al-Nasr.<br />
Each biogas unit costs between 180-200$,<br />
an amount not easily affordable by the local<br />
community, and therefore funding was needed<br />
to install the units. Generous support came<br />
from an association (Al-Musbah Al-Mudii)<br />
which offered to fund the first 5 biogas units<br />
at no cost and to financially support interested<br />
people in the area in installing their biogas units<br />
in the future. Two technicians also provided<br />
technical support, as they had installed biogas<br />
units in their own homes a few years ago.<br />
56 57
The residents of Ezbet Al-Nasr needed to<br />
rethink their garbage-related habits and<br />
practices, and to consider it as an income<br />
source to be used rather than a leftover<br />
to be thrown away. Such a task was not<br />
easily achieved without approaching the<br />
local community directly through informal<br />
meetings and discussions on the streets. While<br />
installing the first biogas in the area, the team<br />
arranged a session to introduce the idea to the<br />
local residents. This session to raise awareness<br />
about biogas was held under the theme “Let’s<br />
not throw it, let’s make use of it.”<br />
During the exhibition the Trash Becomes<br />
Cash team prepared and distributed manuals<br />
and other printed materials to spread the<br />
idea and established a network between the<br />
community, the funding agency and the<br />
technicians involved in this new microindustry.<br />
Although the team achieved satisfactory<br />
results by introducing the residents to a<br />
new sustainable technology, the continuity<br />
of the project depends on the community’s<br />
acceptance of the technology in the long run.<br />
It can be a big step to begin reconsidering<br />
organic waste as a resource that can help save<br />
the residents money, rather than just garbage.<br />
But this initiative may be a first step in the<br />
right direction.<br />
Informal settlements suffer from<br />
many challenges associated with<br />
the built environment. Bridging<br />
academic research to realworld<br />
practice, and technology<br />
with socio-economic needs of<br />
the community was the main<br />
outcome of the intervention.<br />
Above: Illustration of the Biodegradable process from the<br />
organic waste to the Biogas<br />
Left: Garbage in Ezbet Al-Nasr<br />
Below Left: Schematic cross section in the applied<br />
biogas unit (developped by the team based on the site<br />
implementation)<br />
Next Page: Installing the 1st Biogas Unit<br />
Photos courtesy of Zeina Elcheikh<br />
58 59
The project showed that<br />
big hopes in the informal<br />
area can be fulfilled<br />
through seemingly small<br />
initiatives<br />
60 61
the real<br />
ECONOMY<br />
Informal Housing, Work and The Future<br />
A look at Accra and Lagos<br />
By Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy<br />
Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy manages a globetrotting work and lifestyle portfolio as (1) an International<br />
Economist and Management Consultant ; (2) a Critic , Writer and Historian of the Arts, Culture and<br />
Creative Industries and (3) a Classical Guitarist<br />
You may follow him on Twitter at : https://twitter.com/gnaddy<br />
62 63
Just about everybody living in African cities<br />
like Accra and Lagos is connected in some<br />
way with the informal economy. Nearly<br />
everybody has bought something from a street<br />
seller. One only has to walk or drive around<br />
Accra or Lagos for a short time to discover<br />
that the vast majority of people work in the<br />
informal (unregistered) economy. More and<br />
more people are moving from the rural areas<br />
into the towns and cities, attracted by the<br />
prospect of work selling various goods and<br />
services beauty salons, tailoring, street selling.<br />
In West Africa the increasing adoption of<br />
the ECOWAS trade liberalization protocols<br />
involving the movement of goods and people<br />
means that more and more of this rural-urban<br />
migration will in fact be of a cross border<br />
nature.<br />
One of the biggest political and economic<br />
tasks facing Ghana is how to recalibrate its<br />
relationship with Nigeria over the coming<br />
years.<br />
This is essentially the<br />
relationship between Accra<br />
and Lagos anyway since<br />
both cities account for over<br />
60% of their national<br />
economies. This year 2013<br />
is in fact a pivotal year in<br />
economic terms for the city of<br />
Lagos, Nigeria as a country<br />
and West Africa.<br />
Here are just three of the many interesting<br />
and even surprising economic facts about<br />
Lagos and Nigeria:<br />
1. Lagos is projected to overtake Cairo as the<br />
biggest city in Africa.<br />
2. The economy of Lagos is now bigger than<br />
that of all of Kenya.<br />
3. The economy of Nigeria, for all its chaos and<br />
dysfunctionality, at current rate of growth, is<br />
projected to overtake that of South Africa as<br />
the biggest in Africa by 2015.<br />
4. The Greater Ibadan-Lagos-Accra (GILA)<br />
Corridor: This 600-kilometer (373-mile)<br />
transport and economic corridor growing<br />
agglomeration of cities runs through four<br />
countries—Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and<br />
Ghana—and comprises the economic engine<br />
of West Africa.<br />
For most of modern history, Africa’s economic<br />
landscape has been dominated by the North<br />
(North Africa) and the south (mainly south<br />
Africa) and the tropical middle was the<br />
poorest part. In recent years, however, the<br />
centre of gravity has been shifting - or in fact<br />
has shifted already - to its tropical middle.<br />
What has been taking place quietly has been<br />
dubbed by some as the economic rise of<br />
Tropical Africa.<br />
Above: A child sells fried dough to other children. Badia residents were bewildered that their government had apparently<br />
declared open season on them. “They are doing this without regard for the people who live here,” Felix Morka said of the<br />
government-led demolitions. Image Credit: Samuel James for The New York Times.<br />
Previous Page: Lagos Sprawl. Image Credit: Keji Ziza - http://www.flickr.com/photos/76902663@N00/1463999464/<br />
Economic growth in much of Africa has<br />
defied both expectations and the scourge<br />
of “Afro-pessimism” that was rampant for<br />
so long among both some Africans and the<br />
continent’s detractors. But Africa’s economic<br />
recent growth, impressive as it may be, has<br />
not been accompanied by any significant job<br />
creation and increasing population growth.<br />
Furthermore, urbanization has not been<br />
accompanied by industrialization that would<br />
transform our economies. It has largely been<br />
a phenomenon of “jobless growth.” The<br />
rate or urbanization – the influx of people<br />
from rural areas into towns and cities, has<br />
been unprecedented in human history.<br />
Several countries like Ghana have seen their<br />
populations go from being predominantly<br />
rural to predominantly urban, in just a single<br />
generation. The massive urbanization has seen<br />
the explosive growth of informal settlements<br />
with all kinds of catchy names – slums, ghettos,<br />
shanty-towns. The lack of formal sector jobs<br />
has led to the relentless growth of the informal<br />
economy and informal jobs. The reality is that<br />
today, most African countries have largely<br />
informal economies with the informal sector<br />
accounting for over 70-80% of the economy.<br />
Much of the economic growth taking place<br />
in Africa is actually in the informal rather<br />
than formal sectors and this trend is likely to<br />
continue over the foreseeable future. There<br />
is also likely to be an unstoppable growth<br />
in poor informal urban settlements whether<br />
the political establishment and the relatively<br />
affluent minority like it or not.<br />
64 65
Inset: Market. Image Credit: Sean Blaschke<br />
66 67
Above: London Victorian slum - Kensington. Image Credit: Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy<br />
The well publicized “slum clearance” and “city<br />
decongestion” initiatives have not yielded any<br />
measurable or long lasting success. The New<br />
York Times in March 2013 had an interesting<br />
feature article about the bulldozing of a<br />
long-established informal settlement by the<br />
authorities in Lagos and wondered whether<br />
the city’s poor were being made to pay a heavy<br />
price for the city’s “progress”. The article is<br />
accessible at:<br />
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/world/<br />
africa/homeless-pay-the-price-of-progress-inlagos-nigeria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0<br />
There is a need for debate on what to do about<br />
slums or, to use the more polite term, informal<br />
settlements. In Africa given the current rates<br />
of urbanisation and population growth which<br />
are unprecedented in human history, slums<br />
are a necessary process of urbanisation. It is<br />
estimated by economists that more than half<br />
the world’s people now live in “slum” areas of<br />
cities and work in the informal economy.<br />
There is a need for debate<br />
on what to do about slums<br />
or , to use the more polite<br />
term, informal settlements,<br />
in Africa given the current<br />
rates of urbanisation and<br />
population growth which<br />
are unprecedented in<br />
human history anywhere in<br />
this world. Slums always<br />
accompany the process<br />
of urbanisation. It is<br />
generally estimated by many<br />
economists that more than<br />
half the world’s people now<br />
live in “slum” areas of cities<br />
and work in the informal<br />
economy.<br />
68 69
Above: London Victorian slum children. Image Credit: Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy Image Credit: Sean Blaschke<br />
Much of nineteenth century London was<br />
made up of slums, as anyone who ever read<br />
Charles Dickens would imagine or know.<br />
It was the same with New York and other<br />
American cities. Many Indian cities like<br />
Mumbai and Calcutta are mostly slums,<br />
depending on how one defines a slum and the<br />
numbers and living conditions of the people<br />
living there.<br />
In London for instance the great 19th century<br />
slum clearances like what we are seeing in<br />
Lagos, never really solved the problem. The<br />
slums and slum dwellers just shifted to other<br />
geographical areas like St Giles, and newer<br />
slum areas like Bermondsey, Brixton and<br />
others. In fact the poorer parts of London<br />
today very much have their roots and origins<br />
in the Dickensian slums of the Victorian era.<br />
The political and intellectual lexicon may have<br />
changed with the times, as has the economy<br />
and the provision of social housing, but the<br />
underlying socio-economic dynamics are still<br />
there. There is still a constant debate about<br />
issues like urban regelation, poverty and social<br />
deprivation in places like the East End of<br />
London, Tower Hamlets, Brixton, Peckham<br />
and others. Immigration from non-European<br />
parts of the world since the end of the second<br />
World War have added issues of race and<br />
ethnicity into the equation, but basically the<br />
issues are about human beings trying to make<br />
a living in an urban environment with a highly<br />
unequal access to economic and political<br />
power.<br />
In Africa these issues are compounded by<br />
the fact that, almost uniquely in economic<br />
history, we have been witnessing urbanisation<br />
on an unprecedented scale without much<br />
industrialisation. This is the main reason for<br />
the economic dominance of the informal<br />
sector in most of urban modern Africa. A<br />
largely informal economy necessarily goes<br />
hand in hand with a largely informal housing<br />
infrastructure.<br />
What is happening in Lagos is happening all<br />
over Africa including South Africa and our<br />
own Ghana. Ever heard of Accra’s Sodom<br />
and Gomorrah and the City Mayor’s almost<br />
weekly attempts to get street traders out of<br />
the city centre? The trouble though is that<br />
slums and slum dwellers never go away. The<br />
politicians and town planners- or village idiots<br />
as some cynically call them- often seem to get<br />
it wrong. They thought they would escape<br />
Lagos by building Abuja in the 1970s and<br />
now Abuja itself is becoming or has become a<br />
majority slum city!<br />
Most of Accra and Kumasi, our two main urban<br />
centres, are mostly slums. Even the pockets<br />
of affluence we have are under relentless<br />
pressure from the surrounding slums. If not in<br />
terms of people then certainly in terms of the<br />
now almost permanent water and electricity<br />
crises which are a direct result of the explosive<br />
growth in the city’s population from around<br />
200,000 at independence to over 4 million<br />
today - in just over 50 years.<br />
70 71
Image Credit: Sean Blaschke<br />
Some projections have it that in around 20<br />
year’s time, nearly 50% of Ghana’s entire<br />
population could be living in the Greater<br />
Accra Region alone. There is clearly a need for<br />
fresh thinking regarding housing and urban<br />
development.<br />
On current trends, the politicians, urban<br />
planners, mayors and policemen are simply<br />
fighting a losing battle. The growth and<br />
deepening of democracy in Africa means that<br />
increasingly the informal settlements- call<br />
them slums or ghettos or shantytowns- will<br />
be where politicians will have to go looking<br />
for rich harvests of electoral votes.<br />
The successful addressing of the issue<br />
requires fresh economic thinking coupled<br />
with concerted efforts through public-private<br />
partnerships to address the central economic<br />
issues of:<br />
1. Infrastructural development addressing the<br />
issues of water, electricity, sanitation roads,<br />
housing<br />
2. Skills development with a focus on technical<br />
and vocational training<br />
3. Agricultural transformation to raise<br />
agricultural productivity and incomes<br />
In many ways the informal economy and<br />
informal urban settlements will determine the<br />
economic futures of countries like Ghana and<br />
Nigeria. How well a country does depends on<br />
how well the majority of the population does.<br />
If the majority has access to productive skills,<br />
work and incomes and can pay taxes to pay<br />
for services, the economy has a chance of<br />
thriving. If not then anyone’s guess could be<br />
as good as mine.<br />
©Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy<br />
72 73
BUILDINGS<br />
tell a story<br />
20th Century Architecture in Kenya<br />
By Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
MSc Arch Architect MAAK<br />
Inset: Office building in Thika in a “New Expressionism”<br />
style that reminds us of designs by the Spanish architect<br />
Ricardo Bofill, roughly 2000.<br />
Photographs by Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
74 75
About the Author<br />
Janfrans van der Eerden is an architect from the<br />
Netherlands who has worked for three years in<br />
Kenya, both as a building engineer (in Kisumu),<br />
and an architect (in Lamu). While working<br />
in Lamu, he contributed to the renovation<br />
and protection of the town, which is at present<br />
an acknowledged UNESCO-world heritage<br />
site. Since then he has worked many years in<br />
architects’ offices and now has his own practice<br />
in Amsterdam. In addition, he is a lecturer<br />
in architecture and building technology at the<br />
University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. He<br />
is a registered architect in Kenya and is affiliated<br />
with African Architecture Matters.<br />
He makes an annual visit to Kenya and works<br />
in collaboration with the National Museum of<br />
Kenya towards a professional policy on monument<br />
protection and transformation. He also maintains<br />
contacts with universities in Kenya in the field of<br />
architectural education. In the years 2007-2011,<br />
he has travelled extensively within the country<br />
and the result of that trip is a focus on Kenya’s<br />
valuable tangible heritage and the need to protect<br />
and integrate it.<br />
Kenya hosted the oldest of human ancestors. However - unlike<br />
Zimbabwe, Ghana or Ethiopia – it has not been singled out as a country<br />
with the history of an elaborate civilization predating colonization.<br />
Notwithstanding this, there is a lot of tangible heritage of a high quality.<br />
Most of this has been well defined and protected, like the remains of<br />
the Swahili civilization along the coast with international UNESCO<br />
recognition in areas such as Lamu, Malindi and Gedi. Unfortunately,<br />
more recent creations of the twentieth century are often forgotten, even<br />
though that century left behind a remarkable set of artefacts.<br />
Heritage under Siege<br />
Now, in the 21st century, Kenya has a<br />
rapidly expanding economy resulting in a<br />
commensurate boom in the construction<br />
industry. A lot of new buildings are constantly<br />
being erected and even more are needed.<br />
Every few months new images are added to<br />
the public appearance of the city of Nairobi,<br />
and there is a corresponding occurrence in<br />
places like Nakuru, Kisumu and numerous<br />
other cities and towns as well. As plot prices<br />
go up in the centre of towns, the pressure to<br />
redevelop plots with vintage buildings piles<br />
up. Old buildings invariably become soft<br />
targets and demolitions are now going on<br />
at the very places where the only remaining<br />
history of these towns is still visible.<br />
In other parts of the country, even though the<br />
economic development is less, technological<br />
ill-adjustment in terms of service delivery,<br />
undermines the usability of old buildings,<br />
causing them to be either abandoned or left<br />
in a state of great disrepair.<br />
Why Conserve?<br />
To the keen eye, all these buildings are fluent<br />
witnesses of the history, right from the arrival<br />
of the railway to present day. For posterity’s<br />
sake, a selection should be saved for our<br />
children to learn about the history of Kenya’s<br />
entry into the global world. The buildings<br />
with time grow from mere edifices into<br />
valuable representatives that explain what<br />
Kenya is today. And we are not just talking of<br />
buildings, factories and churches.<br />
Cultural landscapes, including large farms<br />
and plantations, public parks and lanes, and<br />
civil engineering works such as bridges and<br />
roads carry with them the ‘placeness’ story of<br />
cultivation and adaptation to human existence<br />
of an era. When destroyed, you remove the<br />
heart and soul that imbues the identity of that<br />
region.<br />
76 77
My Vista<br />
Let us look at the conservation of town<br />
planning, landscaping and architecture from<br />
1895 onwards. The year 1895 is not chosen<br />
arbitrarily. Being the year the East African<br />
Protectorate was founded, it becomes the<br />
year before which all tangible artefacts are<br />
automatically protected according to the<br />
National Museums and Heritage Act of<br />
Kenya (2006).<br />
Since my first encounter with Kenya in 1978<br />
I have been impressed by the surprisingly<br />
high quality of architecture. During my<br />
annual trips to Kenya since 2007 I have<br />
photographed buildings with a great passion.<br />
A lecture called “Built Beauty” was written as<br />
an account of this interaction and delivered<br />
to a professional audience in Kenya in 2012.<br />
Many were surprised by the presented<br />
buildings and cultural landscapes.<br />
Largely inspired by a variety of imported styles,<br />
modern and recent constructions also make<br />
a striking impression with their individual<br />
style. Slowly, however, at the present moment<br />
buildings and structures from the first half of<br />
the 20th century are disappearing. This was<br />
the epoch in which Kenya was suddenly - and<br />
with force - pushed into the modern world<br />
and became a part of a global community. In<br />
fact, lots of new structures remind us of this<br />
fascinating (and often frustrating) period.<br />
However, since Kenya is a relatively young<br />
nation, much attention has gone to other<br />
priorities rather than to research and document<br />
the built past. The enormous increase in<br />
both population and economic growth are<br />
determining the course of development.<br />
Concerned individuals see that this tendency<br />
of uncoordinated demolitions also destroys<br />
the sources from which contemporary<br />
architecture has consistently been drawn.<br />
78 79
Resistance to this pattern of<br />
destruction is in its infancy<br />
but is steadily growing. For<br />
example, small initiatives<br />
have been launched by<br />
individuals or groups with<br />
concerns being raised in the<br />
media.<br />
At a time when Kenya has<br />
been an independent nation<br />
for 50 years, I think the<br />
time is ripe to develop tools<br />
to protect what inspires<br />
us and thus to make use of<br />
what already exists, create<br />
a design continuum and<br />
provide the possibility for<br />
the past with to tell us its<br />
story.<br />
Previous Page: Shops with upper floor dwellings in<br />
Nakuru in an elaborate Art Deco style, roughly 1930,<br />
demolished in 2011.<br />
Right: Hotel building in Thika, possibly designed by<br />
Georg Vamos, in the style of the International Modernism,<br />
roughly 1975.<br />
Photographs by Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
80 81
Conclusion<br />
The available built heritage in Kenya<br />
contains examples that represent all periods<br />
of the global architectural and engineering<br />
development from half the nineteenth century<br />
and onwards. They are therefore a source of<br />
inspiration for all generations of Kenyans,<br />
including architects, landscapers and town<br />
planners. Nobody needs to go overseas to see<br />
the wide achievements which are alive around<br />
us!<br />
This article initially was written for the<br />
magazine of the Architectural Association of<br />
Kenya. By the lecture “Built Beauty” and this<br />
article I hope to make the audience aware of<br />
the quality of the built heritage and inspire an<br />
affinity towards its protection and integration.<br />
With a clear and active policy, we can<br />
showcase such buildings to the public. And<br />
by involving the many stakeholders we can<br />
create a new form of architectural activism in<br />
the region. Alongside this article a selection<br />
of four Kenyan building examples is made to<br />
illustrate the quality in various styles.<br />
Before a policy and understanding of these<br />
issues is successful, guidelines and a scrutiny<br />
is required to recognise quality. May I invite<br />
any professional in Africa to look around<br />
with your experienced eye and see the beauty<br />
surrounding us. Who wants to help developing<br />
the recognition of the past among one’s peer<br />
group as well as the general audience?<br />
Left: Restaurant and bar near Njoro in a romantic rural<br />
European style, roughly 1935, now abandoned.<br />
Photographs by Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
82 83
preserving<br />
ACCRA’S architectural heritage<br />
This event featured the Children’s Library as a backdrop to initiate the<br />
dialogue on the need for preservation, restoration and not erasure. This<br />
important iconic building is a powerful symbol of Ghana’s modernist<br />
contextual tradition. However due to neglect, the building is in desperate<br />
need of restoration.<br />
Hosting the event at the Children’s Library initiated much needed<br />
discourse on why and how we can build on our past as we look to the<br />
future in all aspect of our lives. The panelists included Nat Amarteifio<br />
(Architectural historian, Write & former Mayor of Accra), Senam<br />
Okudzeto (Artist, Writer & Scholar) and Osei Agyeman (Former<br />
President of the Ghana Institute of Architects). The discussion was<br />
moderated by Joe Osae-Addo<br />
The event has brought to light the need for heritage policies, as currently<br />
there is a wholesale destruction of historical buildings. The discussion<br />
involved how people can be encouraged to identify heritage buildings<br />
(outside of the typical forts and castles) and adopt policies to protect them.<br />
In light of this discussion on the city and its history, the event will also<br />
marked the opening of an exhibition featuring the photographs of the city<br />
taken by school children from 10 different areas of Accra. This exhibition<br />
provided the perfect backdrop for what proved to be an interesting<br />
discussion about the city, its history, heritage, preservation and restoration.<br />
84 85
Osei Agyeman<br />
“Architecture is part of the beginnings of<br />
civilization, when man sought to have a<br />
home. Having come this far, it is obvious that<br />
architecture is an expression of the people’s<br />
identity and culture. So as a nation, if you<br />
take us back to the 1950s you will realize that<br />
the icons of our development were closely<br />
related to architecture. They translated into<br />
what our visions were as a nation. Take the<br />
black star square, children’s library, national<br />
museum, coco board building, etc. All these<br />
buildings represented various aspects of our<br />
vision; as far as education, as far as finance,<br />
as far as government and they serve to be of<br />
some purpose.<br />
Somehow between the 70’s and early<br />
80’s onwards, we seem to be lost as far as<br />
architecture as the medium of translating<br />
national heritage. And forgive me to say this<br />
but those footprints that you probably see in<br />
the national theatre, in the conference center,<br />
in the jubilee flagstaff house and the most<br />
recent foreign affairs building are done by the<br />
Chinese or the Indians. So you need to ask<br />
yourself using architecture as a medium to<br />
transform nations, where are we. Once you use<br />
once, you use it throughout. And that is why<br />
we seem to have some amount of discourse<br />
in respect of the arts, in respect of fashion,<br />
in respect of food. You see architecture is<br />
the about the best medium to really aid<br />
civilization, because the only functional icon<br />
that survives beyond time.”<br />
Previous Page : Central Library, Accra<br />
Left: Electricity Department Headquarters<br />
Above: The headquarters of the Industrial Development<br />
Corporation (left) and beyond it the newly opened Cooperative<br />
Bank in Accra, 1957<br />
Images Courtesy of the UK National Archives<br />
86 87
Senam Okudzeto<br />
“For the past several years Uncle Nat has been<br />
organizing these wonderful heritage tours of<br />
Accra, and we had architecture students from<br />
all over the world.<br />
We do these wonderful tours where we actually<br />
take people into Jamestown and actually give<br />
them a sense of how the city built and the<br />
various cultures that informed the capital<br />
as well as then expanding onto the more<br />
modernist buildings. What is really remarkable<br />
is that Ghana’s architecture is becoming<br />
more of a focus for architecture students<br />
internationally. Foreign architecture students<br />
know more about Ghanaian architecture than<br />
Ghanaian students themselves; we don’t want<br />
this to happen.<br />
I love the idea of having an action committee<br />
and actually trying to find practical solutions<br />
that suit these spaces. I love the idea of<br />
renovating this space and using it publicly,<br />
it won’t take much. One of the things that<br />
have been driving me mad is looking at this<br />
floor. I live half the year in Switzerland and<br />
people pay money for old floors. They pay a<br />
hundred times the price of new floor, for old<br />
seasoned hard wood like this. I mean it is like<br />
sitting in a gold mine that no one can see and<br />
constantly when visitors come from abroad,<br />
we have the Tate come and they ask me to<br />
organize these tours with Uncle Nat because<br />
they have heard about his heritage tours. We<br />
have this reputation through people like Nat<br />
and Joe Osae-Addo internationally of really<br />
caring about our heritage and architecture<br />
but it is very frustrating because we aren’t<br />
responding fast enough. And thank God the<br />
buildings that students want to see are still<br />
standing. The reason they are still standing is<br />
because often people don’t have the money to<br />
tear them down and that is really a tragedy.<br />
All these buildings are in a state of disrepair,<br />
but you can tell the sort of love that the<br />
architecture and the design they have managed<br />
to take. These stunning photographs which<br />
kind of manage to capture the elegance of the<br />
form and give you a sense of the beauty that<br />
informs it and somehow the photographs are<br />
a form of renovation in themselves.<br />
We don’t have much work to<br />
do in order to preserve these<br />
buildings. Architecture<br />
responds to a reflection of<br />
our history and our state of<br />
being, and really, we have<br />
to address this malaise. It is<br />
also a form of an ideological<br />
renaissance which is<br />
desperately needed.”<br />
Left (Above): Accra Town and Christiansborg<br />
Left (Below): Central Library, Accra<br />
Images Courtesy of the UK National Archives<br />
88 89
in conversation with<br />
pROF. NIKOS<br />
SALINGAROS<br />
By Zaheer Allam & J. Soopramanien<br />
Prof. Nikos Salingaros is a professor of Mathematics, Physics and Architecture at the University of<br />
Texas San Antonio and is ranked 11th among the “Top 100 Urban Thinkers of all times” and ranked<br />
among the “50 visionaries that are changing your world”. This highly eminent personality has graciously<br />
agreed to share his views on the Mauritian energy model in order to achieve a truly sustainable system.<br />
Emerging countries and emerging<br />
economies have the opportunities to analyse<br />
the pros and cons of developed states such<br />
as Europe and the USA. According to your<br />
experience, would coal be the right choice<br />
for a developing economy in relation with<br />
the energy sector?<br />
NS. No. Coal is a short-term solution with a<br />
large number of inherent problems. We have<br />
the example of China, which has severely<br />
damaged herself by basing its economic and<br />
industrial base on coal-generated energy. Not<br />
only is the air now unbreathable, but also the<br />
model itself is wrong in a geopolitical sense.<br />
China’s economy has been aligned to consume,<br />
and there is not enough energy in the Earth to<br />
sustain that. The energy generated from coal<br />
is spent in producing unsustainable urban<br />
construction, high rises and glass skyscrapers,<br />
a gasoline-guzzling vehicular economy, and<br />
the destruction of a millennial sustainable<br />
way of life. Tragically, the newly-generated<br />
energy has been used to destroy what was a<br />
perfectly sustainable low-energy civilization.<br />
Of course, both politicians and powerful<br />
commercial interests have driven this change,<br />
and many individuals have made personal<br />
fortunes out of it. Well-meaning politicians<br />
have realized their goal of catching up with<br />
the West: but the West was on the wrong road<br />
to begin with. Catching up means making the<br />
same disastrous mistakes.<br />
90 91
Renewable energy is the trend but yet so<br />
expensive in practice. How can we expect a<br />
coal and oil free energy sector for emerging<br />
economies if implementing renewable<br />
assets are unaffordable?<br />
NS. Perhaps you are looking at the wrong<br />
perspective, which gives a skewed balance for<br />
the costs. If you continue to conceive of energy<br />
as centrally-controlled, and requiring massive<br />
capital investment, then yes, alternative<br />
sources are too expensive today. But I’m<br />
recommending instead local alternative<br />
energy sources that can be implemented using<br />
a peer-to-peer model.<br />
The capital outlays are significantly less. More<br />
important, the technology is not dependent<br />
upon any monopoly and foreign control of<br />
know-how and materials.<br />
So, please be extremely cautious with topdown<br />
solutions, whether they are for coal<br />
generation or renewable energy sources, and<br />
instead dig deeper in the self-help category of<br />
energy innovations. Those are to be found if<br />
one looks for them.<br />
Time is going by and the population<br />
of the world is on a swift increasing<br />
trend. What is your analysis on the pace<br />
of implementing the renewable energy<br />
sector? Are we lagging behind?<br />
NS. Those parts of the world whose population<br />
outgrows resources are in for serious problems.<br />
I’m hoping that increased education will level<br />
off population growth, as we have seen in<br />
many parts of the world. Now the renewable<br />
energy sector is progressing slowly, partly due<br />
to inertia of the current energy industry to<br />
innovate, and a misunderstanding of what<br />
energy is for. We know of energy companies<br />
sabotaging new sources of energy because<br />
those compete with what they are now selling.<br />
An even greater problem is that the presentday<br />
energy sector demands centralized<br />
control, and is fighting against any innovation<br />
that promises to produce energy with local<br />
resources that go around centralized control.<br />
Yet this is precisely where the sustainable<br />
solution for humanity lies. Keeping the same<br />
top-down control of energy and merely<br />
substituting giant centralized solar power<br />
plants for coal-burning plants will make only<br />
a marginal improvement, but will not change<br />
the real source of the problem in the long<br />
term.<br />
Electricity being now a basic necessity for<br />
the modern world, will renewable energy<br />
be able to meet up with the demand around<br />
the globe?<br />
NS. I hope so, although I cannot guarantee<br />
it. There will of course have to be a transition<br />
period where all sorts of different energy<br />
sources will coexist for a while. What should<br />
not be done is to take a unilateral decision<br />
on energy sources straight away, and invest<br />
vast amounts into one single source. Or to<br />
commit a country to a single technology, in<br />
case something much better comes along in<br />
a few years. The energy sector must maintain<br />
adaptability, variability, and flexibility on the<br />
shortest possible turnaround cycle. This is of<br />
course the opposite of efficiency. Efficiency<br />
in energy production requires streamlining,<br />
hence introduces an inherent instability and<br />
lack of resilience to unexpected change. All of<br />
us expect major changes in the energy equation,<br />
sooner or later, so it’s essential to build in<br />
resilience into the system and sacrifice shortterm<br />
efficiency. Here, we can learn from other<br />
disciplines such as the constant innovation<br />
of the computer industry (although there<br />
are negative lessons of outdated standards<br />
and giant corporations blocking progress for<br />
years).<br />
Will the world be ready in the next five<br />
decades for petrol-free economies and our<br />
economic activity at large?<br />
NS. I doubt it. And this will probably mark<br />
the beginning of the long catastrophe. But at<br />
least forward-looking countries can minimize<br />
the future damage to their economies and<br />
population by preparing now for a range of<br />
distinct eventualities. Nothing is certain,<br />
so we have to plan for alternatives, and be<br />
extremely flexible. Small countries that are<br />
taking energy decisions today can jump<br />
ahead of those countries that have invested<br />
in antiquated technologies but are now stuck<br />
with them.<br />
92 93
Do you share the popular view that coal<br />
ash is more radioactive than nuclear<br />
waste?<br />
NS. Being a scientist, I would defer comment<br />
on this question to other experts. I have not<br />
researched it, so I have no opinion. It is however<br />
very easy to measure the radioactivity of coal<br />
ash to either verify or dispute this claim.<br />
You are for Biourbanism. Please explain<br />
what is this term.<br />
NS. Biourbanism uses human physiological<br />
and psychological responses to design the built<br />
environment. Everything we build must make<br />
us healthy and not damage our physiology.<br />
The earth’s biosystem has priorities for<br />
biological life; our activities (which include<br />
all our construction, energy generation, and<br />
use) should respect human sensibilities as<br />
long as those don’t damage the ecosystem;<br />
and only lastly prioritize our technology and<br />
its physical manifestations. During the past<br />
several decades, those priorities have been<br />
reversed to promote industrial consumption<br />
instead of biourbanism. A living city should<br />
allow the maximum number of people to lead<br />
healthy lives. The image and geometry of this<br />
healthy city designed by my friends is very<br />
traditional, and it definitely does not consist<br />
of glass skyscrapers amid superhighways:<br />
that is an unsustainable model that leads<br />
directly to ecological and societal disaster. A<br />
sustainable society builds innovation out of<br />
its own heritage and traditions, local evolved<br />
solutions and practices, etc. It does not throw<br />
away everything to replace it with an external<br />
model just because other countries are doing<br />
this.<br />
You support a sustainable future. How<br />
does a coal-powered plant fit in a small<br />
island like Mauritius?<br />
NS. It doesn’t fit at all. Mauritius is a tourist<br />
destination and you don’t want to ruin that<br />
industry by generating smoke like we see<br />
today in Chinese cities. Sure, you can clean<br />
the smoke by using technology, but that isn’t<br />
cheap, and then you become dependent upon<br />
imported high technology. Neither is coal<br />
energy sustainable. Where do you mine it?<br />
How expensive is transport to the island? Do<br />
you have guaranteed sources at an affordable<br />
price for the next several decades? Suppose<br />
China doesn’t have enough coal for its own<br />
power plants… can you compete on price<br />
with China? Will your source sell coal to you<br />
or to China? Questions that are embarrassing,<br />
because they reveal an underlying uncertainty<br />
and fundamental unsustainability. The<br />
militarily powerful countries can afford to<br />
support this extremely expensive city model,<br />
but it damages the lives of ordinary human<br />
beings. Developing countries cannot maintain<br />
it, simply because the stronger countries will<br />
grab the fossil energy sources when those<br />
eventually become scarce. Note that the<br />
scarcity will be determined by political and<br />
military might, and will occur not as the fossil<br />
fuel runs out, but when it seems certain that it<br />
will. Weak countries will be thrown out of the<br />
game altogether. Here is a chance for a small<br />
country to be more advanced than larger ones,<br />
by re-defining what “modernity” really means<br />
within the context of sustainability, and not<br />
tied to catastrophic consumerism.<br />
Previous Page: Image Courtesy of Prof. Ron Eglash<br />
94 95
96 97
CONFERENCE<br />
announcement<br />
The Lagos Dialogues 2013 will take place at the Golden Tulip Hotel Lagos, from 5th – 8th December<br />
2013. We invite you to attend this ground breaking international conference and dialogue on buildings,<br />
culture, and the built environment in Africa. Hosted by the organisation <strong>ArchiAfrika</strong>, based in Ghana,<br />
with support from organisations and institutions throughout Africa, and across the world. Its main<br />
aim is to provide a venue and forum for discussion, debate and academic discourse on emerging themes<br />
related to the African City and the built environment on the continent.<br />
The event is unique in gathering together both scholars and creative people from Africa to provide<br />
a forum to share and debate their ideas on the key themes which are shaping Africa’s buildings and<br />
urban environment, through a number of cultural and social lenses, including literature, art, and the<br />
traditional built environment disciplines.<br />
There are five thematic areas that will be covered:<br />
Theme 1 : The African Diaspora - Culture and the Inter-disciplinary Arts.<br />
From the Harlem Renaissance to the Black<br />
Arts Movement, and across the Atlantic to<br />
the Osogbo Movement, the Mbari Group and<br />
FESTAC’77, black culture has a history of<br />
celebrating its collaborative interdisciplinary<br />
art. Today’s contribution to this tradition<br />
is magnified and expanded by the ease of<br />
intercontinental connections, which has seen<br />
a more fluid movement of art, and artists<br />
across the Atlantic and other geographic<br />
and continental divides. This thematic forum<br />
explores what this movement has meant in<br />
the new reconstruction and reconstitution of<br />
urban culture across Africa and in its Diaspora.<br />
It is also charged to debate and explore the<br />
sources of today’s artistic movements as<br />
filtered through the productions of previous<br />
decades.<br />
Left: Poster of the documentary, Soul to Soul.<br />
Photo: Wikipedia<br />
Theme 2 : Housing Cultures<br />
Above: Opera Village, Laongo, Burkina Faso Photo: Kéré Architecture<br />
Shedding the outdated definitions of<br />
culture and imagining new rubrics beyond<br />
the established Western paradigms of the<br />
Museum, Theatre or Opera House in which<br />
‘culture’ has traditionally been housed and<br />
viewed. What are the new definitions of the<br />
Theme 3 : African Cities and Mass Housing<br />
Above: Nairobi showing Kenyatta International<br />
Conference Centre, Times Tower and Nairobi<br />
City Hall Photo: Wikipedia<br />
culture house? This theme will deal with the<br />
exploration of specific 21st Century African<br />
typologies of performance, exhibition and<br />
entertainment culture, which demand a rethink<br />
of the dated paradigms.<br />
Since the emergence of Timbuktu, Benin, and<br />
Zimbabwe and other urban centres in Africa,<br />
the notion of population hubs in Africa<br />
where trade, education or pilgrimage have<br />
taken place has been embedded history. More<br />
recently Africa is on course to have at least<br />
three cities with populations in excess of 10<br />
million before the end of the current decade.<br />
Compounded with this are the socio-political<br />
forces which have rendered urban areas as<br />
either survivors of war, religious ‘cleansing’,<br />
‘famine’ or conversely intense economic<br />
activity.<br />
98 99
How do we now live work and play in our cities?<br />
How do we engage with the urban, sub-urban<br />
and peri-urban. Can we successfully use these<br />
models of cityscape within the informalities<br />
and different ordering that characterizes most<br />
African cities. What defines and projects city<br />
culture today? What distinctiveness does<br />
Dakar have from Johannesburg? Or Cairo<br />
from Nairobi?<br />
This theme invites its participants to explore<br />
the African from various perspectives; the<br />
cultural - what is and what drives contemporary<br />
city culture in Africa, the economic - how can<br />
our cities compete economically with the rest<br />
of the global world through different flows,<br />
economic, technological and so on. Also,<br />
importantly how do we construct and build<br />
Theme 4 : The physical and virtual worlds of Africa:<br />
our cities to project their uniqueness and<br />
also signify their participation in global city<br />
discourses.<br />
Sub Theme: The Mass Housing<br />
This sub-theme encourages participants<br />
to engage with the ever current discourses<br />
related to debates on how we ‘do’ housing in<br />
the 20th century. Particularly in the ‘South’,<br />
where statistics suggest the majority of our<br />
city residents live in ‘slum’ conditions. What<br />
constitutes adequate mass housing and what<br />
specificities define its delivery in African<br />
cities. Where does the discourse end and the<br />
practice begin. What are the real economic<br />
costs of delivering mass accessible housing<br />
to the masses, what financing, materials and<br />
technologies do we have to have to do this.<br />
Above: A public gathering in the Konso village of Gaho. The unique governance and community<br />
structures of the Konso Cultural Landscape were recognized by UNESCO. Photo: Yonas Beyene<br />
Literary space, Filmic space, Mass Media and<br />
Public Space<br />
Africa has rarely been away from the media<br />
- from the damning Casement Report on<br />
‘goings on’ in the Belgian Congo, to the early<br />
filming of the African jungle in ‘Tarzan,’ to<br />
its portrayal as the hungry continent of war<br />
and famine. Recently the exoticification of<br />
Africa has continued at pace, from the East<br />
African Safari tourism to our 21st century<br />
preoccupation with slum and aid tourism.<br />
What is Africa? Do we view it as a place<br />
as a concept and most importantly as a<br />
commodification in today’s media? What<br />
and how are today’s African spaces inhabited,<br />
and who mediates its presentation and<br />
objectification in the global arena? Arguably<br />
our built environment plays a crucial role in<br />
this process as the film District 9 blockbuster<br />
based in JHB, with Nigerians portrayed as<br />
criminals, used the Johannesburg streets to<br />
portray adeptly. In literature, Achebe, Ekwensi,<br />
Abrahams and others have all written with<br />
more care and narration about the city - as a<br />
backdrop to their seminal novels. How can our<br />
newly found and appreciated urban cultures<br />
and backdrops work more successfully in<br />
redefining or critically re-interpreting the<br />
African city?<br />
How is freedom defined in spatial terms?<br />
Literary terms? Filmic terms? Have there<br />
Sponsored By:<br />
been any historical shifts? How is public<br />
space defined? Spaces of gathering, debate,<br />
discussion, participation, spectacle, action,<br />
domain of common concern, sites of<br />
inclusivity and exclusivity. How is public<br />
space transformed, how it is defined?<br />
Sub-theme: Africa in Print<br />
Of all the mediums, print remains the most<br />
enduring and ubiquitous format, of media<br />
engagement and portrayal of Africa only<br />
recently being challenged in position by the<br />
Internet. The historic print media on Africa,<br />
from the Red Book of West Africa, through<br />
to the Drum, Lagos Weekend, to more<br />
contemporary publications such as Glendora,<br />
the Weekly Mail and Guardian in the mass<br />
media, to the special interest publications<br />
such as Building Lagos. More recently we find<br />
collections on Africa such as the Documenta<br />
Platform 9 collection, Sandbank City Africans<br />
and their afficionadoes have been publishing<br />
on and in Africa for decades.<br />
How does this manifest itself in our<br />
understanding of our urban identity and our<br />
interpretation of urban life today? What will<br />
the future of print media in Africa specifically<br />
be as we all retreat to our digital devices?<br />
What will this mean to the city and how will<br />
it adapt? This forum is a cross over between<br />
the main forum’s focus on all forms of media<br />
and the <strong>final</strong> forum’s sub theme on new forms<br />
of technology in Africa.<br />
100 101
Theme 5 : The Green Imperative & New Technologies for Urban Africa<br />
Above: The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa designed by Peter Rich Architects.<br />
Photo : Iwan Baan<br />
Since the 1992 Rio Protocol, Africans and<br />
others in the world have had to come to terms<br />
with the high cost of energy and the need to<br />
source and develop reliable and inexpensive<br />
methods of generating energy. For urban<br />
life, this also has meant exploring alternative<br />
cooking fuels and building materials that are<br />
locally sourced, less polluting, and meet with the<br />
expected contemporary efficiency standards,<br />
to meet with international sustainability<br />
standards. Also with the introduction of new<br />
communication technologies, such as “BIM”<br />
in the contract process, as well as internet<br />
telephony etc, African cities and their built<br />
environment can be connected with the world.<br />
This thematic panel explores and engages<br />
in debate about what ‘going green’ and new<br />
associated technologies will mean for the built<br />
environment in 21st century African cities.<br />
Are new renewable energy technologies cost<br />
effective for power generation for urban Africa?<br />
Are the sustainable ‘low-tech’ materials fit<br />
for purpose in contemporary buildings, what<br />
non fixed-line, communications technologies<br />
are most effective for file-sharing as well as<br />
communications? In the particular case of<br />
Nigeria, Angola and other petro-economies,<br />
what happens when the fuel runs dry?<br />
CALL<br />
for papers & proposals<br />
We invite you to send in 300-word abstract proposals for academic papers related to these thematic<br />
areas. The African Perspectives Scientific Committee will review all abstracts before selecting papers<br />
to be presented at the conference. Also invited are proposals for projects, cultural interventions, and<br />
other presentation media, associated with these themes, these will also be reviewed before selection.<br />
We particularly invite graduate student proposals on themes of interest, which will help us develop a<br />
student workshop, which will run in parallel to the event.<br />
We expect all proposals to be submitted digitally, by email. For presentation and performance proposals,<br />
please send a description of your proposal, with images where available that can be photographed or<br />
recorded, digitally so they can be sent online. Emails should only be sent to the address given below. A<br />
website for upload of material is being created which will be linked to the email.<br />
Your proposal must be received online by the deadline date 15 June 2013. You will be informed by 15<br />
July 2013, whether we have accepted your proposal. If your proposal is accepted, you will then be asked to<br />
revise this according to the guidelines set out by the reviewers and in the given conference format. If you<br />
intend to go ahead with a full presentation, we expect you to send the conference office confirmation that<br />
you intend to produce a full submission, to the conference on or before 15 August 2013. This confirmation<br />
should include your revised abstract or proposal, taking into account the scientific reviewers comments.<br />
Drafts of papers, artwork, videos and ‘works in progress’ of conference material, should be sent in for<br />
<strong>final</strong> review on or before 15 September 2013. Only work that has been reviewed at this stage will be<br />
eligible for <strong>final</strong> submission.<br />
All <strong>final</strong> conference submissions; papers, artwork, etc, must take place by 5 November 2013. Please note<br />
that work that has not been reviewed in September cannot be submitted in November.<br />
The Lagos 2013 Conference programme will be published prior to the conference, and include abstract<br />
information about all selected submissions; academic papers, artwork etc. After the conference the<br />
scientific committee intends to select the best papers presented to produce an academic online publication.<br />
102 103
Submission Requirements<br />
Please send your proposal (300 words maximum in length) in ‘rtf ’ or ‘doc’ format indicating:<br />
- Title of proposal/abstract<br />
- your name<br />
- your institution<br />
- address<br />
- phone number<br />
- email address<br />
Unfortunately there are no funds available through the organization of African Perspectives 2013<br />
to support any entry. However should your proposal be successfully reviewed we would be happy to<br />
provide letters of support to agencies you may ask to support the funding of your trip.<br />
Registration & Costs<br />
You will be informed when registration begins for the conference. Suggestions will be offered for<br />
accommodation arrangements and logistics. Participation fees are as follows:<br />
Regular fee: $400<br />
International delegates fee: $600<br />
Early bird fee (before 1 August 2013): $300<br />
International early bird fee: $600<br />
Students Fee: $100<br />
International Students Fee: $150<br />
Presenters Fee: $200<br />
International Presenters Fee: $400<br />
Day Fee: $200 per day<br />
International Day Fee: $300 per day<br />
Payment details will follow, but can take place online or by bank transfer?<br />
Important Dates<br />
15.06.2013 Deadline for submission of all proposals<br />
15.07.2013 Deadline for information of selected proposals by scientific committee and/or review<br />
requirements.<br />
15.08.2013 Deadline for resubmission formatted and revised proposals and confirmation of intention<br />
to submit full proposal<br />
15.09.2013 Deadline for submission of full draft proposals<br />
15.10.2013 Deadline for review of all submissions by scientific committee<br />
05.11.2013 Deadline for submission of <strong>final</strong> submissions<br />
25.11.2013 Publication of abstracts of all submissions on the website<br />
05.12.2013 Start of African Perspectives 2013<br />
Scientific Committee<br />
Chaired by Dr Ola Uduku (University of Edinburgh) and Joe Osae-Addo (<strong>ArchiAfrika</strong>)<br />
Theme 1 - African Diaspora Culture and Interdisciplinary Arts<br />
Anna Abengowe, Mabel Smith<br />
Theme 2 - Housing Cultures<br />
Hannah Le Roux, Cordelia Osasanya<br />
Theme 3 - African Cities and Mass housing<br />
Karel Bakker, Moumen, Jean Tall, Laurence Esho, Paul Jenkins<br />
Theme 4 - Physical and Virtual Worlds of Africa (including print and film)<br />
Ola + PhD student, Okey Nduka<br />
Theme 5- Green Imperative<br />
Ola Uduku , Mark Olweny<br />
Student Organiser/reviewer<br />
Thomas Aquilina<br />
Art and Media Proposals<br />
Berend<br />
All Submissions to be addressed to:<br />
Dahlia Roberts<br />
dahlia@aaaccra.org (please use email in the first instance)<br />
Tel +233 (0) 301522248<br />
Cell+233 (0) 544322266<br />
African Perspectives Lagos Dialogues 2013 Conference Office & Information<br />
<strong>ArchiAfrika</strong> Accra<br />
A&C Square, Store #M31<br />
Jungle Road, East Legon, Accra Ghana<br />
We look forward to seeing you in Lagos this December!<br />
104 105
CONTENTS<br />
Contributors<br />
Hugh Masakela<br />
Nat Nuno-Amarteifio<br />
Thomas Aquilina<br />
Jurriaan van Stigt<br />
Zeina Elcheikh<br />
Gilbert Nii-Okai Addy<br />
Janfrans van der Eerden<br />
Zaheer Allam<br />
J. Soopramanien<br />
Joe Osae-Addo<br />
Editor<br />
Tuuli Saarela<br />
Dahlia Roberts<br />
Art Director & Design<br />
Constructs r+d<br />
Joe Osae-Addo<br />
Pallavi Kumar<br />
Dahlia Roberts<br />
Translation<br />
Fabrice Aboussa