Anza Magazine: East African architecture by anza start

ISSN 1821-8695

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AFRICAN

art& architecture

A RCHITECTURE

ISSUE#5

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imprint editorial: comfort BADARU ART DIRECTION: John Paul Senyonyi Managerial: Anitah S. Hakika Business and production: comfort Mosha Cover:

freezing heat space by JOEL LUKHOVI

Collaborating team: Franklin Kasumba Kezia Ayikoru Lydia Kanakulyana Jeremiah Oonyu Maurice Senkondo Clayton Mushi Publisher:

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It was not possible to find all copyright holders of the illustrations used. Interested parties are requested to contact the editors. The publisher makes no representation express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omission that may be made. ©2015 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ANZA magazine is an architectural published magazine produced bi-annually, dealing with issues concerning people and spaces. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation for all the support in making this magazine possible. Anyone who would like to sponsor or partner with Anza magazine is warmly welcome. Interested advertisers in any field of the construction industry, financial institutions, Real estate, distributors. Please contact us: info@anzastart.com www.anzastart.com

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People and spaces

A RCHITECTURE

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The call for papers for this issue aimed at making an attempt to identify how art and architecture influence each other. By the time we were done compiling the magazine we realized that the two disciplines though similar in many ways, are very different. Nonetheless, we came to the conclusion that there is a possibility for both to be used to define a space. If this is done correctly, art in a functional space can very well be archived hence having a combination of Art and Architecture. The authors in this issue come from diverse areas of practice and not to mention various professional levels. Our exclusive interview with Architect Nadir Tharani gives direct insight of what it truly means to be both of an artist and an Architect. Our feature article Visionary Africa, answers the question “How can art and architecture make city development inclusive and sustainable in East Africa?” We also feature the pavilion designed by renowned Architect David Adjaye. Art is acupuncturing Accra, Ghana is an article written by our guest author Baerbel Mueller. She explains the theory of shared space between art, place and the African city. In our last issue, we introduced a new series titled, Definitions of Heritage. We received two contributions that gracefully interpreted the series into this issue. One of them is a concept note about the Impose-expose; Art reveling space, an exhibition by the National Museum of Dar es salaam. The other is story from a group of young passionate students of architecture from Kampala, Uganda. They created an installation based on the question, “How can we save our city?” It is said that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, the images we received give this issue a different experience. They are photographs that effortlessly capture ones attention causing one to give a second and possibly third thought to the potential of the two disciplines when considred in practice. As you go through this issue, we hope that these images help you understand Art and Architecture the same way we have. In the words of Mr. Dominic Muwanguzi a journalist for The Independent Kampala “When artists cozy up with architects - It is street seduction” Enjoy the issue! Comfort Badaru

very morning we wake, we experience! We encounter what was once fated to be our future. This soon becomes our present which with very quick subtlety, becomes a memory. Each process takes us through this unavoidable cycle and repeats each second, Weach week and each year. The fate of our futures is left to the present which is a distant memory within no time.

Silence-Future

by John Paul Senyonyi

Chamazi Dar es Salaam ©architectural pioneering consultants ltd/projects

Prologue

“a soul that is aware, seeks for exquisiteness in detail.”

Msasani beach-anzaupcylce ©jpsenyonyi

Peace-Present

Photography by john paul senyonyi ©jpsenyonyi www.jpsenyonyi.com

House of womders, Zanzibar ©jpsenyonyi

Each portion of our day is a cycle -- a battle between future, present and past. We must seek a serene hideout and place to be calm and intense at the same time to enjoy these strong motions. Looking through a tiny camera hole gives a heightened sense of awareness of the environment in which we dwell and allows us to see our environments true attributes and components as they change from time to time. Only then can we find true art in the atmosphere because a soul that is aware will seek for exquiteness in detail. For this reason, each scene is and should rightfully be a careful journey through the pit stops of our lives, and as we look for inspiration in each scene, we discover a different story... of a place, a culture, a movement. Moments that count enable us to acquire strong memories and teach us palpable lessons... lessons about the impact of art over space or space over art perhaps. They teach us to reflect on a past, to be peaceful about the present, and to envision in silence the future and what is to come... In conclusion, photography is a personal movement.. intended to document our cycle through life. And the moments past, present and possibilities for our futures.

Reflection-Past

CONTENTS... impose Expose: art revealing space Tanzania

We want to draw attention to the used but perhaps unseen spaces of the city, the “places that are just interruptions in your own daily movements”

the RIOT UGANDA

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We realised that the rate at which old buildings in Kampala were being demolished was very alarming and we attributed this to the general lack of awareness of the potential of these buildings

made URBAN Tanzania

Made Urban is one of the youth initiated community initiatives that provides urban art services from artistic campaigns/ads

visionary AFRICA: art and architecture at work UGANDA

shadows & MOVEMENT East Africa

MU Feature

A regional conference “How art and architecture can make city development inclusive and sustainable was thought to be a worthy initiative to stimulate intra- African exchange...

There is an architecture of the place, and if one responds to the context appropriately (and there are many ways), it will belong there.

interview

Joel Lukhovi KENYA Highlighting people and spaces in Nairobi through photography

Projects

Maasai COMMUNITY ART SPACE TANZANIA The project uses compressed earth blocks made from local soil and a ferro- cement roof envelope that gets its form from imitating the undulating hills of the surrounding Serengeti and Loliondo.

Learning from

contemporary art ACCUPUNTURING ACCRA From an urbanistic and social perspective, the conscious decision on how to operate in a given context spatially, temporally, and programmatically,

think big, START SMALL East Africa The lucky winner earns a really special prize: a wooden chair, handmade from the people of Jambiani, with a woven seat and back made of coconut rope.

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IMPOSE/ Expose: art revealing Space By Sarita Mamseri & Rehema Chachage

“We were thinking more about metaphoric voids, gaps, leftover spaces, places that were not developed…For example, the places where you stop to tie your shoelaces, places that are just interruptions in your own daily movements” –Gordon Matta-Clark, 1974 Over half of the world’s population now reside in urban areas. This is due to rapid cultural and economic globalisation. Through rural to urban migration, new economic opportunities and increased global mobilities, cities continue to expand intensely resulting in transformation to their character and identity. Changes in skylines and borders are often accompanied by less noticeable shifts in how cities preserve, present and promote their pasts and traditions against competitive demands for space. Urban heritage, as the valued tangible and intangible legacies of the past, seem to be an important asset for

Untitled // Dickens Otieno- If I wrap myself in ornate cloth, will you notice me? (Kama nikijifunga nguo za urembo, je utaniona?)

communities, since it allows cities to stand out for their uniqueness, attract tourists and inward investment, and retain a historical narrative that feeds into the quality of life. At the same time, new heritage continues to be created in cities everyday, as they continue to grow and expand. Urban heritage meets us in different shapes and contexts whereby a more dynamic understanding, involving various movements, initiatives and everyday practices, also claim the past, present and future of our cities—it is therefore also related to the existence of the transient, the temporal, the interstices, the overlaps and imaginations. This means taking into account and building upon the unsettled, as well as the unseen.

Over half of the world’s population now reside in urban areas. This is due to rapid cultural and economic globalisation. In this context, Impose/Expose: Art Revealing Space is an exhibition about the relationships between people and the public space, from a diversity of approaches. It is a conversation about art revealing space, and the issues surrounding that space whether it is architectural, cultural, social, metaphysical or ideological. We, as curators for this exhibition, do not attempt to present Dar es Salaam city centre as a history of great buildings and important events; rather we map it as multifaceted, and at times a hidden collection of stories that reveal the economic, cultural, and social relations that shape its urban form. We are My city, my image // Paul Ndunguru- Image is everything (picha ni kila kitu)

Hivi Ndivyo Tulivyo, this is the way we are // Nadir Tharani- colour or grayscale (rangi au kijivu)

interested in treating the city as a living museum, offering a fresh look at its changing fabric through a collective walk which features artistic works and performances dealing with different aspects and problematics of the city, such as the boundaries between public and private space, the psychological and sentimental bonds that we establish with the urban environment, the unwritten norms that rule our behaviour in the public space, the movement of the body as a form of knowledge, etc.

We want to draw attention to the used but perhaps unseen spaces of the city, the “places that are just interruptions in your own daily movements” The above quote as American artist Gordon Matta-Clark posed, causes our viewers to question the significance of the artwork in situ. In doing so, one can reflect on matters of space, belonging, value, history and myth, movement of citizens, power and preservation in an evolving Dar es Salaam. In creating this exhibition, we try to create a public history in which we all are invested. To quote the curatorial team for Curating the City: People and Places; “Unearthing and preserving the stories of the city may not seem to be the job of a curator. But “to curate” means, “to care for”. Curating a city is therefore to care for it as a place formed from people’s lives” (Curating the City: People and Places in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA).

Wind chimes // Safina Kimbokota- place of peace. (sehemu ya amani)

Exhibition curators are Rehema Chachage and Sarita Lydia Mamseri. Impose/Expose: Art Revealing Space, (an exhibition of nine artistic interventions in central Dar es Salaam), 26 September–10 October 2015. References Atlee, James, ‘Towards anarchitecture: Gordon Matta-Clark and Le Corbusier’, Tate Papers, Spring 2007, http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/ tatepapers/07spring/attlee.htm (accessed 12 August 2015) de Oliveira, Nicolas, Nicola Oxley & Michael Petry (eds), ‘Installation Art’, Thames & Hudson, London, 2001 Mercer, Kobena (ed.), ‘Exiles, Diasporas & Strangers’, inIVA, London, 2008 Stiles, Kristine & Peter Selz (eds), ‘Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings’, University of California Press, California, 1996 Tawadros, Gilane (ed.), ‘Changing States: Contemporary Art and Ideas in an Era of Globalisation’, inIVA, London, 2004

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People and spaces

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photo on the previous page by NICHOLAS CALVIN at Nafasi Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

The riot... SAVING OUR CITY The Riot is basically are a group of four architecture students who came up with the idea of a project ‘saving our city’. One of us (Susan Nakazibwe) thought we were literally going around town with posters.. Lead author Priscilla Namwenje, Other contributors Akahiirwa Sandra Vanessa, Nakazibwe Susan , Owere Moses

s part of one of my Architecture school projects, I chose to redevelop an old building into modern offices without demolishing any part of the structure. By the end of the project, it was more than just a school project, I had developed a strong passion for the conservation of old buildings. I shared this passion with my colleagues and they became just as enthusiastic about it as I was. Together we decided to make building conservation an entire campaign of its own within our city. The Riot is basically a group of four Architecture students who came up with the idea of a project titled ‘Saving Our City’. One of us (Susan Nakazibwe) had the crazy idea that we would literally go around town with posters and banners ranting on about our cause; which we found funny hence our name ‘The Riot’ was formed. We realised that the rate at which old buildings in Kampala were being demolished was very alarming. We attributed this to the general lack of awareness of the potential of these buildings. This is a description of our journey with the project. Based on the question ‘How can we save our city?’, we decided to rehabilitate the old redundant buildings in Kampala. Typically, a city is made up of different spaces: schools, churches, hospitals, parks to mention but a few. Each one of us

therefore decided to pick one building from our list of identified buildings and proposed different uses for them. A challenge we faced was finding a way to communicate the parallel existence between the rehabilitated buildings and the other buildings of Kampala city. As a solution we created an image of a silhouette of the city skyline and juxtaposed both sets of buildings, showcasing the rehabilitated buildings in the foreground, more prominent than the other buildings in the background. “With our goals and objectives set, we started doing intensive research; both through the internet and physical visits to the affected sites. We used most of our off-school hours to do this research. Our passion led us to notice old redundant buildings that we had not paid attention to before and their potential rehabilitation excited us. I have learnt that when you do things you love and enjoy, they don’t feel burdensome. I am amazed by the progress we’ve made in this project.” Akahiirwa Sandra Vanessa, 21yrs Makerere University, Uganda The installation To showcase our project, we did a bicycle installation. At first sight one sees someone riding a bicycle, pulling a cart full of luggage. The luggage depicts things the rider is trying to save. The rider is created with an

empty picture frame which means that anyone can save the city. We also included audios of the different sounds recorded during our tours of proposed buildings. In this way, people at the installation could hear the voices of these buildings. Along with these voices, we recorded our own experience with the project and our thoughts so that one could easily understand what our project was about.

We realised that the rate at which old buildings in Kampala were being demolished was very alarming. Finally we added African folk music in the background to achieve a timeless feel of the story telling African culture. We also designed a futuristic newspaper to depict the kind of city our project would inspire. ‘It is a process, not only of identifying yourself with the past, but of positioning yourself within the timeline of the building, of imagining yourself from the perspective of future generations, as part of the past to come. In this sense, you not only hear the voice of a building, but become part of it.’ From; listening to old buildings by David Littlefield. For the installation materials, we wanted to use something old and

The installation in Kisementi park

probably useless so as to fit within our theme of rehabilitation and change-of-use. We made a few models and sketches of the ideas we had and then started putting the installation together. Ideas came as fast as they were built, and some just as easily thrown out. We spent nights up drawing, designing and thinking after which, we would build during the day. It took us a week to make the main frame and another week to do finishes plus add our work onto the installation. The locations We aimed at acquiring public spaces in order to appeal to a larger crowd. We were able to place the installation in public parks. By having our

installation there, we made the public parks more useful and triggered some thought about their perception. The way forward We are planning on making the project â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Saving our cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; an annual workshop where we pick different sites in Uganda. Together with architects, Architecture students and well-wishers, we hope to visit these sites, survey and analyse them and then come up with different solutions to save these places. We would like to get people to have a more participatory experience by actually building or renovating different buildings around the country. Each city is different and comes with different challenges. We believe this

project will continue to be a great opportunity to have several minds that will come together to explore further, the potential of architecture in the community. Testimonials Nakazibwe Susan , 22yrs University College Dublin, Ireland: What I found exciting during the whole experience beyond just looking at buildings was the different types of people we met along the way. It was very enlightening meeting the people that actually used and inhabited some of the buildings we visited. Meeting these people gave us a whole new perspective on the buildings, revealing

Futuristic newspaper classifieds

Scrap for installation

how much impact the spaces have had on the people who use them. These spaces, not only provide shelter, but are also places where experiences and memories are created.

a moment, sound and/or a mood through what most would consider a dead space. We wanted people to be able to fall in love with the project like we did.

Namwenje Priscilla, 21yrs Makerere University, Uganda The project has really been a journey that we have followed with blind obedience, and we will continue to follow to wherever it’s taking us. We got so engrossed in this project; we allowed it to change our minds and our hearts, literally making us obsessed.

The profiles of proposed places for redevelopment

We hope to visit these sites, survey and analyse them and then come up with different solutions to save these places. We would go around with our minds tuned to ‘old building alert’ and every time one of us found one, there were butterflies in our stomachs. We were driven by the idea of recreating

Mawanda Road House. Construction period: Estimated 1969 1971. Location: Mawanda Road, Kampala Original use: A two storey residential house with two units (accommodating two families). Second use: Primary school Third use: Church Currently: Has been unoccupied for nearly one year. Demolition has been set for October. Unique features: The building stands along the road and has such a distinct architectural façade. Proposed use for project: A petrol station with a roof top restaurant. Reason: To enable a drive through the

grand entrance at the front leading towards the refuelling service at the back of the house. There is a great view at the back yard that evokes calm. Above the petrol station, would be a flat slab that gives room for further developments like a restaurant or cafe. In this way, we think, the new will be sensitive and aware of the old. Mariandina clinic Construction period: 1950s Location: Mulago Original use: Residential home Second use: A clinic Currently: Unoccupied and listed for demolition Unique features: Timber batten floor; small pieces of timber were neatly placed on screed as a floor finish. This floor has remained in good condition. It also has a three metre cantilever, a lovely balustrade for the staircase and a circular column with beams radiating from the centre that seem to support the weight of the building.

The coffee marketing board

Proposed use for building: Library and museum Reason: Some places simply dictate their desired use and all I could imagine was reading a book when I entered the building. I also imagined the building itself would be a tourist attraction hence proposing it to be a museum so that people could experience the different spaces. Coffee Marketing Board Building. Construction year: 1960s Location: Bugolobi, Kampala Original use: Coffee products manufacturing plant. Currently: Unoccupied since 1995 Unique features: The brightly-coloured louvered façade that doubles as an

Mulago intern residence facade

external skin that provides protection from the weather and a means of ‘breathing’ for the building, creating a cool internal climate. Proposed use for building: Luxurious lofts. Reason: The constantly cool internal climate, amazing bird’s eye view of the city that filters into the spaces and the location is well-suited for rentable living units. Intern Doctor’s residence in Mulago Construction period: 1960s Location : Kiira Road, Mulago, Kampala Original Use: Intern residence for Mulago doctors Currently: Unoccupied Unique features: Composite steel

and concrete cantilever stairs, front façade balcony and shading system. Proposed Use for Building: Young adults (18-28 years) accommodation, public park and multi-use space that could be host to activities such as markets and festivals. Reason: The building has a close proximity to the Kampala city centre, Makerere University and other popular areas such as Kisementi and Kamokya to mention but a few. In addition there are great views of the city from site. Furthermore, there is a general lack of appropriate accommodation for young adults in Kampala especially single fresh graduates and finally the scarcity of free and accessible public spaces and parks in the city.

The installation model by night.

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People and spaces

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MAN,ART

&ARCHITECTURE in Dar es Salaam

By Simalike Walter Musika

‘Site of Creation’ picture by www.crystallinks.com

he urban art scene has been a slowly thriving industry in Dar es salaam which has been used as a tool of communication by young creative individuals in the city. Each of them trying to address alarming urban issues, like mushrooming buildings, while using a medium that is vibrant and brings life to the city. However, the main challenges these individuals face are inadequate working tools and free space. Made Urban is one of the youth initiated community initiatives that provides urban art services by artistic campaigns/ads done to wall murals within the city of Dar es salaam. Street art in Tanzania started in the late 80s, during the period

of African socialism when the youth would illegally migrate into Europe and America to look for a better life. When they returned they would draw all the things they saw during their travel on walls of residential houses and other different buildings in the city. Using Charcoal as their medium, they would draw several “chata” (or marks) of different objects, such as the anchor sign, which was very popular during the 90s. Charcoal remained the main medium until the early 2000, when a South African artist called Zaki made the first spray painted graffiti in Africa. Between 2003 and 2007, the first graffiti crew in Tanzania the Wachata Crew was formed. They made their first appearance in the Words and Pictures (WaPi) event hosted by the British council in 2007. This marked the beginning of the street art scene in the city of Dar es Salaam. History has always been a way by which man can examine and revisit his victories, his values and his culture. It shows how generations survived harsh environments and overcame different struggles. One can arguably say that it functions as a tool for documentation of human development as it shows how man has always related to his surroundings. Art through drawing and illustrations is one of the most powerful tools for historical documentation. During the Stone Age, the people of the Aboriginal society from Australia drew pictures on the cave walls [petro glyphs], which depicted many things from ancient animals, to their religious beliefs, and even extraterrestrial activity, which had a similar resemblance to the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Dogon society in Mali depicted their religious beliefs through rock art of ancestral figures, masks, weapons, animals and other images. Some of the paintings had direct meaning and some were esoteric. This was how man made sense of his surroundings and used art to illustrate and express his progress and conscious awareness.

Songo Rock Shelter picture by Alamy

Made Urban is one of the youth community initiatives that provides urban art services by artistic campaigns/ads done to wall murals within the city of Dar es salaam. “The attributes of a space that are recognized by an observer concerning continuity, coherence and uniqueness is what enables people to identify a place” ~ Bosky et al. 1987 What these two communities had in common is what Bosky calls “continuity”- the logical connection or smooth line of

‘Talents’ picture by www.graffitisouthafrica.com.jpg

concern is to reclaim their spaces back, and get a chance to communicate their concerns and expressions through their surroundings.

One of the wachata works in Dar es Salaam Picture by Natasha Shyrose blog

Simalike Musika is a recording artsist, poet, entrepreneur and aspiring Video producer currently studying at Tasuba Bagamoyo. He has an eye for visual art and urban spaces- Co-founded MADEURBAN Ltd with the intention of promoting urban culture in Tanzania. MADEURBAN (est. 2012) is an initiative aimed at the promotion of Urban culture in Tanzania. We provide art services and event solutions to private and corporate entities from wall murals and photo booths, to artistic ads and campaigns.

development between two things; in this case, the communities and their changing environment. As these communities made stronger, sharper, more durable tools to hunt with, they expressed and documented this advancement through art on their dwellings.

Wonder Welders at Kisutu area Dar-es-salaam Picture by Pernille Baerendsten.jpg

“Being in a place is related to the need of identification, while experiencing the space requires movement from one place to another” ~Yi-Fu Tuan Communities have for the longest time always been trying to make sense of and build more understanding of their environment. This is not a new phenomenon in East Africa either. In Tanzania, the Kondoa Irangi rock art dates as far back as 1500 years ago, and is estimated to contain more than 300 decorated rock shelters. Every community member living in any space has a need to identify with the particular area in order to “be” (or feel his/her presence) in that area. For this particular function we see the importance of and connection between visual art and architecture. In the modern world, this tradition of communicating through spaces has been embodied in what is known as urban or street art. In Dar es Salaam several spaces have been beautified with graffiti; the office buildings of the British Council headquarters being a landmark for its development. Street art has made great strides in Dar-es-salaam city; from sculptures made from scrap metal by Wonder Welders to murals expressing and communicating public concerns, with artists like Local Ism from Wachata Crew spear heading political pieces (Jitokeze2015 Campaign) during this time leading up to elections. The city is in a growing phase and the urban community’s biggest

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Feature

VIsionary africa

art and architecture

At work Mobilization for inclusive urban Development by Kathleen Louw & Serubiri Moses

Art at Work, the itinerant experimental urban project launched by BOZAR and the European Commission, rallied local cultural partners and UNHabitat in its path, and became a lobbying and rallying instrument. The Road to Kampala n September 2012, the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (BOZAR) organized the regional conference How art and architecture can make city development inclusive and sustainable in Kampala, Uganda?” This event was part of larger traveling urban platform project called Art at Work, an urban experiment designed to generate a reflection on the place, role of and access to culture in civil society. The project’s simple format called for an open-air wooden exhibit pavilion designed by architect David Adjaye, placed in public spaces and sheltering temporary African contemporary photography exhibits conceived by Simon Njami and local curators, as well as parallel workshops for artists. Launched at the 3rd EU-Africa summit in Tripoli, Art at Work was produced in six African capitals from 2011 to 2012 (Ouagadougou, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Harare, Kampala, Bujumbura, and Nairobi), with the support of the European Commission. Throughout the duration of this project, public, press and institutional reception of this initiative confirmed three essential values: the commitment of a new generation of African artists to urban renewal, arts professionals’ creativity in this domain, and the importance of access to culture. In Kampala specifically, the proof of the powerful vitality generated by culture in public spaces became evident with the spontaneous installment of small merchant stalls all around the pavilion, shortly after its launch. More importantly, this project and particularly the Kampala conference, through the people it mobilized, became the embryo of a small but powerful multidisciplinary and multi-institutional lobby for the cause of people- focused and culture-based urban development. The idea of adding a regional component to the Kampala edition of the Art at Work project came from existing local momentum forregional connectedness, from the attempted traveling East-African Art Biennial (EASTAFAB), to the Bayimba festival, the new Kampala contemporary art biennial (KLAART12), and the country’s Jubilee celebrations of independence, all happening within the same period, Fall 2012.The regional conference How art and architecture can make city development inclusive and sustainable was thought to be a worthy initiative to stimulate intra-African exchange on the issue of urban development, and to complement well the artists workshops of the Art at Work project. Around a keynote presentation by David Adjaye, the conference succeeded in gathering in Kampala City Hall over 70 professionals from the East African Region – mayors, planners, architects, and arts professionals – all engaged in the challenge of (re)defining their cities. The conference benefited from partnerships with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Bayimba Cultural Foundation, and Makarere University, and the valuable collaboration of the Aga Khan Development

Art at Work pavilion in Kampala railway garden 2012 © BOZAR

Network representative office in Uganda, and ArchiAfrika and UN Habitat. The Declaration of Kampala was adopted at this forum, as an example of commitment that can rally regional, national and local stakeholders in the field of art and architecture around the common goal of inclusive and sustainable urban development in African cities. An observer’s notes by Serubiri Moses The program started with strong remarks and commentary such as “Glass Boxes are a disaster. This particular remark was made by Dr. Allan Birabi, a Professor at Makerere University, Uganda refering to the impunity of increasing Glass Curtain Wall Buildings in Kampala, that disconnect the lay man from his city Kampala. This subject of belonging to a neighborhood, city or urban center, was very much a part of the discourse in the regional conference. During one of the breaks, a professor of architecture from Dar Es Salaam University, Camellias Lekule, told the story of the first time he went to a bar in his neighborhood. As I was having my beer with my neighbor, another dweller in the village came up to my neighbor and asked, “Who is this man?” At this, my neighbor responded, “do you know the red double cabin?” The village dweller instantly recalled, narrating exactly where, when and what time he sees it in the neighborhood. I quickly went home to my wife declaring never to return to the bar; realizing my car was more well-known than I am. We then

decided to go out walking more often outside our gated home, and soon, everybody knew who we were. Professor Lekule was responding to my comment that in Malaysia, people do not go home after work, except to change their work clothes. After that, everyone goes out to eat and to socialize in the market. The life of the city revolves around its night market referred to as ‘Pasar Malam’. It is the nucleus of their city, and ultimately the glue that connects all different races together after a long day’s work. In contrast, our city Kampala rarely has these open public spaces, except those open for business interactions. The city beckons to the British Orthodox Planning Model exactly as it was 50 years ago when Uganda gained Independence. This proves the fact that, Independence of Uganda was designed for full integration of our communities in the planning. However, as Kampala continues to grow in population it has pushed those boundaries, pouring over into the slums, as well as vast areas designated for sewage collection. The GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Joy Mboya, a Kenyan Architect and director of GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi asked two the questions, “Does the African belong in the city?” and “How do we make this our city?” In colonial days, an African needed an identity card showing where his destination was. Africans were not allowed to walk idly on the streets of Kampala and

People and spaces

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Art at Work pavilion in Kampala railway garden, with commercial stalls installed around it 2012 © BOZAR

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Nairobi, especially on the so-called ‘Seven Hills’ which were distributed according to race, and favored the white and Asian communities over their african counterparts. To answer the second question, Ms. Mboya presented a paper about the “GoDown Arts Centre” in Nairobi, a public art exhibition space which partly sustainable on its own as well as donor funded. She called it a cultural prescient combining political, business, and social aspects, and traced its neighborhood to political (Independence Grounds) and intellectual spaces (with figures such as Tom Mboya, an ancestor of Joy’s) that led up to Kenya’s independence. Her paper also showed how the centre had chosen to integrate the collective efforts of polytechnic architecture students, professional urban planners as well as visual artists and intellectuals in rethinking the structure of the particular street on which the GoDown functions, such as walking distance to a refreshments boutique, as well as shade, all which worked along the theme: “How can we make the city ours?” A playground from 23,072 bottles Acclaimed artist, Bruno Ruganzu, answered this question by declaring how he had made an active intervention on his city Kampala, straight from the slums of Acholi Quarters. He had spoken to a primary school about setting up a children’s playground, as the children’s not having a public space both at school and at home caused

serious problems. Bruno presentated his project on how the playground was built using recycled plastic mineral water bottles, he stated that these bottles were the cause of mass flooding in the city, by blocking the sewers. The students together with their parents collected 23,072 bottles.

“Does the African belong in the city?” and “How do we make this our city?” In the time in which the playground was set up, i.e the last three months, the school’s population increased by 300 students, proving that change indeed can be affected by small means. An informal settlement such as the Acholi Quarters in Kireka slum, is a place where, especially because of this public art space, the people there have a deep sense of belonging. The Identity of Urban Africa The key speaker of the conference, renowned architect David Adjaye, who designed the pavilion in which the Art at Work exhibition stood at Railway Grounds, echoed this notion on a much larger scale, questioning the identity of urban Africa. Using pictures of urban cities throughout Africa, he elaborated his theory on the identity of urban Africa, speaking less about the commonalities between these cities but dwelling on the diversity that is geographical, cultural and ethnic.

Impact The project emphasized bottom-up, urban culturebased, asset-focused initiatives that foster re-imagining of the city, cultural diversity, and cultural confidence and harmony among citizens; bridge the gap between civil society and national urban policies by showcasing these types of models; and develop context-based narratives for sustainability. A chain reaction of interventions in various high-level fora has been at work since Kampala, thanks to the engagement of many dedicated institutions and individuals. In October 2012, the Ugandan Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, took the floor in the 3rd meeting of the culture ministers of ACP (Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific) in Brussels to evoke the conference held in Kampala, and ask that the assembly adopt a resolution in this field. This was unanimously approved and Resolution No. 21, under the chapter ‘capacity building’, read as follows: ‘[The Ministers of culture of ACP countries] propose measures to value the role of arts and

architecture to the service of inclusive and sustainable urban development in ACP cities.’ In April 2013, BOZAR, the European commission, and ArchiAfrika were invited to organize a side event at the 24th Governing Council meeting of UN Habitat. The event, labeled Art and Architecture at Work included two presentations, one by South African architect Heinrich Wolff, on his socially-engaged architectural work in South Africa, and the other by Joy Mboya, director of the GoDown Arts center in Nairobi, on its upcoming new city-wide festival Nai Ni Who.

A chain reaction of interventions in various high-level fora has been at work since Kampala, thanks to the engagement of many dedicated institutions and individuals. The collaboration continued in a November 2013 panel The Value of culture and creativity in urban development presented at European Development Days, the European Commission’s annual development forum. For this event, BOZAR, the European Commission and UN Habitat gathered five panelists from local government, cultural, planning, business, and architecture in various parts of the world (including Joy Mboya of the GoDown Arts Centre of Nairobi; M.A. Masunda, former mayor of Harare; Indian planner Shipra Narang Suri, and Carlos Jamarillo; the former head of planning in Medellin, named the most innovative city of the year by the Wall street

Visitor in Kampala Art at Work pavilion. 2012 © BOZAR

He mentioned that the common map of Africa divided as in the Berlin Conference of 1884, is distinctly problematic when trying to discover an urban identity of African cities, instead choosing to base his PhD thesis research on geographical relationships within African cities, and perhaps the broader common relationship between Africans and architecture in these different cities based on the Savannah, the North African Desert and the Nile Basin for example.

People and spaces

article

Journal in 2012). This panel was in fact the only discussion in this forum planned around the topic of culture, and its objective was to argue for the need to integrate fully art, architecture, public spaces, culture and creativity into the post-2015 development agenda. In April 2014, BOZAR organized with the European Commission and UN-Habitat Visionary Urban Africa, a roundtable event on the margins of the 4th EU-Africa Summit, where European and African urban activists, architects, networks, artists discussed pressing issues to convey to the EU Commission. Then Commossion President José Manuel Barroso participated in the event’s closing session. BOZAR published Visionary Urban Africa: Built environment and cultural spaces for Democracy for the occasion, a publication summarizing the Art at Work experience and featuring several other similar initiatives in Africa. In June 2015, BOZAR and UN Habitat teamed up again to propose a panel debate around the topic of public spaces in Africa, with the participation of Gehl Architects, Denmark and Racines, Morroco. What Next? UNESCO stated that no society can flourish without culture, and no development can be sustainable without it. In tandem with the priority issue of urban development – ‘the most defining phenomena of the 21st century’ according to the World Bank – we need to affirm the role of culture as a key binding element for social cohesion and the exercise of democracy in the fast-growing and young cities of the developing world. Indeed, in today’s globalized world and information economy, the attractiveness and well-being of cities represent influential social contexts

for economic growth, and the creativity embedded in each city and emanating from its diverse stakeholders, is a driver of local and national development. Local, bottom-up initiatives, visionary experiments, are needed to support this argument.

UNESCO stated that no society can flourish without culture, and no development can be sustainable without it. Art at Work, the itinerant experimental urban project launched by BOZAR and the European Commission, rallied local cultural partners and UNHabitat in its path, and became a lobbying and rallying instrument. The synergy of the partners’ respective missions (culture, development, habitat) came together on the terrain of urban development, and combined, strengthen the message conveyed at high-level fora. There are many important initiatives and discussions on culture-based urban development generated by a multidisciplinary group of professionals in the Continent, such as Doual’art’ Salon Urbain de Douala’, Picha’s biennial in Lubumbashi, and ArchiAfrika’s African Perspectives conference series.’ These initiatives need to be documented and publicized. Actual urban projects, such as Nairobi’s Nai Ni Who festival, need to be written up and analyzed in terms of costs, benefits and impacts. Official fora such as Habitat III in Quito in 2016, or UCLG meetings, are ideal militancy platforms where the message for inclusive, culturebased urban development can be heard again and again, arguments made, and success stories or case studies shared.

David Adjaye in pavilion 2012 © BOZAR

photo on previous page Art at Work pavilion construction 2012 © BOZAR

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The article is part of the Promoting Energy Efficiency in Buildings in East Africa (EEBEA) project currently being executed by UN-Habitat in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

shadows&movement Art and Architecture set off by an idea at conceptual stage Crap tables (left) and Sea shells on building

A conversation with Nadir Tharani

Comfort Badaru: As an artist and an architect, how would you describe the discipline of art and that of architecture? Would you say that they are similar? Nadir Tharani: I think they are similar and dissimilar though they are very specific practices. The product is very different and responds to different conditions. The artwork is usually contained within a built environment or a controlled environment (I am here thinking of sculpture set in landscape). A building, the product of architectural design, responds to the sun, the prevailing breeze, the site, and the sense of a ‘place’ – the immediate environment and culture. In painting, the kind of painting that I do, there is a need for constant decision making in a short span of time. As I wrote in the Positions of Power catalogue: “All the preparation, the thought, the sketching, all this fades into the background. The organisation or composition, the mark here or there, burnt sienna or

sepia, coarse stroke or the blending, gestural or reticent, all this has its intrinsic logic which requires much effort to discern during the act of marking; & this inevitability can only be revealed during the act of making.” Even painting a palm requires much concentration; it’s tiring. On the other hand, the architectural design process can be drawn out, though when it comes to sculpture or installations, there are similarities with the architectural process. Perhaps there are also similarities in perception; one moves round a sculpture and often one views a building from different sides. The design process can also be set off at the conceptual stage by an idea eg sand crabs, or a bird or a sea shell – at least that’s how I work sometimes; art does the same. CB: Do you think art can be manipulated to create architecture? And is the reverse possible? NT: Some artists like James Turrell create space using light. The reverse is difficult but architects also manipulate

space using light or creating shadows to manipulate the built form. With our strong sunlight, shadows are an essential design element, a layer that moves with the sun, creating angular or curved shadows depending on the surface. Movement is also an essential element of how to building is perceived – just as in sculpture. I find it hard to do a building that looks the same on all sides. The facades of the apartments at UN Road in Dar es salaam responds to different external conditions and intentions and so it changes as one moves down the road. The TCAA building looks slim as you approach it and then it has a formal, symmetrical, wide frontage when you get to the front. CB: How do people in the East African context relate to art and/or architecture? Is there any particular reason for this eg historical, cultural background? NT: I think they treat them as separate practices, like most people around the world. They probably

People and spaces

INTERVIEW

had wanted a temporary ‘building’, but the budget restricted it a minimal ‘structure’. I thought of them as a response to a context and the budget and did not really decide from the outset whether it was architecture or art.

Apartments on UN road in Dar es Salaam

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change gear, their perceptive matrix, when they approach art or architecture though the boundaries between art and architecture are often blurred when it comes to installations.

Movement.aviation house

CB: In practice, how is your approach as an artist reflected in your architectural profession? With reference to some projects that you have done, how would you translate the topic of art as part of architecture? NT: As I said before, they are different practices but I am sure that there are crossovers that I am unaware of. I mean I can be loose with the design – and this is a similarity with art. I am fond of the thick yellow light when the sun sets – so the west façade of a house was manipulated to have a clerestorey, the light was then bounced within the building so that the wall below lit up

for a few minutes with this light. Or the shape of openings in a wall that stem from birds and butterflies. The roundabout structure, ‘The Sun also Moves’, could be considered both architecture and an art installation: the wall spiraled down to reveal a void contrary to the common tendency to insert an object in the centre. One could see to the other side when the slits coincided as one moved round. The act of moving round a circle was essential to the manifestation of this structure. The boundary wall (which slits for the sentry to ensure the mirrors stay) for the Aga Khan Primary school, is an architectural element but it is playful… The installations for the Commonwealth Institute for two consecutive music festivals where painted poles defined the entry and the festival area could be also loosely defined as both. The client

CB: Many architects truly get to realize their first buildings after many many years of practice. This is something that often comes with experience and the building reflects what the architect really aims at achieving through his profession . Le Corbusier realized his first at aged 40, with his 1923 villa la rohe in Paris. Your thesis was “Towards National Architecture”, do you think you have managed to achieve what you wanted after many years of practice? NT: I do not think there is a ‘National Architecture’ anymore; it was a product of its time, of the 70s – most countries saw and even critics had categories such as ‘Brazilian Architecture’. Now, I would say there is an architecture of the place, and if one responds to the context appropriately (and there are many ways), it will belong there. The thesis looked at shaping the building form to minimise solar gain and increase air movement, the form(s) having a relation to the various building traditions of Tanzania. It also posited the way we move, walk, as being an integral part of the design. These thoughts still underpin

Shadows : Residential house and the MTU building in Mwanza Shadows house

The laboratory at NIMR in Mwanza (and the MITU building on the same time) acknowledge Sukuma architecture and the people there did see this affinity. The curves of the house in Msasani Village, which have a functional purpose, also stem from similar engagement with our historical forms. In a sense its ingrained now so I design without explicitly rationalizing the form.

Roundabout structure, Aga Khan primary school boundary wall & Commonwealth institute

...there is an architecture of the place...

Thesis project: art gallery in Dar es Salaam

most of the architectural design; the corridor outside the Aga Khan Primary School expands in front of the library door to allow for the class to gather before entering. Or the ‘bites’ or the ‘cut outs’ in a facade which allow the breeze not only to penetrate deeper within a building but, at the same time, increase the air velocity.

Still wondering up in the air

The terminus commute

JOEL

Worth less | more than the other corner.

Back to the future

LUKHOVI

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People and spaces

Project

MAASAI COMMUNITY ARTSPACE in Tanzania

Overview The overall EU-UNESCO project aims to increase general awareness and knowledge of Maasai pastoralist culture and communicate its qualities and assets to its own youth, other Tanzanian population groups, and tourists. It shall help the Maasai to transfer the skills and knowledge of their cultural expressions to a younger generation, build the capacity of the local artists, and promote contemporary creativity and innovation based on local heritage and traditions. The project will develop local cultural industries, enhancing livelihood strategies, in particular for women and the youth. Project Located in Ololosokwan, Loliondo District, Tanzania, the Community Art Space aims to use architecture and art as tools for local development of the Maasai people. It includes spaces for value addition of local trades such as, honey making, tanning, beadwork to mention but a few. The project is a result of collaboration between UNESCO and IrkiRamat, a local NGO with funding from EU. It also includes architectural input from the University of Liechtenstein (Uni.Li, Liechtenstein) and Ardhi University (ARU, Tanzania). A series of design workshops were held in Ololosokwan village to develop the initial architectural designs. During these workshops, the local Maasai women and students from ARU and Uni.Li explored traditional Maasai construction technology and local materials to later on build bridges between contemporary design and traditional elements and characteristics. A total of 15 students and young architects from 7 countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Romania) participated in these workshops. Concept The brief required the team to come up with a sustainable, open but closed structure putting into consideration the local methods of building and the available materials. Other contemporary methods of construction as trained by the participating universities could be used especially where the local technics might have design failures.

Making the physical model

By Franklin Kasumba

Design The design explores bold contemporary expressions based on the local materials and building traditions. Contemporary solutions from the different regions were used to complement the Maasai methods. The roof envelope was designed to create a form imitating the undulating hills of the surrounding Serengeti and Loliondo. The Maasai ladies provided woven frames that were used as screens as well as woven furniture.

A number of design workshops were held in Ololosokwan village to develop the initial architectural designs. Program The proposed structure comprises of a complex with open and closed spaces that includes; workshops, a shop, knowledge centre with a library, recording studio, exhibition and cultural exchange spaces, a picnic area and camping site. The perimeter is demarcated by thorn branches of acacia (in the same way the Maasai use them to protect their own compounds, the bomas) and the site is left open to allow for the occasional interaction of the users of the site with the local animals (from domestic animals to the occasional monkey or gazelle that may stray into the compound). Materials Ferro-cement for the roof, compressed earth blocks for the walls, steel for the columns and woven twigs for the furniture and screens. Credits University of Liechtenstein Version 08.06.2015 CFA

The team

The site

The masaai women weaving the screens

Program One of the masaai participants making reference

LEARNING FROM...

Contemporary art

Accupuncturing-ACCRA By Baerbel Mueller

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The shared space of art, place, and the (African) city nvestigating the evolution of art spaces on the African continent in relation to its effects on the context they are located in, is most thrilling. New forms of connecting art and society, and engaging audiences, emerge. Artists, cultural producers, and curators either leave behind a given (institutional) framework or create a new one where there has been no place for contemporary art thus far. They create platforms on their own, according to their needs and visions. (Small-scale) cultural hubs and urban attractors are created through artistic (spatial) practices. Urban life and public space are activated and transformed, and often, participatory processes are launched. Urban actors – artists, audiences, and residents, respectively – are stimulated and empowered to experience and reflect their cities and societies differently. Artistic projects become engines for transformation.

“Over the past decade, in Africa, the production of artistic and cultural projects that challenge the definition of urban space, history, identity and agency, has increased dramatically. In addition to that, there is an ever-increasing proliferation of artist collectives and new cultural platforms, the majority of which start from the need to address issues occurring in their cultural contexts that would otherwise remain

invisible. These ventures aim to produce artistic and cultural initiatives that engage their public sphere through means of ephemeral interventions, site-specific projects, serial events, or – circumstances permitting – by establishing permanent platforms: art centres, theatre companies, dance companies, and all sorts of venues for association.“ (Elvira Dyangani Ose, 2013) From an urbanistic and social perspective, the conscious decision on how to operate in a given context spatially, temporally, and programmatically, and how to locate oneself, relate, and generate one’s own physical space could lead to progressive, open forms of institution building or artistic intervention. From an architectural perspective, the challenge would be to generate responsive spatial strategies that can sustain and highlight these new social and artistic initiatives. The respective artistic mission should be mirrored in a spatial concept, which also represents and allows for desired degrees of openness, inclusiveness, and visibility. Due to their contextual nature, such spatially and programmatically embedded art spaces can have lasting impacts: Ideally, they can take dynamic and daily phenomena into account, which is so relevant to capturing the essence of the African city – and which architecture, in the conventional sense, as well as the Western model of

Urban life and public space are activated and transformed, and often, participatory processes are launched. Therefore, these artistic and cultural projects are hardly ever centrally located, but often more in suburban areas, or -- strategically -- in more neglected neighbourhoods. For more temporary interventions, and in order to address larger -- and other -- audiences, the conscious appropriation of public space or marginalized neighbourhoods takes place. On an architectural scale, the revitalization and adaptation of existing structures, the construction of new structures, and the creation of temporary or ephemeral spaces, are the spatial strategies that are applied. However, many initiatives operate beyond physical space, being located in the digital sphere, freeing themselves from the limitations of locality, using and sharing the spaces of others from time to time if needed and in a project-specific manner. Art acupuncturing Accra, Ghana It has only been very recently that Accra´s art scene could be characterized by a more public visibility and intense creative vitality spread all over the city. This happens in addition to (or perhaps directly because of) the fact that the (contemporary) art sector is still widely ignored by the state or capital´s municipality. The significance of the art and culture of and for society is not seen: Local artists need to be sustained in order to be able to produce and display their work; art platforms need to be acknowledged for the production of artistic, urban, and societal knowledge, and for bridging parts of society that would otherwise remain separated. Where are these initiatives grounded, and how are these forms of cultural practice housed? Looking back only one decade, the most visible, and

at the same time, fairly hermetic spaces of display for contemporary art have been the Goethe Institute and the Alliance Française Accra, both located in more exclusive neighbourhoods, and -- by their very nature -- programmed according to a specific foreign culturalpolitical agenda. A Ghanaian non-commercial gallery space did not exist at that time. Then, in 2008, the Nubuke Foundation was founded on the initiative of Ghanaian artist Kofi Setordji and others. It can be read as a stable cultural infrastructure, a material body, a home base for artists of different generations, a social space, and a gesture for the neighbourhood in which it is embedded. The Nubuke Foundation is still one of the most important art platforms in the city, dedicated to the promotion of Ghanaian visual art, culture, and heritage, offering a diverse program of workshops, exhibitions and poetry events. From the beginning, it has been housed in its permanent location, a garden and an adapted building in East Legon. It serves as a refuge from Accra´s traffic. Nevertheless, it is an inclusive environment, supporting the communities around it, as well as artisans in the region. Currently, the foundation is further spreading its network geographically and topically, and deepening its interest in promoting traditional art forms and their translation into contemporary Ghanaian culture. As more and more young artists are moving from product-focused to dialogical and social forms of art, new working modes, wider networks, and alternative spaces of artistic production, education, and (re)presentation are being requested. The objective of the Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute was to translate this claim into a programmatic, territorial, and spatial statement. Located on the Atlantic coast of Ghana´s Central region, Haduwa aims to serve as a creative retreat for all Accra-based and international artists and cultural activists, as well as the surrounding fishing communities. Architecturally, the challenge became to generate a new typological model of an open institutional space that mingles the diverse temporalities of architecture, art, and the everyday. The type of space that has been created epitomizes an alternative to total social and aesthetic control: a piece of bamboo architecture, which is difficult to categorize as it is not a “proper” building, but also not

the stable art institution, can barely accomplish. In practice, the process leading up to decisions on where to locate and how to shelter a particular project is strongly driven by the personal ties of the respective initiators, and even more, by economic constraints.

LEARNING FROM...

urban and social impact is the annual ChaleWote festival, located in Accra´s historic neighbourhood of Jamestown. This transdisciplinary street art festival attracts thousands of people from diverse backgrounds and for one weekend, transforms Jamestown into an exceptionally dynamic and low-threshold public space, which can hardly be found anywhere else in the capital during the rest of the year. For the participating artists, it is an extraordinary opportunity to work in an experimental manner. Still, the (potential) economic impact on the (economically fragile) community of Jamestown, and thereby the contextual integrity of ChaleWote, could be intensified in the future. The Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana critically reflects the integrity and potential of its artistic initiatives in selected communities (outside of ChaleWote). From

Haduwa-site plan by [a]FA

just a secondary landscape. It is a stage, shelter, gathering space, landmark, and more. For artist Serge Attukwei Clottey and his collective GoLocal, there is no need for a built stage, the city itself becomes the stage. Based in the neighbourhood of Labadi and radiating from there, the collective beautifully and radically contributes to a more sustainable, inclusive, and creative urban environment through its very locally rooted but also contemporary artistic practice. In the form of spatial installations and powerful performative interventions, cultural, political, and environmental topics are tackled critically and shared with very diverse audiences. Another unique, larger-scale format that can be identified as a means to successfully marry artistic visibility with

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its beginning in 2004, FCA´s mission has been twofold: on the one hand, to free contemporary art from the gallery system and to cultivate other representational modes and audiences, on the other hand, to serve as an active network and a discursive forum for the production of artistic knowledge and the discussion of art’s role in West African and Ghanaian society. Spatially, FCA operates from a small-scale headquarters located inside the Web Du Bois Center area in Cantonment, Accra, which also houses its art library. In a concentrated, sometimes improvised, manner, artist talks, reviews, and symposia take place. When it comes to more public or representational formats, other institutional spaces of partnering organizations are being used. Thereby, FCA is

also networking diverse spaces and initiatives across the city. This is also is what Archiafrika does from within the background of architecture and urbanism. Since it moved its headquarters to Accra in 2012, it has been promoting the role of art, architecture, and design in redefining the African-built environment, as well as fostering inclusive, sustainable, and bottom-up urban processes in Accra. This is increasingly occurring through the active involvement of artists and communities. In summary, all these initiatives operate beyond confined spaces and outside their comfort zones. By acupuncturing Accra, they generate transformative processes and shared spaces with catalytic effects on the urban fabric, critically and beautifully contributing to possible (urban) futures.

The article is based on conversations with Kofi Setordji, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Victoria Okoye, Ato Annan, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, MaeLing Lokko, Sir Black a.k.a Benedict Kojo Quaye, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Lesley Lokko, and Joe Addo (between 2009-2015)

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People and spaces

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THINK BIG,StART SMALL by Clemens Kubicek

Chair made by Clemens Kubicek in Bolzano, Italy

any architects face a moment when they challenge themselves with the design of a chair. However, what at first glance seems an easy task could soon turn out in a complicated mission, since it requires a deep knowledge of human ergonomics. Like architect Mies van der Rohe once said: “It is almost easier to build a skyscraper than a chair.” But this should not restrain the architect from designing his/her own one, or, like I did, to imitate and build an existing model. You never know where you will find the next idea for your next project. In my case, it happened some time ago in Jambiani on Zanzibar Island, Tanzania. Once a year there is a nice event that gathers almost all of the inhabitants of this small seaside village: an amusing bicycle race from Jambiani to Makunduchi and back. All the participants, boys and men of different ages, start at the same time and cycle as fast as they can on the main road to the next village, where they turn around and head back to Jambiani. The rest of the village awaits one by one in the finish line the brave competitors. I was told that the older, bigger bicycles with just one speed are often faster then the newer mountain bikes with larger wheels. All participants get a small prize like sweets or soft drinks. The lucky winner earns a really special prize: a wooden chair, handmade from the people of Jambiani, with a woven seat and back made of coconut rope. In the moment when the committee handed the chair to the winner, an idea came to my mind…

For a while, I had been observing people along the Tanzanian coast digging holes on the beach, where they bury coconut husks covering them with sand and stones. Weeks after, the constant falling and rising of the tide made the husks soft. After uncovering and hitting them with a tree branch, the women of the village start to braid the coir to obtain resistant ropes. Normally, they form coils of about 40 meters of length. Coconut ropes have always been used in traditional roof- and wall constructions. Furniture is elaborated as well with this material for products such as sun loungers and chairs, as the one from Jambiani. In order to materialise my idea, I bought a coil of coconut rope in Tanzania, and brought it back home (northern Italy) with me. I cut some branches and started to build a rough copy of the Jambiani chair. I used the wood of a local rowan tree and hand carved the wooden elements I needed for the construction. I then weaved the coconut rope to form the seat and back. There was no need for nails, as the rope held the wooden elements firmly together. In conclusion, I must say it is a pleasure to sit on this chair especially when I think about its unique timeless design, which perfectly fits in different environments, even far away from its origin. This chair, hand-made from sustainable materials, will always take me back to the bicycle race in Jambiani…

Bicycle race winner in Jambiani Tanzania

photo on previous page black box estate by JOEL LUKHOVI

An Italian architect’s approach to product design, using East African local materials..

Initiation of ANZA 5th issue Founding members of Anza Magazine

AUTHORS Sarita Lydia Mamseri Rehema Chachage Pricilla Namwenje Akahiirwa Sandra Vanessa Nakazibwe Susan Owere Moses Simalike Walter Musika Kathleen Louw Serubiri Moses Joel Lukhovi Nadir Tharani Clemens Kubicek Baerbel Mueller Franklin Kasumba John Paul Senyonyi Nicholas Calvin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Consultants

Tanya mulamula, Sarah Senyonyi, Annika Seifert

INDIVIDUALS

We at anza magazine would like to thank everyone who put in their time and effort into the making of this issue.