NEWSLETTER MARCH 2008 Current Results of the event African Perspectives are still prominently present in daily ArchiAfrika life. While reporting and follow-up on many initiatives taken during the event in Delft are ongoing, preparations for the next African Perspectives Conference in Pretoria have commenced. A lot of the information we are presenting in this newsletter therefore is related to the event. However, an important announcement related to the structure of the ArchiAfrika organisation is made in this newsletter as well. It has always been ArchiAfrika’s intention to become a true international organisation, owned by everyone collaborating in ArchiAfrika projects. An organisation with the aim to put African architecture on the world map, should above all be active in Africa. Therefore, we are very proud to present the newly formed ArchiAfrika Advisory Council in this newsletter. In our view, the council represents the goals of the foundation, by being a reflection of international expertise with the centre of gravity in Africa. We feel honoured to have these seven experts participating in our organisation and herewith warmly welcome them.
organisation has been working on the launch of a digital platform called AANet in order to exchange information on plans and projects regarding African architecture. AANet is now on line. All professionals in the field are invited to join the network assembled via AANet and use the platform to continue the discussion on African architecture. The first items placed on AANet are reports of the seminar in December. All persons who were present in Brussels have been sent an invitation to join the network and are invited to add their own comments. If you wish to participate as a writer as well, just ask for authorization via www.aanet.wetpaint.com.
Reports During African Perspectives, the African department of the Dutch Radio station Wereldomroep, called Bureau Afrique, invited a few experts on African architecture for a round table discussion. Two sessions were held, one in English and one in French. Both were led by Helene Michaud. For the English round table discussion, Ola Uduku, Nuru Inyangete and Antoni Folkers were invited. Antoni Folkers was joined by Abdelmoumen Benabdeljalil and Lassana Cissé for the French discussion. Both interviews had their own dynamic and are very interesting in a different way. The emission will be sent on CD to radio stations in Africa, but can already be listened to via the website www. bureauafrique.nl and of course via the ArchiAfrika website. From 1 to 5 February the conference Terra 2008 took place in Bamako, Mali. Neza Cebron Lipovec presented a poster and was present at the conference. Her report can be read on the ArchiAfrika website. Directly after African Perspectives, Africalia organized a seminar on African architecture that took place from 1214 December 2007 in Brussels. Since then the Belgium
photograph by D.J. Huppatz We are honoured that D.J. Huppatz writes on his weblog that ArchiAfrika encouraged him to continue his research on Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale. The sequel of the article and the original article can both be read on http://djhuppatz.blogspot.com
Exhibition: Titus Matiyane. Cities of the world. Samuele Sidibẻ, the director of the National Museum of Mali in Bamako, will show the exhibition from May 12 untill June 12, 2008. For Sidibẻ, laureate of the Prince Claus Awards 2006, but also for the artist Titus Matiyane, this is a wonderful opportunity to bring the exhibition to The National Museum of Mali and show it in Bamako. By making this possible a wider audience in another African country can enjoy the big panorama drawings of Matiyane and see these cities and the world through his eyes. In Johannesburg the exhibition is planned end of 2008. Possibilities and venues are in discussion and will be fixed as soon as possible by Stephen Hobbs.
Advisory Council The ArchiAfrika Advisory Council is herewith officially installed. We are proud to present the seven members:
Ola Uduku (born in Umuahia, Nigeria, in 1963) is Change leader and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Design in the School of Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art. She has worked as an Architecture Lecturer at the Universities of Liverpool and Strathclyde, and photo by Hans Schouten has research connections with the Architecture Schools in South Africa, Nigeria and Belgium. Her research interests lie in Modernist Movement Architecture in Africa, Minority groups and their sense of identity and space use, in urban contexts, and managing transformation and change within the academic sector.
Abdelmoumen Benabdeljalil (Morocco,1944) is general director and one of the founders of the ‘Ecole Superieure d’Architecture de Casabalanca’, established in 2004. He was trained as an architect and urbanist in Paris from 1973 - 1975. After his return to Morocco he became a teacher at the Ecole Mohammedia des Ingenieurs. Since 1978 Benabdeljalil has been working as an architect and architectural expert in Casablanca. He founded the schools of design ‘Art’Com’ of which he was the educational director. During his career he chaired the Order of Moroccan Architects, the National College of Moroccan Architectural Experts and the International College of Architectural Experts and received numerous awards for his architectural designs. From his hand appeared several publications, amongst which Etablissement du guide d’Elaboration des Plans verts (2004).
Hilde Heynen (Antwerpen, Belgium, 1959) studied architecture and philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where she obtained her PhD in 1988 . In 1991-1992 she was a visiting assistant professor at the M.I.T. School of Architecture . In 1993-1994 she was photo by the beneficiary of a postdocChristian van der Kooy toral fellowship by the Getty Foundation. Currently Hilde Heynen is professor of architectural theory at the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . Her books include Architecture and Modernity. A Critique (1999) and Negotiating Domesticity (2005, co-edited with Gülsüm Baydar). In 2007-2008 she is a fellow at the Radcliffe Insitute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Joe
Osae-Addo (Ghana, 1961), was trained at the Architectural Association in London. He worked in Finland, the UK and the USA, setting up his practice in Los Angeles in 1991. His work has been influenced by ‘genus-loci’, and how architecture can/ should photo by Hans Schouten respond to this in creating pieces which are both site specific and meet the needs of people who will interact with it. He is a founding partner in the A + D Museum, Los Angeles. He moved back to Ghana in 2004 and is currently the CEO of Constructs LLC, an inno-native design firm based in Accra and Tamale. He is also founder of the Organisation for Urban Improvement (OUI), a think tank of sorts, to bring awareness for the need for a fresh approach towards urbanisation in west Africa. Joe lectures widely internationally, and will be chair of the Middle East and Africa jury for the HOLCIM Foundation Sustainable Architecture Prize for 2008, to be held in South- Aafrica. He often refers to himself as a ‘ design socio-economist’.
Nnamdi
Elleh (Nigeria, 1960). He is Associate Professor of architecture history and theory at the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), University of Cincinnati. He was trained as an architect at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee photo by and he received his Ph.D. in Christian van der Kooy art history from Northwestern University. He is the recipient of many awards, including Samuel Kress and Graham Architectural Foundation grants. His books include African Architecture, Evolution and Transformation, the first comprehensive text on African architecture from antiquity to the present; Architecture and Power in Africa, and Abuja: The Single Most Ambitious Urban Design Project of the 20th Century. Elleh has contributed to several national and international exhibitions, served on the board of directors of DOCUMOMO, US, and is also a current member of the board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historian. Wytze Patijn is dean of the Faculty of building engineering/ architecture at Delft University of Technology. From 1995 until 2000 he was government architect. In this function he advised the government in the field of architectural policy and public housing. He photo by Hans Schouten combined this function with his work as an architect in Rotterdam (until 1998) and afterwards as architect and director of Kuiper Compagnons, an office for spatial planning, town-planning, architecture and landscape. Patijn studied Architecture at the TU Delft and was parttime professor Architectural Design in housing and housing environment at the TU Delft from 1993 until 1995. Furthermore, he was a visiting lecturer at several Architecture Academies.
Iain Low, is Professor of Architecture at the University of Cape Town where he convenes PG programmes in architecture. He is consultant to various cultural and government organisations concerned with his research area: <space and transformation> and the post apartheid city. photo by Graduating from Cape Christian van der Kooy Town, Iain Low proceeded to Lesotho where he worked with Design Group Lesotho prior to joining the Government of Lesotho and the World Bank in the design and implementation of an integrated program to upgrade Education throughout that Kingdom. Subsequent to working in Lesotho, graduate studies in Philadelphia focused on the public realm and his thesis investigation; ‘Public Space as Negotiator of Difference’ won him a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. From Philadelphia he proceeded to Italy where he was a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome [AAR], in 1995. Following his return to SA in 1996, he has been Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture at the University of Witwatersrand where he directed Thesis Discourse. He currently edits the Digest of S A Architecture and is initiating a new African Architectural Digest, to be launched in 2008.
Projects African Perspectives was visited by a large and diverse public. Some of the visitors were asked to give their opinion on the event and to write a short report. The general feeling of all reports is very positive. Still, they give a varied view on the activities that took place, from many perspectives. A publication on the event is being prepared, aiming to include these different views in one conclusive document. We present a sneak-preview of some impressions and already thank all reporters for their input. "I believe that the main part of the event probably was in the “in-between” spaces (space meaning here real physical space – the hallways, the buffet – as well as “time space” – interval,…). This is of course not new, but in this case it had something more to it, which was the african touch : one could feel that this was not only done for but BY africans, and it was great to feel that. I do believe that it was a great idea to have a stall working on diaspora, because it gave the whole thing a depth that helped complexify the whole event." Victor Brunfaut – La Cambre, Belgium "To me particularly, I was impressed by the musicians who laboured, through their viola/khalam ensemble, to bell out a perfectly harmonious tune. This easily unnoticed event serves to illustrate that an “African Perspective” on architecture and urbanism is indeed a perspective that reflects the conflated experience between Europe and Africa. Most significantly, it is possible to embrace an architecture and urbanism that combines Euro-Afro conceptualizations of space to contrive an urbanism that is relevant to the unique experience of the African contemporary context. I hope
that such lessons did not escape the notice of participating professional domains of the built environment at Delft." Lawrence Esho – KU Leuven "The Diaspora stall at the African perspectives symposium was a success. The measurement of its success however might be difficult to express in quantitative terms. By deciding on a more experiential format of presentation and discourse, the stall performed as its organisers had envisaged it would. It did not have a back-to-back programme of speakers but gave space for discussion various methods of presentation media and pauses for thought." Ola Uduku – ECA, Scotland "I have highly appreciated the diversity in opinions, sometimes contradictory but always useful, in the debates in small groups, but also in projects in the long run: and what impressed me the most, is the network dynamic that was put into action between architects, urbanists, theorists and practitioners, artists, musicians… It is almost as if a new post war spirit of the beaux arts, of universal Bauhaus was recreated." Kouadio Nda Nguessan – EAMAU, Togo
NOW AVAILABLE! The DVD of the documentary ‘Many words for Modern’ is now available via the film’s own website www. manywordsformodern. com. The documentary was first shown at the Zanzibar International Film Festival in June 2007 and can still be seen at several events all around the world. Information about the making of the documentary, a background story and several reviews can be found at the website as well.
In the spotlight The Open Architecture Network is an other example of the enormous potential the internet offers in terms of international communication. OAN is an online, open source community dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design all over the world. It is the brainchild of Architecture for Humanity which could create the community after winning the prestigious TED prize. Besides the access to a global network, the OAN also offers several challenges to their audience. The AMD Open Architecture Challenge is an open, international design competition. Its aim is to develop not one but many solutions for building sustainable, multi-purpose, lowcost technology facilities for those who need them most. One of the three challenges put forward this year, is to empower the youth of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, an informal slum settlement of 250.000 inhabitants in Kenya, to connect with other youth and create positive change in their community by building a technology media lab and library. This competition is now closed, but the outcome will certainly be presented via the Network. For more information, have a look at http:// www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/challenge/africa.
Agenda 9 February – 3 April 2008 Exhibition Titus Matiyane – Cities of the World Aedes Gallery Berlin
13-20 September 2008 Tenth Docomomo International Conference The Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of the Modern Movement
12 May - 12 June 2008 Exhibition Titus Matiyane – Cities of the World National Museum of Mali, Bamako, Mali
More information about these events can be found on the ArchiAfrika website.
Supported by ArchiAfrika receives support from the following institutes and organisations: Stichting Doen Delft University of Technology De Twee Snoeken Automatisering FBW Architecten
ArchiAfrika
P.O. box 14174 3508 SG Utrecht Netherlands tel +31 (0)30 223 23 20 fax +31 (0)30 251 82 78 www.archiafrika.org
COLOFON text Anne-Katrien Denissen Antie Kaan design Anne-Katrien Denissen Antie Kaan editing Berend van der Lans translation Anne-Marie van den Nieuwenhof-Damishimiro FONDATION SHIMIRO, Pointe-Noire, Congo