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visions from contemporary african architecture

nlÉ kunlÉ ADEYEMI

4 nlÉ 6 Makoko Floating School Lagos, Nigeria 2011 - 2013 20 Mabushi residential development Abuja, Nigeria 2012

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NLÉ Kunlé Adeyemi

NLÉ Fouded in 201, NLÉ is quickly fulfilling its mission to shape the physical, human, cultural and economic architectures of developing cities. This is being achieved across a number of projects including the Mabushi residential development in Abuja, Nigeria. NLÉ also conceived and developed the high profile Makoko Floating School projects in Lagos, Nigeria Solutions for the Megacentury One of the megacentury’s dominant and unstoppable trends is urbanization. The outcome is a growing number of megacities worldwide, all of which face the same challenges. Within this context – just as Silicon Valley acts as the home for new technologies it is the cities of the developing world that will generate responsible solutions for the larger world. As thinkers, creatives and agents of change, NLÉ’s role is to reveal these solutions and apply them so that we shape the physical, human and commercial structures that are critical to the near future of human civilization. Our activities encompass city development research and strategy

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advisory service, conceptualization and creative structuring, architecture and product design, infrastructure design, arts and cultural urban interventions. Across all these fields we explore the infusion of relevant global ideas and the advanced technologies that add sustainable value. And our global and diverse network of experts and collaborators, as well as our products and our services, are of world-class quality and integrity. At the same time, we ensure authentic relevance through the deployment of local resources, capacity building and economy of means. In this way, NLÉ acts as a new language for shaping and advancing the multiple physical and human architectures of the megacentury. "At home" in the city NLÉ means at home in Yoruba, the language of Africa' first truly urbanized population. From the 11th century onwards, the Yoruba lived in a network of West African cities characterized by sophisticated commercial and governing structures. But within NLÉs philosophy, the home is much more than walls, floors and ceilings. Instead, it refers to the fundamental building blocks

of the city, to everyday life and the uses of public space in the emerging and endlessly complex urbanisms of developing regions. Due to rapid urbanization and the forces of globalization, the people in such cities have redefined our understanding of cities through their innovative and economical appropriation of spaces, materials and infrastructure. The environment – streets, bridges, side walks, raw materials and junk– are acquired, cultivated and reconstituted to achieve maximum necessities through minimum means. This creates unique organizations and advanced social structures in which people live, work, trade and play in ways that are now rarely seen in the ‘‘developed worlds’’, which are now ironically the ‘less developing world’. We believe that these colorful and seemingly chaotic worlds hold some of the solutions to the problems faced by cities in the century of mega needs. Our aim is to work with, and be inspired by these worlds to create more social, political, and economically responsible interventions for and with the people who have made them home.

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Makoko Floating School Lagos, Nigeria 2011 - 2013

Makoko Floating School is a prototype floating structure, built for the coastal water community of Makoko, and located on the lagoon fringe of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. As a pilot project, it has taken an innovative approach to address the community’s social and physical needs in view of the impact of climate change and a rapidly urbanizing African context. Its main aim is to generate a sustainable, ecological, alternative building system and urban culture for the teeming population of Africa’s coastal regions. An estimated 100,000 people reside in Makoko in housing units built on stilts. Yet the community has no roads, no land and no formal infrastructure to support its dayto-day survival. In many ways, Makoko epitomizes the most critical challenges posed by urbanization and climate change in coastal Africa. At the same time, it also inspires possible solutions and alternatives to the invasive culture of land reclamation. Until now Makoko has been served by one English speaking primary school, built on uneven reclaimed land, surrounded by constantly changing waters. Like many homes in Makoko, this has rendered the primary school building structurally

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precarious and susceptible to recurrent flooding. Sadly, the inability of the building to effectively withstand the impact of increased rainfall and flooding has frequently threatened local children’s access to their basic need – the opportunity of education. In response to this and in close collaboration with the Makoko community, NLÉ has developed a prototype floating structure that will serve primarily as a school, whilst being scalable and adaptable for other uses, such as a community hub, health clinic, market, entertainment center or housing. The prototype’s versatile structure is a safe and economical floating triangular frame that allows flexibility for customization and completion based on specific needs and capacities. The triangular A-frame or pyramid is 10m high with a 10m x 10m (1110m2) base. It is an ideal shape for a floating object on water due to its relatively low center of gravity, which provides stability and balance even in heavy winds. It also has a total capacity to safely support a hundred adults, even in extreme weather conditions. The building has three levels. The 1st level is an open play area for

school breaks and assembly, which also serves as a community space during after hours. The 2nd level is an enclosed space for two to four classrooms, providing enough space for sixty to a hundred pupils. A staircase on the side connects the open play area, the classrooms and a semi enclosed workshop space on the 3rd level. The simple yet innovative structure adheres to ideal standards of sustainable development with its inclusive technologies for renewable energy, waste reduction, water and sewage treatment as well as the promotion of low-carbon transport. Furthermore a team of eight Makoko based builders constructed it using eco-friendly, locally sourced bamboo and wood procured from a local sawmill. Construction began in September 2012 with floatation mock-ups and testing. Recycled empty plastic barrels found abundantly in Lagos were used for the building’s buoyancy system, which consists of 16 wooden modules, each containing 16 barrels. The modules were assembled on the water, creating the platform that provides buoyancy for the building and its users. Once this was assembled, construction of the A-frame followed and was completed by March 2013. Makoko Floating

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School will soon welcome its first pupils. The project was initiated, designed and built by NLÉ in collaboration with the Makoko Waterfront Community, in Lagos State. The project was initially self-funded by NLÉ and later received research funds from Heinrich Boll Stiftung as well as funds for its construction from the UNDP / Federal Ministry of Environment Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP). Makoko Floating School is a ‘prototype’ building structure for NLÉ’s proposed ‘Lagos Water Communities Project’ and its ‘African Water Cities’ research project.

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Increase in rainfall

Increase in sea level

MAKOKO TECHNOLOGY

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FLOTATION TECHNOLOGY

NEW SOLUTION

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Mabushi residential development Abuja, Nigeria 2012

The Mabushi Residential Development is a unique, lush and efficient residential estate in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The climatic conditions of Abuja suggest an alternative architecture and approach for housing. Inverting the oversized roof structures of the popular building typology in Abuja, our building solution converts the roof space into habitable space. The white pyramid is an insulated roof protecting the home during the hot humid seasons. The wood clad box is a canopy which provides shade and outdoor spaces in the cool

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dry seasons. A three floor atrium is created at the intersection of these two spaces bringing daylight into the heart of the building – the living area. The building orientation, form and materials provides high thermal, spatial efficiency and comfortable living environment. The unique architecture consequently reduces substantial long term energy costs, typically lost in air-conditioning. The ‘twin mansions’ are embedded in an abundant green estate comprising four distinct circular gardens, a jogging trail and communal facilities.

TYPICAL HOUSING IN ABUJA

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MABUSHI RESIDENTIAL

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Makoko Floating School Program: School, Community Building Area: 220 m2  End user: Makoko Waterfront Community Project timeline: Project initiation: May 2011 Consultation, Research & Design: June 2011-September 2012 Mockups and testing: September-October 2012 Flotation platform construction: November 2012 A-frame structure construction: December 2012-January 2013 Completion preview event: March 2, 2013 Project completion: April 2013

Jeunbete Shemede, Makoko Community Development Association & Youth Leaders and Makoko Floating School building team. Technical collaborators: Blok Kats van Veen Architects, Dykstra – Naval Architects, Thieu Besselink, Roel Bosch, Urhahn + Borra, Pieters Bouwtechniek, Ikeyi & Arifayan, Matrix Design & Works Nig ltd., Solarmate Engineering Nig Ltd. Mabushi Residential Development Program: Low Density Residential  Area: 1.07ha  Status: Construction Documentation  Team: Kunlé Adeyemi, Thijs Bouman, Segun Omodele, Chryso Onisiforou, Martin Oreoluwa, Berend Strijland, Monica Velasco

NLÉ team: Kunlé Adeyemi, Lisa Anderson, Thijs Bouman, Leslie Ebony, Marije Nederveen, Segun Omodele, Adekunle Olusola, Chryso Onisiforou, Martin Oreoluwa, Berend Strijland, Monica Velasco Makoko Waterfront Community: The Baales of Makoko/Iwaya Waterfront Community, with special mention of Baale Emmanuel Shemede, Noah Jesutin Shemede,

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