Introduction
Society and architecture have had a very long relationship for the past decades. They have always been working alongside each other. Society Influences the way architects think and design space, and architecture influences the way people use and live the different spaces. Society’s history has played an important role on how the world developed to what it is today. All the different eras had some importance over the way the society thinks, creating an unbalance between the needs and wants. This uncertainty between the two was what opened the door to architecture to start thriving and take the important role it plays today in the world. In my opinion one of the most important periods of History was the period of navigation. During this period all the different tribes from all over the world made first contact. This was also a very important period for Africa because an important period of its history started now. New colonies were being formed. Unfortunately this period also had its downsides; it led to some divergences within society. Which at a later stage lead to the revolutions in search for freedom and democracy. Society started to create the feeling of racism; unfortunately this is still a topic that lives in many minds today. This lead idea has been passed down from past generation from parents to their children, although the young people of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries have changed a lot. The passing down of this sentiment or “Ignorance and prejudice...� as Kofi Annan described this word, led into an ignorant image of the world to the eyes of many people. This is a starting point for my essay where I want to use to my advantage of being a 3rd generation of my family in Africa but 2nd to be born there, never the less having Western origins. I want to explore the vision western people have of Africa, in response with what I see as a person who lived there for eighteen years.
Right picture: Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson
“Architecture cannot be understood without some knowledge of the society it serves�. Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson
Vision of Africa by the Western world What does Western part of world think of Africa? This question is so complex that trying to answer it challenges the word itself. This would overcome by doing an intensive research in order to be able to explain all the different views and ideas about such a large scale continent. There are three points of view which I think stand out more, on how Africa is looked upon: 1. The ancestral point of view (old colonial citizens) 2. The commercial point of view 3. The Media’s point of view I will try to briefly explore and explain these different ideas to help understand the next chapter of this research.
The ancestral point of view The people who use to live in Africa when it was mostly composed by different colonies had a direct and personal contact with the Africans. Most people were dispatched by their home countries as heroes who were helping their country, sending them over to populate the lands and introduce their customs. The Problem was that the people were not ‘educated’ on how to deal with this new ‘race’ which had different dialects, traditions and customs. Due to this difference a stereotype image was created that the Africans were idiots and very uncivilised, so they were taken in as slaves. Most of the people thought that that they were helping the slaves because they were educating them; not being aware of how this was physically and mentally affecting the locals. These new countries taking over their land; they started implementing new customs, beliefs and new architecture. When introducing these new ideas they never took into consideration that there were existing ones. The day that most of the locals in these colonised countries started the revolutions, it also changed the feelings of the people towards the Africans. This was mostly due to the fact that most of the Europeans moved to these countries thinking it was their property that it would belong to them forever. When the revolutions took place many people lost part of their lives when they started to flea back to their home country. This just increased the feeling of hatred between the Westerns and the Africans, most of these people would then pass on a story to their grandchildren about the horrible experiences they lived during those moments of war, forgetting sometimes about all the good and happiness it also brought to them at a certain point. Most of them look at Africa now with pity for having to move out but at the same time rancour for “having forced” this situation.
The commercial point of view The commercial point of view at first might sound harsh or better to say strange. But the truth is that today consumerism has overtaken the human race. Everything we do we buy is done due to the powerful influence of globalization. We might find it strange at first but we are thought as targets, which big monopolies aim to target new services and materialistic objects. No matter how much we try to deny this fact it always manages to prove itself true. If we look at what is going on throughout the world we are turning everything into something that can be commercialised, Africa is becoming one more of these so called “objects”. The tourism sector has been trying to sell Africa an exotic land to be discovered, a land full of marvels like a heaven on earth. This is done in such a way people simply ignore the reality of the facts, of what the actual situation of the lifestyle is like there. The consumers are deluded to just imagine that Africa is what they are being sold. When you talk to people who have visited Africa what do they usually talk about? The answers you’ll get every time will always be the same a safari in South Africa or Kenya, the stunning view of Victoria Falls or the white sandy beaches with the warm water of the Indian ocean hitting the shore. In between such comment you will end up hearing somewhere oh we also saw that small hut in the middle of the bushes; this should be the reason why a person should not be surprised like I was when one of the first questions I was asked so did you live in a hut like the ones we see on television; or even better you had television. Why I am still surprised when I come across to such remarks is what surprise me more. In the twenty first century we have a travelling society which moves around a lot, just for the need to travel, losing all sense of reality and the real values of things; the customs and the way the people live, the crafts produced being simply looked at as mere objects of beauty not taking an instant to think of the real feeling behind all the actions. These travellers end up with a superficial understanding of things.
The Media’s point of view The media in the twenty first century has occupied another big portion of influence on how the society thinks and sees things. Let’s take a look at all the most recent events that have been happening during the last decade. All the wars, all the natural disasters; now let’s think about the media and see all the information we get from them. In my opinion society’s life is being filled with a spoonful of bad news everyday that goes by.
Right: Poster by SAS advertising trips to Africa
Just like the news about war we are always fed the downside of things, never looking at the positive points. The Media will more quickly be ready to show some stupid article about some social high class person leaving out positive factors for example one thing I admire are the Paralympics, where everybody should be proud to see how people who might be different in some ways are still capable of fighting for their right to be looked on as normal people and also get their share in societies eyes just like any other person. Now looking back at Africa what is the first image that pops into your mind when you think about the word Africa? Well if it’s the same as mine which I’m almost certain it would be one of the pictures below.
This vision of extreme poverty unhappiness is what is passed on to the public. Looking at the image above I see unaccounted deaths, extreme poverty inexistent childhood and a lot more. I see a “black and white” picture with no grey’s in between meaning that there is not a “maybe option” it’s either death or extreme suffering. What happened to being unbiased and showing both sides of every story? Is Africa all about this poverty and this stereotype image created? I don’t believe so. I’ve seen the other side of this story which I will explore further on in more depth.
Top picture: A photograph of a Child being watched by Vulture 1993 Sudanese village photograph taken by Kevin Carter
How I see Africa
I must admit even though I was born in Africa and lived there for eighteen years I didn’t have answers for many of the same questions I asked myself before. With some more background information I have been able to research furthermore the surroundings I lived in and understand in more depth some of the things that caused some misinterpretations. I used to live in Malawi a small country which shares borders with Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania. This country is composed by high valleys, and the third biggest fresh water lake in Africa. The biggest cities are Blantyre where I used o live, Lilongwe the present capital city and Muzuzu up in the north one of the most recent cities in Malawi. Malawi use to be part of the British colony in the 1876 until 1964. The first British to settle in was Livingstone, he came to Malawi to create what was known as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. This allowed to create a strong trade connection between Rhodesia now know as Zimbabwe and Zambia with Malawi. These ties ever since they were formed have managed to last over time. Malawi was known as The Warm Heart of Africa to the western world, because it reminded them of Switzerland and was considered a holiday destination for many of the surrounding countries.
The Society, Culture and Customs Before this period of the British colony Malawi was a country lived and explored by The Bantu people. It was and still is populated by these different ethnic groups, ten to be more precise. They are the Chewa; Lambya; lomwe; Ngonde; Nowe; Nyakyusa; Sena; Tonga; Tumbuka and Yao. The Chewa ethnic group is the largest group i would say in Malawi, it previously came from Uluba in Katanga Province of Zaire. They left Zaire between 1200 for several reasons such as tribal wars against their Bantu neighbours and secondly, they were in search of more land for grazing their animals. When the Chewa arrived in the present Malawi, they soon established themselves as rulers over the people they found because of their knowledge and influence in agriculture, traditional medicine, religion and a well-organised ruling system. Their language is known as Chichewa, which is also spoken in neighbouring countries of Zambia and Mozambique where it is known as Chinyanja. As previously discussed many people in don’t really see who the Africans are. Their thoughts being influenced by the factors mentioned before. My vision of the society is completely different even though I ha grandparents who also lost a lot of things due to the civil revolution in Mozambique they didn’t run away thinking horrible things about the local because they saw the people for who they are and understood
this outburst. The people got tired of being stood on and looked down at. They simply wanted respect that every human being deserves. You might see the extreme social differences in the society today, having the very rich class or the poorer class. When looking at this extreme poverty you would be surprised to see the smile on the people’s faces. Usually you expect people to be upset, depressed always feeling pity for themselves. I seriously think that the word pity doesn’t exist in the African dictionary. You will find big smiles and everyone enjoying and having fun all the time. To many this might come as surprise as how is this possible, how can somebody possibly celebrate their poverty? The point here is that they are not celebrating their poverty, they are celebrating each day they live and how the appreciate that nothing happened to them during that day and that they are going to live to see the next one. Take into account a European funeral, and now think about an African Funeral they are two different ways of looking at death. Back in Malawi countless times I remember hearing during three straight nights drumming and singing, when I heard this I knew it was the sign someone had died. The people don’t mourn the death as the worst thing possible that could have happened, they celebrate it by wearing bright colours and showing the dead person the respect he or she deserved. By celebrating this departure it’s a sign that the person had completed his mission in the living world. The Africans always look at the positive side of things not thinking about the negative ones because they believe that this will bring bad luck to them and more In Malawi and most Africa the people are mostly Christians. They have a strong belief that there are two worlds the physical world where we live now and the Spiritual world. Their belief is very strong that Witchcraft has become a threat to many people. If something bad occurs to them they will blame it on the witchcraft. They believe that there are good and bad healers, the bad ones being the witchcraft worshipers. They believe that these healers have learned how to control the spirits to do bad things, such as kill, make people sick... To us it may seem nonsense but to the Africans it’s disrespectful to joke around with such a topic. This belief of the two worlds have lead to many influences in Africa, such as, how things appeared in the world, they have many myths and legend stories which are passed down from generation to generation by the fire at night. Usually these stories are told by the elder people of a village. One of my favourite books as a child was “Legends of the African Lakes”, by Ann Walton. When reading these stories I was amazed at how the simplicity of the stories seemed so unreal yet they have a strong logical and meaningful idea behind them. These Beliefs don’t stop there if we think I look back I had earlier mention how the African craft might seem pretty and exotic to many westerns. They don’t understand the real meaning behind this craftsmanship. In Malawi at least we have two places where you can see a lot of these crafts, two different types of crafts. In Dedza you can see pottery many items made with clay these are developed by the missionaries who come to Africa to help some poorer villages show and gain some
Top picture: Photograph durring the opneing of a new school Bottom picture: Children with toys made from wire photographs taken by Lina Morreira
income from their art. On these potteries you will see many images painted on them but all these images are specific and have a meaning to them, on the other hand some are becoming more commercialised and less cultural. They are starting to look more like tourist souvenirs. If we look below at the picture we can see a collection of mugs in this case it’s representing the life in the country side where the woman have to spend a lot of hours sometimes in search for water, it also shows a boy playing with an old drum belt and a stick where you spin it and you have to keep it going by controlling it with the metal wire. I have tried this game and must say it’s not as easy as it seems but you can get a lot of fun out of it. The second image are small objects which are portraying the everyday life situations you would find around; the minibuses which are for twelve people only but the driver will always fit sixteen to nineteen people. You can also see them portraying the local sources of income the hunters the Fisherman etc. The other major craft in Malawi is the wood craft usually made with what we call black wood one of the strongest woods in Africa. With this the locals carve out many beautiful pieces of art, from sculptures to furniture pieces. My personal Favourites are the sculptures and the masks, because they have a unique beauty and are very different from the surrounding countries. From what I have seen you can find many similarities between these but they can have very different meanings. You find various types of masks the wooden carved ones which can be used as a decorative element or masks that are used by traditional dancers. Let’s look at the wearable masks used by the Chewa people in Malawi, the mask below was is used in rituals important to the ethnic group such as funerals, thanking of the spiritual world for a good cropping season and other events. These masks are representing spirits of the other world and not anyone can use this mask, usually you have to go through some ritual. These sacred rituals were once banned when Malawi belonged to the British because they found these events scary and bizarre but now they are not. Some people find it funny and it’s being used as a commercial attraction for tourists for being something out of the ordinary which to me is very sad because sometimes these rituals are not explained well which is important for people to view , enjoy, but at the same time understand the meaning behind them. The decorative masks, like the pottery, portray village life of the various tribes. These portray the village life such as the daily activities that go on in the villages or the activities of the various jobs you can find such as the fisherman, hunting, agriculture... My overview of the society is that the people are happy with what they have they work to achieve more and don’t stop to think about what they could have. This is what motivates the people to move onwards and be happy. When you look at a Childs face and see a smile on their face you will know it’s sarcastic, it’s the most honest and sincere smile you can get. They celebrate everyday that goes by in their life like it was the last, respecting their past. They respect their past learning how to adapt their customs to the twenty first century. This is why I think they are the way they, not thinking and living by the rules of globalization every day.
Top pictures: Dedza pottery Bottom Left: wooden carved wall photograph by Daniela Alves Bottom Right: Chewa dancer during ritual
The Architecture in Malawi Malawi like any other country has a diversity of architectural styles, the most common being as most of society would call them famous huts. The dimension, the form, decoration vary with the tribe which built it. I think you could say that African architecture could be one of the most sustainable architecture in the world. They work a lot with the natural resources they have. Most houses are typically constructed from clay, clay bricks, straw and sometimes wood. In Malawi we have a very rich soil for clay, because the climate allows this. The savanna landscape allows the people to gather a lot of straw during the dry season. The forms of most typical houses are round, with only one opening which is the main entrance. The reason for this is because they believed that the house is only for sleeping; their days start at sunrise and ends at sunset. This entrance will allow enough light to enter through the hut to say that it’s morning. Typically each village or region in Malawi has its own chief, this chief who answers to the district Politian, who then answers the regional governor who then answers to the government. So this chief plays an important role in the village therefore having the most important house usually in the centre to demonstrate his status and power. Then the rest of habitants have their houses surrounding his house and the sacred place forming a protective barrier. Looking at the image you can see that there are no physical boundaries limiting the exterior space, because I think that they believe it’s a community space, everyone shares it. You can see a community kitchen where they cook inside or outside depending on the weather. Like all things the locals also started to modernise their houses and a new form started to appear within the locals living in the cities. Before looking at the cities we must understand that having been part of the British colony most of the important cities still have the main structures from those times. We can see in the picture below an overview of the city I lived in, we can see that the structure of the Colony city is in the centre, and all the new construction since it became an independent country grew around this old structure giving it some importance and patrimonial preservation of the history. Looking at the image above we can see that the city from a small organised structure had a big boom, in which there was no urban planning. The cause for this was due to the rapid growth in population and the sudden migration of people from the villages into the main cities. Most of these areas that were added were done by social appropriation of the land. No properties were marked people just came and claimed the land as if they were in the village. If you notice like in the village plan previously mentioned there are no exterior walls marking the limit of the exterior space. The constructions they have made along the suburbs of the city have become more like slums, because they have a life of their own; almost as if it were a city within a city.
Top Picture: picture of a typical Chewa village Bottom photograph: Village with adapted typology to today’s needs photograph by Daniela Alves
The way people live the city is very interesting because this has influenced a lot the way architects think and design the cities. The biggest influence which I think is important to mention about Malawi is the lack of public spaces. The definition of public space is different for the Africans because, the street is their concept of public space. It might sound impossible, but the use of the street is more than just a mere linear space that connects point A to point B. The street is the point in the city where you stop and talk; sit for a chat with friends, it’s got a very active use. Most of the streets are also used as markets even thought they have designated spaces for the market it’s not part of their culture. The idea of walking in an outdoor space filled with a lot of laughter, people shouting to sell their goods is unique. You can get two different images of the same streets in the city. The first image is of chaos during the day with all the people and the market stands on the streets; then you have the night picture of emptiness where you can actually get a clearer perspective of the space. In the cities it’s like this, but more towards the suburbs of the city moving towards the country side we can compare the streets there to New York or London because you will find the street with people twenty-four hours a day. During the day you see children running from one side to another, playing by the side of the road while their parents do their shopping. At night you see the small flames from the candles illuminating the dark night, each individual light representing a different sales stand and big trucks stopped on the side of the side of the roads making a break from their long journeys. Image If we look at the houses most of them have verandas and big gardens. I would consider these spaces semi private for one specific reason because most western within Africa understand the concept of street as a public space but still find it hard to use this space with the purpose of socialising; and have adopted another idea in which they feel suits better this idea of public meeting space. The verandas, many houses there are big exterior spaces open to gardens. This is where during the hot summer days and nights you will receive most of your friends, sit outside and have a good time. I think that the reason they decided to adopt this as their public space is because of their concept of time, here they can control the amount of time they spend there and it’s a way of getting away from the city chaos. The house I lived in has a very different design from the original African design but it has some references of it, when it comes to the organisation of the space it’s similar to the traditional houses. Having the main spaces in the centre and easy to access from the main entrance, the more private spaces are hidden or of difficult access. Following the logic of the human body being the concept for designing and giving a function to the interior spaces. The African architecture resumes to using what they have or what they need. They don’t give importance to the aesthetics side of the architecture, but take into account the simple daily functions of the buildings.
Top Left: photograph of Blantyre market Top Right: Photograph of people meeting Bottom: Photograph of the side of the street Photographs: Daniela Alves
Vision of Africans of the Western world I think that unlike In Europe the Africans have another way of looking at the Western world. I would say that there are two point of Views that come to mind one which I believe to be more evident, society’s point of view the other would be once again the Media’s point of View. As we can see that the Media has taken a very important role in the way the world sees many of the things.
Society’s vision The Vision of the Africans of the Western world in my opinion can be described as the land of opportunities. They see the Western world as a lot of People saw America in the 1960’s the “American dream”. There a lot of reasons for them to think like this about the western world but I think the main reason is the amount of Money that the Western world send to Africa to help governments develop their countries. The idea that in the western world they will find a solution to all their problems, the image that a white skinned person is always associated to having a lot of money also comes from the idea that all the white people are from the western world. This has created this urge for a lot of young people from of the new generations to leave their countries to study abroad but never come back; to give back to their home country the knowledge they gained from the western world. The main problem is that in Africa you lack a lot of things, shopping malls, parks, leisure places, things that once they leave to the western world they find and once they are use to this new life style it’s hard to go back to having less. This is not an attack to the Africans but a general critic to the society because the more we have the more we want. This is also one of the motives the politicians in Africa are mostly corrupt, they see the western politicians living such a luxurious life style and having everything they want. After leaving Africa the young generation don’t look back to their home country the look down at their own country criticising the way things are done. One of my biggest critics is that they forget that they were once there and that they have left with the knowledge and forgotten that they could have brought this new method of thinking on how to improve their country, help towards the development. After watching a documentary series “Surprising Europe”, I couldn’t agree better with the opening statements as the presenter of the documentary said “Africans see Europe as a land of opportunity and risk”. This documentary shows and talks about the lives of people who seeked for a new opportunity in the Western world, speaking about the positive and the negative aspects of “the Western dream”.
Right: “Live one day at a time” Photograph: Sergio Costa Oliveira
Media’s point of view I think that the Media plays an important role on how the society in Africa see’s the Western world, even though it might only reach out to part of the society. What does the Media portray to the few people it reaches out to? Might be the question you might ask yourself but they always pick the weaknesses in Africa and bring them up in the Western world. They will look at all the ambitions of the society and bring them up, knowing that this would only create a certain desire within the human mind almost like a psychological game. All of the images of the skyscrapers; portraying a world of fantastic architecture, an image of the future that in my opinion in Africa is still under development. This creates the urge for people to go there to see these ‘perfect cities’. How they do this? They do this by taking the perfect picture, at the perfect angle, at the right time of the day. This eludes people into thinking that everyday its how they see in the pictures. This is what causes people to flee from their countries in desperate situations for a better life, the high percentage of illegal immigrants that flee into Europe every year is increasing more and more. People will expose themselves to all sorts of situations, which are extremely horrific to explain, in search for a little bit more then what they had before. Unfortunately many times some don’t manage to reach their goals. This is what happens to the people in the low class society. When we look at the high society class, usually this means that the person is involved in politics; the media just causes them to destroy the vision they have of their country. I think like this because being a leader of a country they start to compare themselves with the western world, with people in the same position as them and see all the luxury they have and they don’t. They see all the money they have, the cars the drivers, all the images the media likes to portray a lot. This influences them to think that they should also be able to conquer the same things. Turning many of the people corrupt and start to keep aid money for themselves, instead of directing it to the people, who need help to improve a little bit more their lifestyles.
Right: Picture of Ribeira in Oporto
How I see the Western world Being born in Africa and having lived in an African country for eighteen years, I could almost say I more African than European; even though I was brought up with Portuguese customs. I think I’m able to look at Europe with an unbiased point of view. I was fortunate enough to be able to come to Europe for holidays, and one thing I have learnt is that there is a difference between living in Europe and coming for holiday. The perspectives you have of everything, is very different.
Society Society in Europe can’t be compared as one society just yet. The multicultural society differs a lot from one country to another; but now there are many attempts at creating on new European society with the new generations. There are many programs such as Erasmus that are an effort to bring together young people from various different countries. The idea of unifying all the young generation and portray an image of a united society that is capable of putting aside all their differences. I see this unity, but alongside that I see things that to me were a surprise when I first moved to Europe. The image I had of the people of being very open minded was somehow misleading, I found a different reality. I found a generation of young people who are ruled by compulsive consumerism. The generation of people which you would expect to be more open minded, are open to some things but to others they are not. They open there minds to new customs, to the cultural difference, finding intriguing the way words; actions can have very different meanings between two bordering countries. On the other hand they are closed when it comes to accepting individuality. When people are different they are put aside because they are looked as being weird and outcasts.
Western Architecture Architecture is too complex to analyse in Europe because you have various different styles that can be spoken about. Of course you have the general architectural movements throughout history, the roman, Greek, renaissance, neo-classism...All these movements that gave way to new methods that we use in today’s architecture. The so called fathers of architecture and the way we think today were born in Europe; Corbusier, Alvar Aalto etc. These Architects opened a new path of thinking architecture, starting the modern period. Most of these ideas influenced largely by the industrialisation. New construction methods were introduced, one of these is still important today, concrete. This allowed us to innovate, allowing us to design tall buildings. When talking about architecture in the Western world we have to look at many different aspects of it, the most important being the scales; urban, large, small scale interventions, private or public spaces.
Right: “Black and White Society” Image: Sergio Costa Oliveira
Urban scale is an important scale in Europe, in my opinion because it’s dealing with the historical fabrics that many of the cities are made up off. Europe is a historical continent because most of the world’s history parted from here. In order not to lose this important patrimony a lot of reforms have to be done but without losing these historical layers. If nothing were done most of these centres would be abandoned. Most of these urban scale projects involve the transformation of the buildings giving them a new function or creating new public space. A space which is used a lot by the people in order to gather and meet up. Unlike in Africa where the streets are the public spaces of the city here there are big open spaces in strategic locations. The street has a very different purpose here in Europe it’s just a simple function of connecting different places. Urban studies are made thoroughly and with great care, with a lot of long term objectives. This is very important in order for cities to grow and become more competitive. New zones are thought with care thinking about economical and population growth. They also think about how future expansions could occur, making it simpler in the future to construct. The old urban fabrics are always taken into mind as an example of problems that can always be solved. Large and small scales projects are usually referred to when thinking about housing areas or public buildings. Public buildings are usually large scale buildings thought about holding and serving the public, but at the same time an opportunity to explore new architectural possibilities. Within these new building the architects try to explore the users feelings and sensation inside the buildings. They think about the connections of the building with the surroundings. In terms of scale dimension, all the thoughts are there but on the other hand the cultural aspect has been left behind. I’m not trying to say that Europe has left behind the past because most countries renovate the existing buildings, but maybe architecture has taken a bit more of an industrial, technological exploration forgetting a bit the social and human side of architecture. By the human side of architecture I’m not referring to the relations created inside the building, but the social and cultural aspects of the society. This could be done by taking into consideration the history and some of the cultural customs when designing; creating a possibility of making architecture more unique and diverse. I feel that the architecture in Europe and the western world in general, is leading into a direction where it’s almost becoming catalogued. You could almost choose from a magazine what you want for a house, it’s becoming a “fashion trend”. The idea of a house being a home has also changed, back in the past a house could be called a home. In the present it’s the other way round a home is called a house, as Corbusier would say a “house is a machine”. This idea comes up because the society in Europe is changing rapidly; today it’s not a fixed society they are always moving around so it becomes hard to define a space as home. When there is such a space that is fixed it’s still quite hard to be designated as a home because the amount of time spent in this space is so small. The house is only being used for the basic functions yet people still want to have a nice house, which they think they can call a home. This is why in Europe you find a lot of housing building units. The houses are becoming smaller and smaller fitting only very basic needs. This could also be the cause of having very little land to expand and so they had to start to expand vertically.
Top Right: Public Square in Lisbon Middle Right: Scheme for Urban intervention Oporto Bottom Right: Section of Corbusier Unité de Habitation
Final Remarks
I would say it’s almost impossible to try and compare two different worlds. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to experience these two different ideologies and concepts of society and architecture to be able to understand them. No matter the long relationship between the western world and Africa, there are things that are not meant to be changed. This can be seen as a positive or negative aspect depending on the point of view. Society globally, is starting to think in a globalised manner due to globalisation, but there are still some differences which remain visible. I think that to the eyes of many Europeans they feel pity for Africa, pity in the sense that they have not reached the same level as Europe in all aspects. I think differently. I see a society that has decided to hold on to their customs and cultural values. These values that in European society has been lost in the young generation destroying some uniqueness that is appreciated, some sense of individuality. European society is becoming puppets to the global markets and this main difference between the African society and the European society also has its consequences on the Architecture. This idea of sticking to their customs in Africa to has lead into them having a sustainable architecture, because they concentrated on using the local materials. They use the materials which they have quick access to making their construction cheap and nature friendly. Where as in Europe during the past they have ignored this fact always thinking about inventing new things new technologies not thinking about the consequence his would have in the years to come. Now Europe is in search for sustainable architecture to start implementing. Of course I’m not just going to criticise this search in improvement, because otherwise the world wouldn’t haven’t been where it is. I’m just pointing out this fact so nobody feels pity for nobody. We have to look at the way people are from different aspects and understand the positive outcomes and learn from the mistakes. We can see there is still a big difference between the architectural language and terms I used to analyse both the different worlds. In Europe when discussing architecture you use more complex language to try analyse the architecture because it has reached a critical point where the market has become so saturated. The Western world has developed so fast that now it’s finding difficult to explore new ideas that are more humanity, ecologically concerned. I see Africa as a new opportunity to explore a new way of thinking architecture, a possibility to explore the conclusions found in these last years of experimentation in Europe and actually implement them. Africa is still lacking some development but this doesn’t mean to say it’s behind but simply developing at a different pace.
Refrences
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