PORTFOLIO
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Sitou Adventus Akolly Nationaility: American/ Togolese Strongest feature: Smile + Personality Hobbies: Guitar/ video games/personal development Favorite book: The Alchemist
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Favorite quote: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.�
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My Name is Sitou Adventus Akolly. I feel comfortable telling you that my first childhood aspiration was to be remembered for doing something amazing in life. Clearly, I have yet to achieve that goal; although, I am well on my way. On my regular day-to-day life, I am just an expert in making cool things. Over the course of my academic and professional career, I grew a rich interest in the synergy between cultural discourses and the systems and values in which it is narrated. With my body of work, I try to find my own design language and apply that brush to every aspect of my life whether it is in through architectural, theoretical, or fashion Ironically, my favorite ice-cream flavor is vanilla. “Always go outside the box once in a while. outs
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CV Education
Sitou Adventus Akolly
IE Instituto de Impressa Master in Business for Strategic Design of Spaces
2017
California College of the Arts MAAD of History , Theory & Experiment
2016
Skills
University of California MAAD of Robotics/ Digital Craft
2016
Kennesaw State University Bachelors of Architecture & Urban Planning
2015
Software • Rhino | Grasshopper • Adobe Suite: Id, Ai, Ps • Unreal UE4 • Unity • Enscape | Vray • Processing | Python
Experience UNStudio Amsterdam, NL
Nov 2018 - Now
Computation Designer • • •
Designer in the innovation team assisting architecture and urban teams in research based design focusing on computation definition. Collaborate with Product team on design iteration and marketing. Design Internal and external workshops teaching design skilss and methodology.
adventusvocem linkedin.com/in/sitouakolly/
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Languages • French • English • Ewe
Honors Publishing: Sub-Sahara African Architecture Guide | Dec 2019 Master Thesis Published in book edited by Philipp Meuser & Adil Dalbai
FUTURE FORMS San Francisco, CA Jun 2017 - Sep 2017
1st Space for innovation Prize | Sep 2016 Arquideas Design Competition
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Media Architecture Biennale 2018, Beijin Co-author of accepted research paper submission for Media Architecture Biennale 2018, Beijing
Designer/ Fabricator
Worked assisting with design, fabrication of interactive public installations.
MATSYS Berkeley, CA
Apr 2016 - Jun 2017
Freelance Designer •
Collaboration for Maison Perrier Jouet installation for Design Miami Week 2016. Worked on assembly and Installation of the design.
Snyder + Cheng Oakland, CA
Oct 2015 - Apr 2016
Freelance Designer/ Curator •
Worked with a small team, assisting with design, fabrication of public installations. Collaborated and curated exhibitions on Virtual reality and historic city; which toured in San francisco.
sitouakolly@gmail.com
Creative Architecture Machines Exhibition | May 2016 Designed & Built 3D printed architecture Robot exhibited in Huster hall graduation Project. CCA Dean’s List | May 2015 Annual award for Outstanding academic performance 1st Place Design competition | April 2012 AIAS Green Design Charetter Competition 1st Design Portfolio | May 2013 Kennesaw Sate University best portfolio submission
Academia + 01
Creative Arch Machines
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Post Colonial Languages
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Sitsope Cultural Center
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Live, Work, Make
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Performative Ornaments
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Creative Architecture Machines Fall 2016
Duration: 6 months
Machine Prototype Creative Architecture’s goal was to build the largest 3d printer in the Bay area. We initially started the project with material testing, and based on the material chosen, we were tasked to build a machine that will extrude in the x and y axis. There came the first prototypes. The machine is created with an elbow attached to the ABS pipe allowing the Auger to push the material down to the extruder. We have also tested different size nozzle in order to achieve different bead size and language. The machine adopts the same behavior as a normal 3D printer. It has a X,Y, and Z axis. The frame is built with aluminium extruder. the gantry is 6ft x 4 ft. the size limitation was due to the available lab space we were given. due to that limitation, we intended to print in layers and sections (stack). the upper arm of the gantry has two step motors, NEMA17, with a planetary gearbox with a 1:27 reduction. This is to allow for a smooth and powerful movement of the extrusions.
Gantry Printer Diagram
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Stepper Motor
Connect with Adruino board and attach the auger to rotate
Bearing
Reduce friction and stablize the shaft
Cap Feed Materials
Pipe Bracket
Attach the gantry, sliding down from the top
Auger
Using arcemedies principle to carry materials
Nozzle
Easily changeable with different sizes
1st. imagine machine
2nd. Build extruder
3rd. Objects/Material
Material & Layering performance On the software end, we had to generate a G-code which is a language understood by the tiny-G embedded in the machine. the machine works through coordinates on the x,y,z axis; therefore, any form generated have to be translated back into a smooth helical path. otherwise, the beads wouldnt stack on top of each other. The material studies were parallel to the advancement and challenges of the machine. The material needed to have the perfect viscosity in order for it to not harden too fast nor be too soft. We have tested over 100 mixtures of cement and Bio material.
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TWISTING COLUMNS, DOUBLE WEAVE
POINTS ALONG TOOLPATH
PERSPECTIVE
1:1 PLAN
1:1 SECTION
Structural stacking studies
Straight edge studies
Curved edge studies
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Anticipated form
wire form
Bead form
Code form
Interpolation Path Like the gantry, the exxtruder itself also uses a step motors, NEMA17, with a planetary gearbox with a 1:27 reduction. The extruder needed a powerful motor to successfully extrude the viscous material within control pressure. Because the research used aggregate and bio material, there were issues with the auger getting stcuk due to the pressure of the material feed.
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Real Time Prototyping The final phase of the project demanded the new found machine to take an approach at solving global issues involving natural disasters and modes of shelter. The projects ranged form fast disaster relieves to shading screens. The project was deployed on campus site and printed 1.50 m tall structure, in 3 hours including ((3x) 25 min of parts prints and and interval of 30 min curing time each)
Cap 30 cm
Torso 50 cm
1.5 m
Base 80 cm
Creative Machine
Printing Robot
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New Primitives: Reamagining Architecture of Togo
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Fall 2013
Duration: 6 months
Projects Spring 2016
Location: Lome, Togo Duration: 3 months Function: Independent Research
Post Colonial Languages
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Site Research Togo, situated in the western coast of Africa is a country of approximately 7millions people comprising of over 38 tribes and ethnic groups. During colonial times, Togo was rebranded through the lenses of multiple european vision, the french, the british and the portuguese. this constant flux of identity shift and authorship has led to a fragmented knowledge on material use and construction methods. The research aims to stimulate hybrid methods of building learning from the local precolonial artistic and structural rererences through appropriate modern technologies,
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Langa structure Simple circular Layering system
Masai hut Interlacing substructure with a lattice of smaller branches which are then plastered my earthen mixture.
Kordofan House Smooth polished earth/ Sudanese tribe. Aesthetic is a additive layer
Mousgoum Hut, Senegal \ Pattern extruded facade layering. Aesthetic is part of the entire outer structure.
Typology research The project searches for an appropriation of technologt fit for the economy and available resourcezs. Because of lack of documented construction typologies knowledge preceding the colonial era, my project investigated tactil modes of making, potery as a cost effective technology to redisign mud bricks. The insoiration was derived from the Batammaliba tribe’s hut situatenorth east of togo. The mud huts in Togo are known to last over centuries;which proves that architecture techniques and material choice of that region is effective and timeless.
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Typology research Pottery is an interesting technology explored to createe aesthetical brick made from clay and mixture of mud. The intent is to make modular bricks while having a bit more analogue control on the aestheic of the form. on the left, therere were couple test prints testing opening arpertures and porousity of structure.
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Brick Units_Elevation Typology
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Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
Brick Units_Section Typology
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Brick Units Typology
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ventilation
Lighting
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Conceptual Sketch 1 Foreign abstractions
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Conceptual Sketch 2 Foreign abstractions
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Sitsope Cultural Center Spring 2015
Duration: 3 months
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The thesis attempts to identity a process of building architecture in Togo that both represent its rich culture, and its modern social fabric. To do so, one has to understand the realationship of the native vernacular, Batammaliba huts, to the everyday life of the users. This process will then reveal the idea of beauty in the Togolese indigenous culture, and process of buiilding.
Batammaliba’s Hut Composition
Farm
Private
Communal
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Indigenous Space
Necklace inspiration
Weaving of Space
Outdoor Connection Indoor Connection
Indigenous concept translation The disposition of spaces in the Batammaliba hut is reference by the connectivity between interior and exterior spaces. These spaces were formulated with function in mind, making every space time specific and activity focused. The concept of the design takes on the cultural references of the indigenous spaces by weaving it through the language of an african beads necklace, this creates a different form of representation and space articulation while integrating a fluid connectivity throught the process of weaving.
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Upper floor 5
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Roof Garden
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Bedroom
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Restroom
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Classrooms
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Kitchen/Cantine
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Courtyard
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football
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Garden
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Shaders/ Louvers
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Ground floor
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Program SITSOPE reflects the site it is built in. It uses local material as a mean to cost efficiency, and reference to the beauty found in the indigenous culture. It provides an opportunity for local artist to teach their craft to the orphans in return for a free temporal stay, and access to a studio Lab allowing them to produce their arts. This enable a recycling tradition which is rooted in the teachings of the indigenous. The school takes educate students with local scraftsman skills.Architecture should inspire and create a dialogue, whether between the audience’s perspective in relation to its origine, or that of its history and social behavior.
The chimneys serves as cooling towers, forcing hot air to rise up when the studio spaces are closed off. these towers form are also a visual reminder to the chambers of the battamaliba house.
the roof of the rammed earth studio spaces serve as roof terraces, enabling a much bigger crowd to gather around the outdoor courtyard.
The roof is made out of a very thin corrugated shingle. It hovers over the structure to protect the space from direct sunligth, while letting air through. It is slanted down to collect rain water that can be used for the everyday basic needs.
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The walls are perforated with local objects, from a clay vase, to a class bottle. Each hosting a different visual interaction between interior and exterior.
The light well in the entrance is a symbol of the connection between nature, the divine, and man. Light and the earthy texture compliments each other, suggesting a soothing welcome to the orphans and visitors.
The skin louvers are operational based on the event hosted by the school. When activated the panels can each host a specific service, allowing the local informal markets to weave within the threads of the school. the panels Regulate access (both visual and physical) from within the school. These louvers also serves as sun shading devices.
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Exploded Axo Spatial connectivity
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Live,Work, Make Fall 2014
Duration: 3 weeks
Leave-Work Dream is a rental home/gallery space designed to host any prospective artist. The home is designed with a gallery space on the brigdge level, further accentuating the public circulation. The bedrom is situated above the bridge level, providing a level of privacy and desire elevated panoramic view of Atlanta Skyline. This home becomes a destination for public interaction and local artist exposure.
Plan Contextual view
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Structural system
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Shell
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Bridge path
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Lake access
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Roof Garden
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Bedroom
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Restroom
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Gallery
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Media Room
Longitudinal Section Spatial relativity
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Latitudinal Cut Spatial relativity
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Performative Ornaments Summer 2015 Duration: 1 week
The assignment aimed to critic ornament and redefine it by both, interrogating the notion of tiling, and performance of the building envelope. This first concept aimed to create a primitive that can be rotated in an infinite order to widen or skew the wall’s integral’s openings.
Closed
Opened
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Outer Mold
Adjustable Inner Mold
Configuration 1
Configuration 2
Configuration 3
Conceptual Stacking 4 modular variety
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The tiles were design to fit in an infinite position and form. each tiles type has a different rotation of opening, making the design of the wall a everending fun puzzle to assemble. The next step of this design is to play with the opening sizes so the wall could have a gradient of openings for privacy and visibility.
Configuration 1
Configuration 2
Configuration 3
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Modular stacking Prototype
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Fabrication
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WaveForm
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Strand Garden
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WaveForm
2017 FUTURE FORMS Duration: 3 months
Waveform creates a fluid and visually striking backdrop for the daily ebb and flow of university students, faculty and visitors. Reminiscent of land form topography, it is an artwork that explores the interplay of dynamic forces moving through a physical medium. Waveform is a composition of elements “frozen in time� and animated through form differentiation, and subtle lighting effects.
Materials: CNC-milled plywood, CNC-milled frosted acrylic diffusers, welded and powder coated steel, white LEDS, DMX controller. Client: Denver, Colorado (Metropolitan State University, Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building
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Plan
Elevation WaveForm Design Drawings
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Waveform is a composition of elements “frozen in time� and animated through form differentiation, and subtle lighting effects. The artwork is never the same for the passer-by: from the student or faculty member heading to another class, to the visitor, board member or prospective student. The light show is prerecorded and saved onto an external drive which is attached to the DMX controller.
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Strand Garden
2016 MATSYS
Duration: 2 months
Inspired by the organic curves of Art Nouveau and translated through Matsys’s unique approach to digital craftsmanship, these four new pieces explore the champagne-making process and its emblematic materials. Strand Garden’s three screens of curved strands, evoking tree trunks or vines, mark out a central area: “You’re in a small clearing,” Andrew Kudless explains.
“You get hints of what lies beyond, but it’s an inward-looking, reflective space.” The oak tops of the interlocking benches evoke Perrier-Jouët’s riddling racks and wine presses, while the concrete of their legs has been specially crafted to resemble the chalk that shelters the Maison’s cellars and nourishes its vines.
Materials: Straight-cut Red Oak Veneer (thickness 0.035 inch), Trinket Microcontrollers, LED Lights Client: Maison Perrier-Jouët Exhibition: DesignMiami/ 2016
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Strand Garden Drawings Design Drawings
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Spatial Design Thinking + 01
Platformization, City as a Playground
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Hybrid Volumetric Definition
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Tme, Space, Matter
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Platformization City as a playground
Summer 2015 Duration: 1 week
Series of exploration with volumes. Developing the idea of subtracting a volume from another based on color coded parameters self definedto create variety and generate a ditributiond different from that of the primitive. If applied to an urban scale, the aggregates could be iimagined as physical manifestation of policies and urban spatial distribution.
c1. Non-Porous
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c8. Porous
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Porous City
Porous City Platformization
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hybrid Volumetric Definition Workshop 2015 Duration: 1 week
In this series of workshop, form shifting is interrogated through the inbetween spaces left within the form after its modification. This raises an understanding of the geometry and orientation can alter spatial understanding and scale.
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Hyper Space Digital Sketch
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Time, Space,Matter 2018
Duration: 1 day
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Time, space, matter Living Architecture Digital Sketch
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Personal Projects
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Paintings
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Theorethical Work
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Digital Modeling
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Paintings
Koffi_Gender Role Acrylic on Canvas 11”x14”
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Afi_Gender Role Acylic on Canvas 24”x30”
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Organic Contrast Ink on Paper 11”x14”
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Boh_Nhou Ink on Paper 11”x14”
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Theoretical Work New Primitives
Duration: 1 year
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MUD TIMELINE: New Primitives: Reimagining Architecture of Togo
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7500 B.C
The earliest brick were found at Tell Aswad (prehistoric archeological mound) in the Upper Tigris Region (Syria) 7500 BC. The first bricks were made from shaped mud.
Earliest Bricks were Dried Bricks
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2000 B.C
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100 AD
The Roman made broad and thin bricks by pressing clay into wooden frames. In the Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction were popular after it was introduced from NorthernWestern Italy. This import brought up a specific style of the Gothic known as Brick Gothic especially in northern Germany, which evolved into Brick Renaissance; a style that adopted renaissance elements into brick building.
Bricks manufacturing started to take on a standardized shape.
Around the 12th Century, Pallet Moulding and Slop moulding were introduced.
15 The Indigenous (Tamberma) built mostly by hands. The Tamberma used the Mud stacking to build the Batammaliba huts. Women wove palm leaves by hand to make the tatched roofs.
of 19 Production bricks increased massively with the rise of the Industrial Revolution
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St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck, Germany built in 1350. The church was told to be a symbol of power and prosperity of the Hanseatic city( founded in the 12th century, as a major trading center for northern Europe). The church has the tallest brick vault in the world , with the nave’s height of 126ft.
The brick mold was introduced to Togo during the German settement 1900
Other earliest bricks were found in the built walls of Jericho, Catal Huyuk. Eventually inspiring other empires such as: the ancient Indus valley of Mohenjo-daro, ancient egyptian fortresses, Mehrgarh. Ceramic and Firing were introduced in the manufacturing of bricks.
Mechanical brick compressor, an imported Chinese Machinery is used to increase production of bricks in Togo. These machines are often used in smaller building sites. Althought it increases productivity, it still requires a significant amount of hand labor and little room for variation and details.
Technlogy advancement Togo turns to Imported Chinese Machines in building construction. These machines are often expensive, and due to Togo’s poor economy most construction are often built with manual and cheap mechanical tools. These mechanized tools made in China are often only used to build large scale governmental buildings which is strictly handed to Chinese construction companies and workers.
New Primitives Theoretical Piece
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Alternative Indigeneity cellular Aggregation Sketch
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Altenative Indigeneity Digital composition Sketch,
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Digital Modeling Familiar Forms
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Sonar Playgrounds Digital Modeling Sketch,
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Religion, Tradition, Education, Boundaries Digital Modeling Sketch,
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Fiction & Realism Digital Modeling Sketch,
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Swingphony Utilization of Amsterdam Canal way into a playground
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Swingphony Playground concept Sketch
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Solar Bike Conceptual sketch
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Solar Bike Digital Modeling Sketch,
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“Lets Collaborate�
sitouakolly@gmail.com adventusvocem linkedin.com/in/sitouakolly/