NOISE FROM AFRICA

Aft Af A er r alm almost o two years o s ofs f s stud tuuddyying a arrchititect ec ure u at the TU Delft I tI can t tell el you two thi th ng ngs nggs:o : o one n ne, I kno k n w a lot about the e his histor t y a and n bui b ldi ld d ng g now o of wesestern a arch h r ite teecture, two, I k now ow w allmos osst n tn t oth thhing i g ab a out o archi h tecctur tu e from any o y ther culultur tu t e W Weste e ern a h rchiitectuture aremostly broughtto things: one, I know a lot about the history and building techniques now of western architecture, two, I know almost nothing about architecture from any other culture. Western architecture practices are mostly brought to us like it is the ‘standard’ and there is no other way. But if you look a little bit further you will find interesting ways of building techniques that go thousands of years back. People like Diébédo Francis Kéré bring the technology and art of African architecture to worldwide recognition. Which brings up the question,’Should Western building techniques take its lessons from African building techniques?’

One thing is clear, at this moment, African Architecture is not recognised on the top list of the world. There is little to no communication between the education system on different continents. For example, in the top 50 of best architecture studies you can find 0 universities from Africa (QS World University Rankings for Architecture & Built Environment 2022, 2022). And I can see that back in the education here in Delft, I have studied 1,5 years now at the TU Delft, and for the exception of some reference picture, which mostly went on about the attention to detail, not the techniques, I haven’t heard about architecture from Africa. We learn little to nothing about their ways and we will stay within our ways of dealing with climate problems. This is kind of weird, because architecture from Africa is designed to be resilient to extreme heats, even when they had to work with little to no resources.

Luckily there is a little bit of change going on, mainly noise from Africa itself. People like Diébédo Francis Kéré, an architect that won the Pritzker Prize (seen as the Nobel prize in architecture) in 2022. He makes innovative and interesting buildings, with resources and techniques from own culture. In this way he can build sustainably and with low budgets.

One of the greatest examples of Kéré’s work is a school he built in his home village (image 1). He established a functional and beautiful school building with the help of people in the village. They only used resources in the area for the project and built the school from the ground up. Openings in the walls and the roof were strategically placed, so that colder air could come in and the warmth could rise out (Kéré, 2013.) The people do not need electricity this way to make the building livable.

-‘Fransis Kéré is pioneering architecture -sustainable to the earth and its inhabitants – in lands of extreme scarcity. He is equally architect and servant, improving upon the lives and experiences of countless citizens in a region of the world that is at times forgotten’ - Pritzker 2022-

So why should we learn from techniques like this? Is it not a totally different continent with different problems to fight? While that may be true, we can learn how to build with nature, instead of against it. African architecture has built thousands of years with nature, simply because that was the only way to go, but still. They needed to find smart solutions to keep their heads cool even with temperatures from 40 degrees Celsius and they succeeded. We don’t necessarily build against nature, but we certainly do not build alongside it. We want to build as much as possible, as quickly as possible. For a time that meant concrete houses that needed to be cooled and heated with modern day technologies. Now we see that sustainability is a bigger subject, but we still want to look for our own solutions. And while innovation is not a bad thing, this can be supported by learning from different cultures and their techniques. Because climate change will come and warmer summers are going to knock on our doors. That will be the time that cooler houses will be very welcome.

In short, western architecture is very keen on its own work and loves to search for new innovations. But it sometimes forgets that there are other cultures to learn from. These noises for other places are solutions that appear right before our noses, but somehow we do not always see them. Solutions to problems like extreme heat from climate change and running out of materials. We can look in the future, but we can also look for already given solutions in the past. So we need to find inspiration from buildings in Africa and work with nature.//

SOURCES

Kéré (2013, 10 december). TED, Diébédo Francis Kéré: How to build with clay. . and community [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=MD23gIlr52Y

Pritzker (2022) Diébédo Francis Kéré | The Pritzker Architecture Prize. https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/diebedo-francis-kere

Pritzker prize (2022) Diébédo Francis Kéré. https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/diebedo-francis-kere#laureatepage-2431

QS World University Rankings for Architecture & Built Environment 2022. (2022). Top Universities. https://www.topuniversities.com/ university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2022/architecture-builtenvironment