MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s New Cities

[Music] good afternoon good evening i don't know where you are but i know that there's more and more of you who've been attending participating asking questions wondering about our true african university and mit africa webinar series um sustainable development in africa is what we're focused on and i have a friend in uganda who said well that you really shouldn't be talking about that because that's an expression that's really used by ngo people and un people because people who don't really understand africa and so this whole series is looking to unpack a lot of that what the sustainable development actually means and that's why we started with discussions around climate change we've had discussions around creative industries we've had discussions around macroeconomic trends around entrepreneurship and and me i'm claude grenitzke i'm an entrepreneur i'm a media entrepreneur turned education entrepreneur or entrepreneur as we say now and i'm the founder of true african university and um it's wonderful to be speaking with various change makers every week this week the topic is how can architecture change people's lives now it sounds like a very grand topic and it reminds me of a conversation i had with my dad when i was 10 years old when he asked me well well what do you want to be when you grow up and i said i want to be an architect because i used to play with my legos and i just like building things with my legos and he said well don't don't do that because you'll you'll just be unemployed uh like most architects most architects never actually get any work and so i remember that conversation and i ended up becoming a publisher and media entrepreneur instead but this architect that we're speaking to today kofibio he is definitely not unemployed he is very much employed in ghana uh he's the associate principal of ajay associates um the aircraft studio is overseeing all projects in africa kofi has worked alongside uh starchitect we'll call him um david ajay for almost a decade and and and in 2017 um those of us in togo we were watching from afar from the neighboring country how tophi kofi together with david led the opening of the across studio to drive the realization of key projects in ghana uh such as the national cathedral of ghana another project isn't in the marine drive master plan development and the ghana trade fair redevelopment since the across studio for ij associates opened three years ago kofi has overseen the studio's growth with an emphasis on sustainable development here we go again and cutting edge technologies with what he calls vernacular design into the wider african markets now i know that you're probably wondering what this all means but we will be discussing this in great detail over the next hour and they have secured major projects all over africa from from from east africa to southern africa to obviously west africa so this series is um is a weekly series that i created as part of the true africa university launch because um you know i'm looking to really help to find ways to to nurture the next generation of african talent you know how do we do that and we're going to do that through education and and our partners for this um for this launch are the mit center for international studies cis as we call it and i'm a research affiliate at cis we aim to support and promote international research and education at mit we produce research that creatively addresses global issues while helping to educate the next generation of global citizens the website is cis.mit.edu and our other partner is the mit africa program which is based at the mit center for international studies cis and mit africa empowers mit students and faculty to advance knowledge and solve some of the world's greatest challenges by connecting them with leading researchers companies and other partners in african countries so if you want to hear more about mit africa the website is misti.mit.edu that's misty.mit.edu and again as i was saying this now i created true african university because the ambition is to grow into a pan-african learning community that will accelerate africa's sustainable development by mobilizing a global network of academic industrial and institutional partners our website is truakicuniversity.com you

can go there to uh see watch some of the previous webinars and even to download some of the edit educational materials that we've uploaded on through africanuniversity.org again please spread the word on true africa university what we're doing with mit and again it's my great great pleasure to welcome the non-unemployed and very much employed architect cofibio of ajay associates kofi is speaking to us from accra in ghana welcome kofi thank you claude good good morning good afternoon good evening to everyone i like the introduction definitely employed i like that thank you well you are you i mean one of the things that um i heard about about your firm is you guys have so many projects all over africa and all over the world that sometimes it's difficult for you to juggle all these multiple demands from all these multiple clients whether they're state uh clients government clients institutional clients corporate clients you guys are very busy and so um yeah we can't wait to to to watch these beautiful slides and to hear your story thank you very very very kind very very kind um i i guess you want me to kick off uh let's see i will share my screen so you can okay i guess i'll i'll i'll answer the very first question which is um sustainable uh development which which seems to be the the topic or the question on everybody's mind um here at ij's when we talk about sustainable development it's not just a sense of you know tagging on renewables you know where does the list start from you know solar cells and you know really cool different materials but really it's for us here at ajay it's in the architecture and and that's really important um in in every project that we have done uh every project that we're doing and you know hopefully in the future any project that that we work on but specifically to talk about um the african uh content and and sustainable development on the continent um the the continent has um a rich history of of civilization architecture arts and culture that that you know for centuries that pre-date uh colonialism and and of course we all know um you know through colonialism we've we've had quite a lot of that sort of wiped off the continent and so essentially you know where africa finds itself today it's really about you know trying to really reinvent the continent um and and make sure that some of this rich history and culture isn't isn't isn't lost or or doesn't disappear you know with with with the elderly and folklore and folk tale so what we're doing here at ajay is just to make sure that we use our projects um to to to really sort of hold some of these really uh important pieces of our future uh of our history because that's that's sort of very relevant and important for for the future for our children and and for our children's children and i i put this quote by by david on there because it's really important because we we don't we don't sort of believe in just creating objects or or or or or just icons but really we're looking at you know creating architecture that that changes how people live how people interact with each other and how people sort of use spaces and and and navigate the cities in which in which they find themselves i'll talk through a few um a few slides on some of these key projects that we believe are very important uh in in in helping shape this narrative that that we talk you know we we all sort of try and push in our projects the first one is the national cathedral of ghana which we started working on in in 2017 and this is a really important project because it's essentially the the missing link um in in in ghana's monumental core uh and what we're really trying to do here is to is to create a typology that that speaks to a specific architecture which is about contemporary religious um african buildings um you know the the we we're using the sort of traditional symbols um they the the the which literally translates to the gathering of people which is really key in in religious spaces um and you know some of the primary religious space of the technical which has been expanded upon and intertwined with um with the ghanian concept of of of people gathering the ceremonial canopy which essentially informed uh the economy-like design of of the roof uh that you see which essentially reference references kingship um and and the notion of the stool is sort of um explored through the landscape gardens um we're going to have africa's first biblical museum uh with art galleries multi-use spaces but but essentially the the cathedral uh in itself holds within it the concept of the stool uh which essentially uh embodies the nation's seat of power as a space uh in which the city can gather uh through the notions of community uh belief um ancestral history and a modern democracy that provides an image uh for me for future generations and and that we see as as a very important um narrative in in really what is african christianity today and and that's really important um for for for our time and also for future for future generations the next project um which again is is another really important and that kind of really captures the whole idea about knowledge uh and education and history on the continent is is the table and becky uh presidential uh library which we're currently working on in in johannesburg in in in south africa and essentially the library is a space of um excellent uh learning research discourse and and culture exchange which is uh predicated on on the african perspective um you know the the way the space works uh within here sort of it it works to critically situate um african knowledge on the african soil um the past with the future through recycling of of ancient techniques you know such as the the granary storage uh into a new form of knowledge um storage um we're trying to sort of essentially use the the the role of memory and and the power of collective memory uh to essentially create this space in becoming a a hub for the african uh perspective but but not only you know we're looking at this space documenting um [Music] president becky's life pre-president german president and post-president but also as well as other historically significant you know african figures uh which would be preserved for future generations and then that's sort of really important uh for the constant and also and also worldwide for for one to understand ancient and and contemporary african history outside of the perspective of the western world and and this kind of comes to the point about creating you know using architecture to create sustainable development for for the future and essentially what we you know what we're trying to do is kind of use architecture as a tool to to re-imagine storage and and and sustenance and into the form and and the granary stores guide the overall uh building concept so the eight cylindrical um granny star shapes that you see on your screen um are made contemporary through the topping of the domes with apertures that take into consideration uh the the solar orientation of light within the site to create a a distinct atmosphere uh for each of the programs within uh the the knowledge of you know the african past recycling into into essentially future generations uh as well as the architecture harnessing itself to landscape uh into in into into recycling of resources um and and and really utilizing um elements as i said earlier on that such as soil orientation natural light penetration geothermal heating you know then this is where you start to talk about obviously some of the renewables that i that i alluded to but but but what's really important here is that this knowledge center has all the multiplicity of functions um going from the research center to the museum and extreme spaces the reading rooms for women in some parent center seminar rooms office spaces archive center so it it's really sort of doing both uh which is really sort of being the source of knowledge that begins to sort of create that connectivity between rich african history the present and and and the future the next project is um edo museum of west african art which is it's actually in in benin city in in nigeria and immoral really is is is about transcending national boundaries uh drawn up through colonial era and instead aims to almost emphasize the internet connections between ancient kingdoms in in west africa so you have this museum uh that that that have artifacts which are essentially sacred objects um which contain the ability to restore the forgotten histories of the ancient kingdoms and renew ancient knowledge systems fragments of reconstructed uh historic compounds as you can see in your image allows the object themselves to be arranged in context and and offers visitors the opportunity to better understand the true significance of these artifacts within their traditions the political economy the rituals and shrine within the culture of benin city so and what's really important here is that the african continent pre-colonial times actually had very well advanced and established systems economies um uh seats of power which which really allowed um the various clans and kingdoms to sort of function in in a very civilized way and all of that sort of obviously been lost through the colonial time so using some of these um buildings and architectures really important in sort of rewriting that history which is which has been lost the museum is is on is is one that's really going to help to sort of understand benin as one of the epicenters i mean you can essentially um compare it to athens to rome's and but most importantly um we see this project to be about preservation and and reconstruction you know preservation through the city's geographic earthworks and relics uh the natural language of the walls moats and the heritage sites which essentially will help to to determine how to weave the contemporary uh whilst giving reverence to the to the to the ancient history um the the art forms which you you see in the spaces will be closely linked to culture uh where mediums were the expression of of their beliefs such as the belief and life after death uh for instance and the unique place of the monarchy in in in in people's lives uh and and more or less you know the the artworks i essentials have you know performed utilitarian and decorative functions and these are really important to show this in in in some of these spaces so essentially what you realize here is that it's it's not just about um creating a building but also creating spaces and and and rearranging uh some of these pieces and some of these artifacts in their context to allow uh africans and and the world really to understand what ancient african civilization was about the final project is is an interesting one because it's really about rebuilding a city um and a crime i'm not sure if as most of you are aware or not it's probably one of the very few if not the only city on on the continent uh which turns its back onto the ocean so the marine drive development uh in accra which which we we're working on is is significant because essentially we're looking at you know redefining sustainability through the interconnectivity and uh dynamic uh a web uh where architecture essentially works with community and environment and and and and and we feel that this is this is really important and and the the core intent of this of this project is really to revitalize the waterfront um and and also reinforce uh the link between the tourism industry and other sectors of culture and economy uh and making sure they work together you know so you have industries such as agriculture fishing manufacturing construction and all these pieces are really important in in the development of of an african city today so what this project really does is is fulfills a much needed role as an urban spine that that creates uh a central connecting feature in its place making strategy and placemaking is really important here because what we're creating here is it's not about you know land values and and and developments for developers but but really it's about um allowing the public um first of all the access to this is to the waterfront but also about people really sort of understanding the importance of history culture and civic and we've done that in this project by actually creating a a really important link um history being the soup castle and its grounds which is the west of the site um [Music] the the national concert hall to the east of the promenade but most importantly at the centerpiece of the project which is the independent square of of ghana is a centerpiece public park which essentially honors the the founding forefathers of of ghana's independence so with all these projects just to try and sort of summarize really what we're trying to do we acknowledge that um the the history of the african continent um pre-colonialism is important it's a time that is relevant in the history of the continent colonialism is also very important in in in in the history uh of the continent and when you know you go from cities such as dakar to accra to lagos uh through to lebronville kigali um you can see obviously the the the remnants of of the colonial influences and what we're trying to do with these projects uh is by using architecture to create a place that people are can connect to they can relate to and they can feel proud to actually sort of be in these spaces and understand the significance of these interventions that we are creating all across the continent uh which is really important in in in in telling the history of the people but also in in in creating architecture that is relevant to to the context so we're not just you know just you know responding to typologies and and sites and orientation but also in in the locations of these projects we're also sort of using local materials and challenging local artisans and local craftsmanship to really um use local and traditional materials you know transform and use them using modern methods of architecture and that's really important to to to to what we do here really important to david and and to what we do here at ij's and making sure um that we create architecture which is not just about buildings but also about place making so so for us the next 10 years is actually very very exciting um because we believe that it's the opportunity for us to to to change the narrative but also to create um interventions in the city that our children and our children's children can look back on on our time and actually understand some of the reasons and the rationales and the intentions of what we did so next 10 years is really important uh and and that's all i wanted to share with you this afternoon thank you well thank you so much kofi for this i have so much uh that i want to discuss with you but i'm i'm going to start with um one of the things you said about the power of collective memory and and and also looking at it outside of the perspective of the western world and and you know you're one of those people that i would call a repat right you were educated in in the uk and you decided to go back home to to to ghana to to be able to do this thing that is important for the future of our culture and and ultimately you're trying to change society through architecture now my question is uh why did you uh decide to return to accra um you know what what was the opportunity that you saw personally uh that made you uh make that decision to to to be a repat and to resettle in in your in your um ancestral land i'll scale it well thank you um there's two parts to to my answers to that question and and the first part is growing up in the uk um it was very important and and my parents always made sure that there was always the connection um to to to to ghana to home uh and you know being here every year on holiday and you know my father you know the numerous books in this in a study making sure that i whilst i was i was and i there's always a distinction between schooling and education but sort of schooling in in in the united kingdom but also having a very clear understanding through education about the relevance of of of my african heritage and of course having worked for david for almost a decade now it's always been very clear about what what david wants you know his vision for the continent and obviously david has also returned home but his vision for the content and and really the importance of using architecture to really change um the the perception of the continent to the world so to me those are those are the really two important things my my upbringing my heritage but also the the having the opportunity to be part of you know this incredible opportunity uh to work with you know one of africa's sons um to really help change change you know change the story and and tell the story differently rewrite history essentially rewriting history absolutely that's what that's rewriting history and reinventing the the continent and and so there's something that you said that that really got me thinking and it was a phrase around situating african knowledge on the african soil right you know as somebody when i was growing up in la may just you know you know may is right at the on the border of ghana so i was born uh i could have been ghanaian but um uh you know i didn't hear anything about african culture togolese culture at school really you know because the textbooks were imported uh a lot of the history we learned was you know obviously colonial history postcolonial history western history and and and and i you know my i guess my whole life i've been trying to find out more than what my grandmother would tell me that what my aunts would tell me about you know the african heritage right to use your um vernacular and so i i guess like for for you know in your architecture and the way that you build these public spaces um you know you there's always room for research there's always room for um tracing it back to the actual archives and what you call the rituals and but in trying to tell the history of the people what are the hurdles in actually assembling real documents because a lot of these documents don't exist or they were burned or they were not well kept and a lot of it is all history so what are some of the hurdles that that you might have encountered in trying to reconstitute this history that you actually need in your process in building um these important uh public uh awards we we have we have uh a very deep uh importance that we associate to research uh and in the work that we do here at adjacent um and to that effect we actually have a global team and what that allows us and the reason why i use global because you know a lot of this culture still all this um you know history and documents do it still exist you just have to know the right place to look and you know whilst it's a challenge what we try and do is that we we explore all sources that is available to us uh whether that's local in the context of of of where where we're we're designing or where we're actually you know creating this architecture but also you'd be amazed that a lot of this um history actually exists in in the western world and so whilst you might be looking locally and you know and to your point it might you know a lot of the education this is the difference between schooling and education because we're schooled uh but to be educated you have to actually understand um you know the contest and the relevance of of who one is as an individual so yes there are there are a lot of hurdles and challenges but also i think what what the modern world allows us to do is this this sense of interconnectivity that allows one to be able to sort of tap into information uh or collection of information globally and and and that i'm afraid is is something that we do and we have to do all the time to ensure that we we we we grasp or we understand the sense of of of of the history uh or or the content of of the architecture that we create well you know on that note um as somebody who's been a long-time follower of ajay associates right i i i followed most of the projects that your film has produced in europe in america in in the middle east in africa there's one project that i'm particularly excited about and this is my west african pride coming in and it's really the edo museum of west african art in benin city that you mentioned earlier and the way that you're looking to um highlight the importance of these ancient kingdoms in west africa and and what you call forgotten histories and i really um was interested in what you said about these ancient african civilizations when you try to compare them in a way to athens or rome right everybody knows the history of athens everybody knows the history of rome well all the educated or school people know those histories but hardly anyone knows the importance of benin city and some of our west african kingdoms now for those of us who were born there and who are native sons and daughters this is very important history now you know can you tell us a little bit more about how you approach something that it means so much to so many people because if you get it wrong there's going to be a pretty big backlash coming from people like me no and i think this is actually quite a good lead on from from from the earlier question because this is where research and collaboration is really important because the the the history of benin in itself and the importance of the benin kingdom is is not just limited to its context it's across the continent and also globally so you know you know you understand about the punitive expedition but benin really is it was a kingdom was a kingdom in its own right for over 700 years um and and so how we've approached it again you know has initially been to really understanding the context which is actually doing a physical you know getting a physical understanding of of what is there the moats the walls um the the obese palace um some of the shrines which still exist uh and also then actually then going out you know into into places you know across europe you know which actually have some of these artifacts and really understanding obviously where it is today in terms of benin where the artifacts that were taken where they are today but also then really telling that story using the space and using the architecture using the exhibition to really begin to to to bring that together as a collective because essentially you go to you know the likes of the british museum now and you're looking at objects but actually these objects were never in abstraction they were they were forms they were they were part of uh displays um and and and really what this museum is going to do is to tell that history um and and and and really show to to to to the african you know and then teach them about that part of their history which you're right nobody teaches that in in in african schools certainly not in western world well we hope to change that with true african university but uh but that that's that's the planning for the future um i want to maybe shift gears a little bit and talk about the marine drive project and and i was i was interested if you and you telling us maybe a little bit more about how you plan to integrate um agriculture fisheries and and even like a public park into into that you know because you know again going back to lo may we never had a public park in lomei there's not a single public park in the capital of togo right and so that's a problem because if you're young and you want to go and meet uh people and and you want to just relax and take a book or hang out you know you just don't have that and that's been a problem in togo and i've always complained about that and hopefully the government will do something about it but you know in part in in planning the marine drive um you know what is the role of the architect in providing space and time for the actual citizen right so that the citizen doesn't feel intimidated by this grand building right so that you can make it a welcoming place where they can just go whether they're illiterate whether they're completely um uh shut out of the economy uh you know if you can find a way to make it a place that is a public square for everybody i think you will have achieved something quite interesting so tell us about the strategies that you're using to make it a center of gravity for everyone that that was the core of of of the design or the architectural response um to what we did essentially we we wanted to create a public promenade that allows uh the ability for the ordinary citizen to be able to have direct access to the waterfront the development will always happen in the background but what we did was create a three kilometer boardwalk that spans the entire length of the site and links the three um public infrastructure infrastructure pieces that i talked about earlier on which was the sioux castle uh the um the concert hall and and also the uh the independent square and and and public part in in the center that was really important because we wanted to create this public asset which wasn't just about developers making money but it was also about creating a destination for the for the average ghanian for the average african for the average european to actually be able to come to ghana come to accra a city that has turned its back onto the on to onto the ocean for for for for decades and really to say we are reinventing that you know that that narrative across turning its back it's it's front to the ocean and and then and then allowing people to sort of be able to go to the ocean from and have the infrastructure to be able to interact be able to enjoy the space read a book as you talked about without necessarily worrying too much about about the um the development behind but also an important thing is the site currently um has um the uh the center for national culture which is the arts and crafts you know the sort of the and it's kind of quite a a touristy um part of of the current location and what we did as part of uh the redesign it's really to allow the the arts and crafts to actually be able to occupy a really important part of this promenade so the people actually you're not and this is the thing about what i talked about uh agriculture and and the industry and tourism is really not to create a development that drives away um local artisanship and local craftsmen and local local skills but actually an architecture which is a response to actually integrating some of these users to allow you know because what what's the point in building the development which is just going to be enjoyed by the by the office goers all the people living in in in in in apartments and penthouses so you know we the part of part of the um the development of part of the response allows the local fishermen to actually be able to catch you know early catch of the day and bring it on to a restaurant along the promenade so that there is always that connectivity uh between local artisanship between uh creating obviously continued to promote the local economy whilst creating a uh a new central business district well i guess that's what we could call sustainable development to uh to illustrate that in a really concrete way um you know that is a great segue into the q a because there's a lot of really interesting questions uh i'm looking at 18 right now i'm going to try to get to some of them adelia ferguson actually wanted more explanation on why accra was built to turn its back to the ocean um but was it deliberate or unplanned she asked and i could have asked the same question too so can you tell us a little bit about about that i think that has a has a a historic um reverence to it or meaning to it and you know that goes back to the colonial times where most of the city would see um their brothers and sisters sort of go to the ocean disappear and never come back so there's a there's a kind of deep so uh it's just been a a natural evolution of the city uh rather than a a deliberate attempt to build the city that way because you know you you just drive along along the ocean you've got the castles and the forts but essentially all the people and ten other than the fishermen who sort of go out to fish but they come back and they come into the community so it's it's a combination of obviously the the historic aspects to it but also how the city then evolved from from from that point that that's that's interesting uh jacqueline baidu is asking how do you balance championing the historical architecture and other cultural values of the cities you build when the methods may not have been preserved again the issue of preservation always comes up and and they have may not have been preserved and you're filling in structural gaps with learnings from western architecture that have been well documented so i guess it's it's alchemy so can you tell us a little bit about how you manage that because it's a very difficult process well some of it there's several facets some of it exists um of course some of it has been has been destroyed but if we just kind of go to to europe for a second um you go to rome and what you see is not what was there originally it's just a reconstruction of of of what existed so we're not if it's if it exists it will be preserved but essentially what we're doing is reconstructing that narrative for one to be able to understand what existed and be able to create that stamp in time for future generations so i think what the there's a there's a there's a clear distinction between preservation and reconstruction and that's really important in in doing this well when you look at to the future and this is why tim white cell's question is really interesting i find um he says i feel sad that the architectural dreams of africans working in coastal cities may be sadly disappointed because of the impact of climate change and and then his question really is have you taken into account uh in cities like la may accra lagos abijah the the the the well the rise in sea levels and and how that might threaten some of these coastal cities which usually always happen to be the capital cities right or even and lagos may not be but they are the economic centers of their of of their country so how do you mitigate for this major climate change risk when you're building for the future as you said so something like i'll use marine drive as an example which is right on the waterfront and it's it's a substantial part of the waterfront and the uh the the response to that obviously using engineering um is has ensured that we're dealing with you know rising you know sea levels and we can actually protect this this important part of the city for the next 500 years and this is where when i talk about again you go into actual sustainability measures we're using modern methods of of construction to ensure that whilst creating this asset within the city you are actually also protecting the asset to last generations wonderful and and then um joseph um joseph okiere is asking um a question but but the but the preamble is is and i'm reading quote i have been fascinated by the rounded forms that many african vernacular vernacular architecture share in common seeing the design for the taboom becky foundation building got me thinking that this could be the great opportunity for reinvention of this form using modern technology what is your view on that absolutely i i the the forms exist from our history uh and and as i as i pointed out earlier on what is really important is not to literally translate that into what we have today so essentially we've got fragments of our history and what is really important for for david is really about piecing together learning from those fragments and actually then using that in the response of you know in the architecture that we we we we we produce or the architecture that we use in our cities uh or the interventions that we we create in our city and that's really important it's really about learning from those progress you can't piece all the fragments together because they represent different time stamps in our in in our civilization but it's really about learning from that and recreating uh for the present and also for the future well that leads me to one of the many questions i'm seeing in the chat about society and stratification and these hierarchies that exist implicitly in a lot of our you know african cultures we'll be we know starting with the kingdoms that you mentioned earlier this has always been a central uh part of the way that we view society right and and and and africa has been known to be very stratified and and and so that leads me you know in the grand kind of um democratic ambition that we're all in uh it leads me to a question by gordon knox who's actually a friend um and he's um you know he's somebody who's run museums and he he knows this this world very well he said really brilliant presentation of how intelligent architecture can reframe history and the power of ancient cultures this lead this leads me to the question of how this scale of intervention can reanimate and re-empower the underlying system of social organization the values and the social presence that were central parts of the fluid human power of the great west african kingdoms i know it sounds like a complicated question but but but you know i understand what he means um you know because you have a role in helping to redefine the social organization you know going back to what used to happen before very good question i mean essentially you in in place making this is really important for you know here what we do aj's is it's about place making and and and you know we we worked on projects where we've literally negotiated with clients in super high exclusive you know um developments to allow the public for realm component then to allow your everyday user because at that point the certain spaces that exist within cities where it doesn't matter which class of society that you're in you know you go to this space and we are all one as a people so it's not about you you can't again we've got to be really careful about architecture isn't that you know sort all of society's problems but it's really there to kind of create these interventions and these visual cues within the city to allow one to relate better with with with one's environment and with the city uh with the spaces that one finds itself in so so for us it's really about this place making creating public infrastructure that allows everyone within society to be able to utilize and enjoy these spaces for for various reasons right well kofi one of the things i love about these forums that we're having in the webinar format is the descent that usually comes in from a lot of our students and a lot of our participants and and giovanni milandri is um is uh commending you for these wonderful initiatives to highlight and integrate african knowledge in african soil that's where he starts but then this this is where the descent comes in he's like for large projects like this the choice of materials and methods are absolutely crucial and you know he's going to be talking about sustainable architecture and sustainable development right how do you get away with using large quantities of concrete and steel two of the most damaging materials to the environment when used on an architectural architectural scale that's that's his question i think it's a very relevant one so two of the projects i think it's very it's a very important question um what is really key for what we do here is is to use local materials which are then re-engineered using modern methods of of of construction so the table and becky presidential library and and moa are actually being built out of rammed earth which is the local latch right that we find in the locality so it's the red earth that you find in most african cities and and that's the starting point these are traditional materials that have been used for construction for many many many centuries pre-colonial times and so essentially what we're doing is really re-engineering these materials um to actually be able to sort of deal with some of the large spans uh that we work with or the heights that we work with or or or the thermal performance of buildings and and so it's it's it's coming you can't cut out uh concrete and steel completely but essentially it's about just making sure that you are you know you're using local or regional stone or marble or granite and everything is not being imported from from from from from the western world and that's kind of really key so essentially we what we do here is really looking at our our reach as the continent and and we talk about regional and continental in the projects that we work on because it's really important in terms of sourcing and materials so that we're actually a reducing the footprint of the project but also utilizing the materials within the context in the spaces that we create architecture on on that note um ebony walsh actually asked a follow-up question on this whole kind of environmental threat with the with the rising sea levels and she's asking specifically what technology and systems have you put in place for the rising sea sea levels so on marine drive we're working with some of the world's best engineers to actually so the the boardwalk which was on the image that i showed earlier on has actually been engineered to form two functions obviously with the the promenade and the boardwalk to allow people to sort of move from one part of the site but also the sea defense strategy is is is is within that wall so it allows the at low tide for you to come down onto the ocean and so you use the beach area and then at high tide you then recede onto almost this sort of julia balcony looking out onto the ocean so that's how we sort of used um uh the design and also uh modern methods of sea defense to kind of create this space without it just being you know the usual stuff that you see all the time so there's been a little bit of design coordination and engineering on that to allow that to happen right and i guess the terminology is really important and and tanji um gilliam is asking a question but before that she says i'm struck by the terminology vernacular design and the question is how do you understand the concept outside of traditional understandings of vernacular meaning domestic architecture again you you have to look at the context within which that you're operating and so we have to be very careful not to sort of fall into this um notion that um africa is is one big city it is and it was one big country there are there there are various um traditions cultures um but essentially they're all linked in different ways so it's really about having and this is where research is very important in what we do because one needs to have a clear understanding of the context in which you're creating this architectural response or creating this narrative and that then helps to inform the vernacular or or the response um to the issues that one is dealing with whether that is rising sea level whether that is um creating spaces for um african african religion or whether that's kind of creating uh containers of knowledge and and that for us is really important so you're not just gonna just literally just because you're you know you're in one environment and this is the typology that you're used to in terms of buildings you're just literally repeating because what my work in dubai certainly doesn't work on the continent and and claude you you you'll be witness to this in most of our african cities today we have lots of glass boxes um with air conditioning which is just not right for our climate and so that's where the whole idea about sustainability also comes into it because it's the form in itself it's actually a sustainable response um to to to to the context or or to a climate and this is why dissent does come in and i'll just call uh sergey kassilov's uh cassie akasikov's question uh which will be the last question before we move to the the last five minutes of this webinar he says um oh is that the red material you're using in most of your project how is it related to local traditional construction techniques and again this is the descent he says how is the last project i guess he's talking about marine how is that connected with local identity to me it just looks like all the faceless glass megalopolises all over the world so he's thinking oh okay how is this a crown metropolis going to be different from what he sees everywhere so please give us a short answer on that that's right it's a very good question so so the imagery and this is this is where we're always very careful to show these things the imagery you see is it's exactly what it is what you see the glass towers they're nothing they're not they're not planned or designed what is really important is the response to the public promenade that we've created but also what is what is really key in in some of these large projects we're working on is really creating design principles which will be enforced in all developments so that is the setback the amount of glazing you can use the orientation the amount of greenery you need to have within your developments and these are very key and this is something that the client is even championing to ensure that we have sustainable developments within these cities rather than just having glass boxes right we're back to sustainable development aren't we um kofi i want to ask you we these this question which we always wrap up with and and it's a recommendation uh what are three books that you would recommend to this audience it doesn't even have to be related to architecture so um it would be we would love some recommendations we're going to add this to the slides that we will share on the traffic university.com website okay um wow three so one i would say aj africa architecture which is a a book that documents david's travel across the continent of an 11 year period to every single african city that that that is one i have that one i actually have that in my library that one yeah um the the the second one i would say will be pre-colonial black africa uh by sheikh antar dupe which essentially i mean he he i i think he was a scientist but of course he was an anthropologist a politician and essentially what that does is really document in a scientific way um the um the the narrative uh of of pre-colonial african systems and cities and i think that's that's a really good one good one to read and this one is a it's a favorite uh one from my childhood which my father made sure myself and my siblings read is um chino achieves yeah that uh many consider that to be the best african novel ever written right so i'm it's a great pleasure that i will add that to the chat now um yeah that's this has been wonderful uh thank you so much uh kofi this has been a wonderful discussion and i really want to thank you for your time um now is that we have two minutes left to wrap up which is really difficult because there's so many questions i wanted to ask you about the city versus agriculture rural versus urban why should we be focusing so much on cities but anyway this is the end and i want to thank the mit center for international studies again cis aims to support and promote international research and education at mit we produce research that creatively addresses global issues while helping to educate the next generation of global citizens cis.mit.edu is the website the mitf program which is based at cis empowers mit students and faculty to advance knowledge and solve the world's greatest challenges by connecting them with leading researchers companies and other partners in african countries i created traffic university because we're looking at a pan-african learning community and we're going to be accelerating sustainable development in africa next week april 15th we have at noon sharp we have leonard wanchakon who is a professor at princeton university and he will be telling us about what are the new solutions for education and improved governance in africa thank you so much for tuning in thank you kofi for this wonderful presentation and we look forward to seeing many of you next week please share the word on true african university mit webinars bye thank you you

2021-04-18 22:20

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