Category: Architect

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The home is a fundamental expression of architectural movements within the fabric of a city. As one of the smallest typologies, it is the simplest canvas to exhibit the design ethos of any particular era. African cities have continuously negotiated the meaning of their residential dwellings, from traditional architecture to colonial architecture, and the influx of post-colonial modern architecture.

Vernacular architecture explored homes with spatial patterns rooted in cultural dexterity, envelopes built with indigenous materials and forms, endowed with traditional motifs. These were in stark contrast to colonial homes that featured a range of imported architectural styles across the continent, neglecting their climatic and cultural contexts while amplifying social class.

The post-colonial period witnessed a myriad of architectural styles and movements. Notably, Tropical Modernism, with its birth in West Africa, comprises Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and the Gold Coast (Ghana). This movement embodied environmental design, with buildings made to pay allegiance to their contextual climate, interiors curated to provide comfort, and forms built to express the aesthetics of a country’s independence.

They were explorations carried out by foreign-born architects who were state commissioned in these countries; it was a top-down approach towards city building, where only economically buoyant projects were the beneficiaries. The movement flourished in defining institutional buildings such as churches, schools, and parliaments but struggled with its influence and sustainability in residential architecture. This created a gap in the educational dialogue between these architects, the country’s young architecture profession, prospective clients, and everyday home builders.

To convey the might and prestige of their empire, the Romans constructed enduring architecture as symbols of their long-lasting reign. Emperors employed grand public works as assertions of their status and reputation. Conversely, Japanese architecture has long embraced ideas of change and renewal, evident in the ritualistic rebuilding of Shinto shrines.

A practice, known as shikinen sengu, is observed at Ise Jingu, where the shrine is purposefully dismantled and reconstructed every twenty years. Across the world, philosophies around permanence and impermanence pervaded architectural traditions. Amidst the climate crisis, how do these tenets apply to modern architectural design?

Contemporaries continue to create structures as symbols of power, prominence, and pride. Olympic stadiums, for example, represent a country’s ability to host global events and leave behind iconic landmarks. These structures often rendered obsolete once the events conclude, raising concerns about their long-term viability and sustainability. For instance, the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, despite its initial grandeur, struggles to attract consistent usage and generate revenue. Similarly, the construction of the Athens Olympic Complex of 2004 and the Montreal Olympic Stadium of 1976 have burdened future generations with high maintenance costs once the buildings were no longer in use.

The modern architectural practice operates within a consumer society that seemingly embraces “planned obsolescence”. The prevailing belief is that buildings must be continually updated or demolished to make room for new constructions. Just as with the Olympic stadiums, traditional shopping malls have been made irrelevant with large-scale societal shifts like the rise of online shopping and changing consumer preferences. Architects and designers now face the challenge of reimagining spaces to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving world. Adjusting to varying needs and shifting societal behaviors is crucial for contemporary practices.

With an aim to create adaptable structures that could evolve according to societal needs, the architecture of the Japanese Metabolist movement structurally acknowledged that Japanese cities were in a constant state of growth. Inspired by the fusion of architectural megastructures and organic biological growth, the movement sought to create dynamic buildings that would “metabolize” to meet expected future needs. However, a significant oversight was the failure to anticipate that the movement itself would eventually become outdated.

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, designed by Kisho Kurokawa, is an example of ambitious Metabolist architecture. The tower was conceived as a modular system, with individual pods capable of adapting to different uses and being moved in and out of a central core structure. Despite its innovative design, the building ultimately failed to live up to its promise of transformability in response to evolving societal needs.