Its been awhile since I heard of anyone working in Africa. I'm interested to see where I can find information on any interesting design practices in Africa, particularly South Africa/Cape Town region... anyone know where to find this info or know of any neat firms out there?
"I feel as if there is amazing potential for re-conceptualizing the idea of Africa, especially in modern, developed eyes...
The future is in all the Africa(ns) of the world...
The West isn't the best...
Nuclear war..."
You might need to elaborate a bit on those statements.
Start with the notion of Africa as a "concept".
Thanks in Advance.
Yeah, but isn't "Africa" a western notion anyway? I'm sorry, I just don't see much use in bundling millions of people who all have distinct cultures and identities into one, largely western invention, as it was the colonialists that established the nations of Africa with no regard for ethnic and cultural identities and we continue to today by lumping everyone there into an "African" group.
That's about as useless as lumping all the peoples who live south of the U.S.-Mexico border into one "Latino" group.
Your absolutely correct.
that is kind of what i was trying to get at...Yesterday, looking back at my post here and on other discussions, i was in a bit of a vague mood.
I agree with Apu, but how different is that to the west coast and south coast of the US...very different people with different values (generally). I agree though as there are 50 or so different independent states with multiple soveriegntities in Afrika and about 3000 different languages between SA to Mali alone. But it is always good think co-hesively when thinking of nation building.
yeah, but u.s. is still ONE country, techno. with "africa", we're talking about people/cultures as different as morocco, egypt, south africa, senegal, ethiopia, etc. i'm with apurimac. i don't understand 'conceptualizing' africa in any clean way.
All of the above is why i think the local and also re-inventing older African notions of design are both keys to the future of Africa, especially within a design/architecture perspective....
Yeah. I just finished my History of Africa class on Wed. It was just a quick survey of mostly sub-saharan Africa through the end of the slave trade, so we didn't get into any thing very current, but I will say that was one of the most difficult classes of my entire undergrad. I had to really bust my ass to pull of even a C.
This whole discussion kind of reminds me of Mauch's discovery of Great Zimbabwe and all the myths and racism that perpetuated. He couldn't allow himself to believe that any Africans (Bantu speaking Shona tribes) could have built a city with very precise dry masonry walls. Its kind of a semi-recent example of the west's ignorant mentality toward the "Dark Continent". There's nothing dark or mysterious about it, except in the minds of the west.
There is a handful of historians that also are beginning to investigate the presence of Africans in the New World before the introduction of the slave trade. Apparently off the coast of west africa is a massively strong current, the same current that brings hurricanes into our hemisphere each year. It was not uncommon for West african fisherman to get caught in this current and carried to Meso America and the carribean. It is also noted through Arabic Scholars that the ruling monarch of Mali (i forget the name of the specific kingdom, but it was in that area) sent an expedition to the New World years before the Europeans dispatched Columbus' expedition. Of course this is all loosely documented, but some of it is recorded in stone:
That is easily a negroid face, as carved by Indians in Meso America (the Olmec's specifically).
well perhaps the first thing to do is to eradicate malaria. as pointed out by jared diamond in guns germs and steel, the african villages were not traditionally built near water and this minimized exposure to malaria. with the advent of the european style city and the siting of these cities near water, malaria has become the major killer in africa.
Personally, for me the process and concepts of architecture and urban design are far more interesting than the results.
Not always the case, but often...
Of course one always have to keep their bias in mind..But not hide it.
Dec 21, 07 1:55 am ·
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African design practices
Its been awhile since I heard of anyone working in Africa. I'm interested to see where I can find information on any interesting design practices in Africa, particularly South Africa/Cape Town region... anyone know where to find this info or know of any neat firms out there?
you can try these links
archi-afrika
architect africa
left LA and now has taken his poetic spaces back to Ghana. Along the way, he's juried for theholcim awards and has made many friends with A+D.
a few years back, caught a museum show on african modernism- but don't remember what venue curated it.
The link
http://www.archiafrika.org/
Was interesting. This Joe Addo's work is stimulating. As are some of the articles at the above link.
I feel as if there is amazing potential for re-conceptualizing the idea of Africa, especially in modern, developed eyes...
The future is in all the Africa(ns) of the world...
The West isn't the best...
Nuclear war...
addo was featured in the dwell that also featured our very own mdler.
"I feel as if there is amazing potential for re-conceptualizing the idea of Africa, especially in modern, developed eyes...
The future is in all the Africa(ns) of the world...
The West isn't the best...
Nuclear war..."
You might need to elaborate a bit on those statements.
Start with the notion of Africa as a "concept".
Thanks in Advance.
Obviously those notions can all be elaborated on...
Regarding Africa as a concept..Pick one;
Colonial-Dark Africa, Resource-Rich Garden of Eden or U2's/Vougue's Africa as disaster-capitalism.
Be happy to elaborate more,,,
Yeah, but isn't "Africa" a western notion anyway? I'm sorry, I just don't see much use in bundling millions of people who all have distinct cultures and identities into one, largely western invention, as it was the colonialists that established the nations of Africa with no regard for ethnic and cultural identities and we continue to today by lumping everyone there into an "African" group.
That's about as useless as lumping all the peoples who live south of the U.S.-Mexico border into one "Latino" group.
@ Apurimac,
Your absolutely correct.
that is kind of what i was trying to get at...Yesterday, looking back at my post here and on other discussions, i was in a bit of a vague mood.
Bring on the critical-local!!!
United States of Africa - Wyclef Jean
I agree with Apu, but how different is that to the west coast and south coast of the US...very different people with different values (generally). I agree though as there are 50 or so different independent states with multiple soveriegntities in Afrika and about 3000 different languages between SA to Mali alone. But it is always good think co-hesively when thinking of nation building.
yeah, but u.s. is still ONE country, techno. with "africa", we're talking about people/cultures as different as morocco, egypt, south africa, senegal, ethiopia, etc. i'm with apurimac. i don't understand 'conceptualizing' africa in any clean way.
All of the above is why i think the local and also re-inventing older African notions of design are both keys to the future of Africa, especially within a design/architecture perspective....
Yeah. I just finished my History of Africa class on Wed. It was just a quick survey of mostly sub-saharan Africa through the end of the slave trade, so we didn't get into any thing very current, but I will say that was one of the most difficult classes of my entire undergrad. I had to really bust my ass to pull of even a C.
This whole discussion kind of reminds me of Mauch's discovery of Great Zimbabwe and all the myths and racism that perpetuated. He couldn't allow himself to believe that any Africans (Bantu speaking Shona tribes) could have built a city with very precise dry masonry walls. Its kind of a semi-recent example of the west's ignorant mentality toward the "Dark Continent". There's nothing dark or mysterious about it, except in the minds of the west.
.
There is a handful of historians that also are beginning to investigate the presence of Africans in the New World before the introduction of the slave trade. Apparently off the coast of west africa is a massively strong current, the same current that brings hurricanes into our hemisphere each year. It was not uncommon for West african fisherman to get caught in this current and carried to Meso America and the carribean. It is also noted through Arabic Scholars that the ruling monarch of Mali (i forget the name of the specific kingdom, but it was in that area) sent an expedition to the New World years before the Europeans dispatched Columbus' expedition. Of course this is all loosely documented, but some of it is recorded in stone:
That is easily a negroid face, as carved by Indians in Meso America (the Olmec's specifically).
well perhaps the first thing to do is to eradicate malaria. as pointed out by jared diamond in guns germs and steel, the african villages were not traditionally built near water and this minimized exposure to malaria. with the advent of the european style city and the siting of these cities near water, malaria has become the major killer in africa.
build local, always
i am with youthere meta - has anyone seen the movie amazing grace?
@ meta...
Mostly un-related..
What you described reminds me of Aboriginal concepts of dream time and other such concepts of embodied reality..
For example
As in this article
http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1158&context=artspapers
Personally, for me the process and concepts of architecture and urban design are far more interesting than the results.
Not always the case, but often...
Of course one always have to keep their bias in mind..But not hide it.
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