African Architecture

  “ Uli is appreciated by all, as it touches both the spiritual, artistic, and cultural life of the Igbo.” (Onwuakpa, Samuel Department of Fine Art, 347) The origin of Uli is attributed to the praising of the ancient deity in Igboland, according to Obiora Udechukwu’s research. Thus, the ritual nature of the artwork, first on the body and then on wall surfaces, was closely tied to tributes paid in reverence for said deities. The evolution of the uli art form is not entirely known, yet the patterning of the facade of buildings eventually morphed to serve three primary purposes. They firstly refer to the spiritual– the symbolism of patterns made ancestral references as well as divine ones, which expressed the Igbo understanding of past, present, and future at work together. The second was to express hierarchy and status–whether cheiftancy or woman titles, these social scales might be depicted on a compound entrance. The final is the explicit depiction of festivities and current event...

  The Italian regime in Ethiopia used urban design as a tactic for reconfiguring the society they ruled. From 1946-196, during the colonial policy of Benito Mussolini’s reign, the city of Gondar in Ethiopia expanded. The necessity to solve unemployment, produce agricultural goods and increase capital via the exportation of surplus goods also drove the planning and architectural designs.  The choice of the city is due to its past imperial capital, which allowed for the goal of updating the city technologically. Topologically, the lower areas were used as commercial areas while the higher vantage points were saved for government and military towners. The military towers (see image 1), in particular, served as watchtowers at the heart of the city and inspired the castle typology, further emphasizing the separation of the “quotidian functions of the commercial district and the [more highly regarded] ceremonial functions of the governmental district.” the castle- Fasil Ghebbi– serv...

  Malaquais argues the this institution of the church by British and French colonizers encouraged the use of architecture and topography by the Bamileke people to highlight hierarchy and power. In “Building the Name of God: Architecture, Resistance and the Christian Faith of Western Cameroon” notes the idea of “counterstructures”— opponents to the existing dominance of a certain culture. This counter need not be violent or even overt, but can be contained within a symbol— such as art or architecture. The counterstructures were created as Christianity took a foothold within the Bamileke plateau of western Cameroon, where both rich and poor utilized subtle approaches of indiscipline and architecture to resist hierarchy.  The 1900s is when a majority of religious and systemic conflict occurred. The chiefs, mfo or fo where said to be chosen ones of the almighty Si, yet Christianoty did not have a place for this. “Divergent views of the divine realm and its links to rulership” pl...

  I am seeking to find the connection between the symbolism of Igbo designs in scarification and textile with that of the Igbo home and compound, this facade detailing and decoration is extremely important for my analysis.  “Personal decoration,” as noted in Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos, are particularly important for the individualism of art in Igbo culture. This permanent or additive expression via the body can extend to architecture as well and express status, hierarchy, or achievement as well as celebrating the human body and aesthetics (Cole, 24).  The dress and markings of the Igbo people are enhanced to meet the societal standard of the period. The ceremonial imagery and symbols are most unique and expressive within the culture. The “human armature is usually activated by music and dance, for which body arts are specially designed, and the village arena becomes a place of presentation and play” (Cole, 34). This additive nature is fascinating as it emphasizes no...

  The organization of space and objects within space remains a significant way West African architectural identities are formulated. Abogan Peter ’s article emphasizes the importance of tradition in Yoruba architecture through the organization of the courtyard and arrangement of the Yuroba city, which represents the value of outdoor activity, family structure or hierarchy, and worship settings. Despite this, western influences (whether through colonization or the importing of emancipated slaves “back to Africa” like the Saros peoples of Brazil) along with technological advances have allowed modernization to impose new typologies and hasten the loss of traditional building types, material usages, and skills.  Labelle Prussian defines the characteristics of the 18th and 19th century Asante Confederation as an example of the blending of cultures differently from Peter’s account of the Yoruba people. There are simiaries in the arabesque reliefs, sculptural, incised spandrels,...

  Louis Nelson assumes that “the most important meaning of architecture is often found in the various human networks—social, economic, political—that tied those spaces one to the next.“ This brings architecture out of its definition as a strictly physical structure and increases ephemeral space and the experience of space. Nelson explicates this through the narrative of the coastal towns which played a grave role during the slave trade. “The making of people into a commodity” was an economic process that became specifies enough to create architecture/ setting more suited for it– the trading castles. An example of this would be the presence of the British on the coast which was made permanent at the castle construction at Cormantin in the 1630s. Another example Nelson mentions is the 1672 structure of the Royal African Company, which stretched along the African coast for five thousand miles and received the English holding on the trade. The Company owned several smaller factories me...