FA 210 Art of the World Vernacular architecture of Africa

1. Vernacular
African
Architecture
• Wide
range
of
ecosystems
and
climates,
from
tropical
rain
forest
to
savannah,
from
coast
to
desert.
• Type
of
architecture
and
materials
used
respond
to
what
is
available
and
to
the
needs
of
the
environment.
• Although
contemporary
vernacular
structures
con=nue
to
be
built
and
inhabited,
Africa
is
rapidly
modernizing.

2. Nigeria
Lagos:
largest
city
in
Nigeria

3. • Mali
• Rwanda
• Congo
• South
Africa

4. Mali
• Dogon
architecture
• Timbuktu
• Mosque
of
Djenne
Mud
Bricks

5. Dogon
region:
Bandiagara

7. Dogon
town
Tellem
(Pygmy)
town

8. Toguna:
community
men’s
house:
village
council

10. Timbuktu

11. Great
Mosque
of
Djenne

12. • Made
of
“banco”
or
adobe
(mud
brick);
largest
mud
brick
building
in
the
world.

14. Interior
views

15. Rwanda:
King’s
house

16. “Living
fence”
typical
of
Rwanda

17. Tradi=onal
mee=ng
house

18. Congolese
vernacular
architecture:

19. South
Africa:
Ndebele
people

20. Very
brief
history
• Ndebele
people
split
from
Zulu
in
1600s.
Different
fac=ons
went
north
(now
Zimbabwe)
and
south
(South
Africa);
laZer
retained
language
and
culture
• Boers
(white
farmers)
encroached
on
their
land
and
demanded
all
their
goods;
Ndebele
lost
war
in
1883.
• Ndebele
people
were
essen=ally
enslaved
on
their
own
land,
taken
over
by
Boers.

21. • As
white-­‐controlled
South
Africa
restricted
Africans
to
“homelands”
(counterpart
to
“reserva=ons”
in
the
US),
some
Ndebele
ended
up
together
on
ancestral
land.
• During
their
occupa=on,
Ndebele
began
pain=ng
dis=nc=ve
abstract
paZerns
on
their
houses.

22. • Ini=ally
painted
mud
with
fingers.
• Later
earth-­‐toned
colors:
limestone
whitewas
covered
with
natural
ochres
and
black,
applied
with
s=cks
with
Feathers
aZached.

24. • House
pain=ng
an
act
of
resistance,
a
form
of
secret
communica=on
among
the
Ndebele.
• Tradi=on
con=nues
to
the
present,
and
cons=tutes
some
of
the
best
known
vernacular
architecture
in
Africa.