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.  

Nigeria  

Lagos:  largest  city  in  Nigeria  

•  Mali  •  Rwanda  •  Congo  •  South  Africa  

Mali  •  Dogon  architecture  •  Timbuktu  •  Mosque  of  Djenne  

Mud  Bricks  

Dogon  region:  Bandiagara  

Dogon  town  

Tellem  (Pygmy)  town  

Toguna:  community  men’s  house:  village  council  

Timbuktu  

Great  Mosque  of  Djenne  

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

Interior  views  

Rwanda:  King’s  house  

“Living  fence”  typical  of  Rwanda    

Tradi=onal  mee=ng  house  

Congolese  vernacular  architecture:  

South  Africa:  Ndebele  people  

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.  

•  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.    

•  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.  

•  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.