Category: Africa

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Dano Secondary School – Francis Kere

 

Students in front of Dano Secondary School. Photo by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk.

Project Info:

Status: Completed

Date: 2006-2007

Site: Dano, Burkina Faso

Size: 370 sqm

Client: Dreyer Foundation, Munich

Collaborators: EGC (Entreprise Générale de Construction)

Awards: 6th edition of the International Sustainable Architecture Prize, special mention 2008. Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009. BSI Swiss Architectural Award 2010

Francis Kere

Architect: Francis Kere, 2022 Pritzker Prize Winner

Shade over sitting Area of Dano Secondary School. Photo by Kéré Architecture.

Having established its expertise with successful school building projects in Gando, Kéré Architecture was commissioned to build the Dano Secondary School in Burkina Faso. The building was designed from the outset with the goal of making it environmentally sustainable and appropriate to its specific climatic conditions.

The school consists of three classrooms, a computer room, office space and a shaded seating area sunken below ground level to host more informal learning sessions.

Sketch of Dano Secondary School by Francis Kéré.
Dano Secondary School_Kéré Architecture. Photo by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk.

The laterite stone used for the main body of the building is abundantly available in the region and lends the walls their rich reddish-brown tone. The material is an excellent source of thermal mass, helping to absorb the ambient heat inside the building.

Interior of classroom at Dano Secondary School. Photo by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk.

Upside-down plaster vaults reminiscent of draped fabric hang above the classrooms, diffusing indirect sunlight to make the space brighter without increasing its temperature. Gaps are introduced between the modular plaster elements, allowing hot air to travel upwards.

Climate Diagram of Dano Secondary School.
Students at the Dano Secondary School. Photo by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk.

An elegant truss structure, shaped like the body of a fish, holds up the corrugated metal roof. The roof undulates along the length of the building, silhouetted against the bright sky. Its generous overhang, combined with the building’s east-west orientation, helps to reduce the impact of direct sunlight. (Kere Architecture)

Window of Dano Secondary School. Photo by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk.

The load-bearing masonry walls are made of laterite, an iron-rich soil found in the area that hardens when exposed to air. Villagers shaped the red bricks with basic tools. “This is very important — they don’t need to buy a new tool to do this building,” emphasizes Kéré. In constructing the walls, the architect opted to use less mortar than is typically applied in bricklaying. His goal: to “let the material be seen like it is,” while also boosting the walls’ strength.

To protect the building from the elements, Kéré developed an undulating, corrugated tin roof that hovers several feet above the building and is supported by an elegant truss system made of common rebar. Aesthetically striking, the roof’s wavelike form also has a pragmatic function: Water is channeled into the folds and funneled off the roof, away from the building. (Architectural Record)

 

 

Section of Dano Secondary School.
Plan of Dano Secondary School.

Videos:

https://youtu.be/RmRZNqi8V_w?si=C3BtlaKsEv3tIzaT&t=445

https://youtu.be/kdT_TwcA0qQ?si=WSy08ZNm6_ki5SRY&t=431

Sources:

https://www.kerearchitecture.com/work/building/dano-secondary-school

https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/6600-secondary-school

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Dineo Seshee Bopape

Dineo Seshee Bopape Portrait. Photo Curtesy of “Senator Recommends”

Dineo Seshee Bopape is a South African contemporary artist known for her multimedia installations, video art, sculptures, and performances, in which she incorporates organic materials like soil (EARTH), coal, ash, and clay.  Her environmental installations delve into themes of memory, identity, and belonging, pushing visitors to experience soil in a completely different way. 

Bopape’s art draws heavily on African cosmologies, oral histories, and indigenous knowledge systems, addressing the complexities of belonging and displacement. Born in Polokwane, South Africa, the artist takes from her own experience and weaves narratives that investigate archetypes and myths in which the female figure plays a central role.

Her practice reflects on the body, emotions, trauma, and the unseen or spiritual dimensions of life. Her installations evoke layered meanings and leave room for ambiguity. Viewers must therefore engage with both material and metaphor.

With memory, belonging, and place.

Her installations have been featured all around the world, making it toPirelli HangarBicocca’s gallery in Milan, Italy with  Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo].

This exposition asks the question: What Memories are preserved in Stones, Water, and Earth?

Here, historical and geographical references are brought together, to reflect on the memory, and more specifically the transmission of memory through natural elements like water and earth, and the use of sounds and words as healing.   The installation draws on the symbolic use of earth, organic elements, and rituals, alluding to ancestral connections, healing practices, and African cosmologies. “Moswara’marapo” translates from Sesotho to “the smell of bones,” which adds a layer of meaning to the work, suggesting ideas of mortality, memory embedded in the earth, and the cycles of life and death.

“Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo]” is just one example of the ways Dineo Seshee Bopape translates memory, spirituality, and materiality into powerful artistic experiences. But her work extends far beyond this single installation. From “Untitled (Of Occult Instability) [Feelings]” to  “More/Moreana,” Bopape’s art challenges us to engage deeply with themes of identity, healing, and historical trauma.

Her use of natural elements like soil, water, and ash does more than reflect the material world—it urges us to question our relationship with these elements. Her work invites us to consider how land and memory are intertwined and how ancestral knowledge persists within the earth and within us. Through her installations, Bopape reminds us that nature is not just a backdrop to human experience but a living archive that holds our histories, traumas, and hopes for transformation.

References

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Anna Heringer: Earth Campus

The Earth Campus in Tatale, Ghana, is a vocational training center designed to promote sustainable development through education and practical skill-building in one of Ghana’s rural regions, close to the Togo border. The project focuses on providing young people with the skills needed to support their families and counteract rural exodus. It is operated by the Salesians with the Don Bosco mission, which aims to empower the local community through sustainable techniques and education.

 

The campus offers training in sustainable construction methods such as adobe masonry, rammed earth, and timber structures. It also includes programs in agriculture, electrical training, domestic economy, and nutrition, giving students a broad range of skills. The campus is designed to incorporate local building traditions while teaching modern adaptations of these methods, blending vernacular architecture with contemporary sustainable techniques.

Tatale Campus, GhanaTatale Campus, Ghana

The use of local, natural materials such as earth plays a crucial role in reducing environmental impact while creating economic opportunities for the community. The project also uses natural ventilation strategies, ensuring comfort in the hot and humid climate of the region. The overall goal is to make the campus a model for how development projects can foster both environmental sustainability and social empowerment by maximizing local resources.

Tatale Campus, Ghana

Through its design, the Earth Campus serves as an example of how architecture can be a tool for development. It challenges the conventional approach of using industrialized, imported materials in aid projects and demonstrates the benefits of building with locally available resources. This ensures that the added value remains within the community, fostering long-term sustainability and cultural preservation.

About the architect:

Anna Heringer is a renowned architect from Germany. She studied at the University of Art and Industrial Design Linz in Austria, focusing on sustainable architecture using local materials and techniques. Her work is rooted in creating environmentally and socially responsible architecture.

Heringer’s philosophy centers on sustainability and empowering communities through architecture. She emphasizes the use of natural, local materials, aiming to create socially and ecologically responsible structures. Her projects often focus on education, community development, and uplifting marginalized regions, particularly through vocational training and local engagement.

Anna Heringer runs her architectural practice, Studio Anna Heringer, with projects across the globe, including in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Europe. Her designs are grounded in cultural sensitivity and sustainable practices that challenge conventional construction norms.

Citations:

 

 

 

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Hope Village Community Center: Tanzania

Hassell and Imigo

Hope Village is located in Tanzania of East Africa, along the coast of the Indian Ocean. The main component of this project is the community center building, which is designed with complex earthen walls and a metal / wood roofing system. This community center will serve as a 480 student school, kitchen, dining hall, bakery, and storage space. Surrounding this main building will be housing for the children of the community, aged 3-18 years old.   This project is being created in collaboration with Hassell Studio, ClarkeHopkinsClarke Studio, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, EOC Engineers, and One Heart Tanzania. 

Sustainability is a major factor in the design and construction of the Hope Community Center, which, due to their 100% recyclability,  resulted in the selection of 3D printed earthen/adobe walls. These wall designs are being created in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, and prototypes are currently being built in Barcelona. The walls are currently designed in a lattice-type structure, allowing for significant air circulation within the community center as well as diluted light throughout the space. The soil used for the walls will be sourced from no more than 15.5 miles of the site, and the layers will contain thin wire mesh sheets to add to the structural integrity of the building. 

3DPA

 

The adobe is expelled from the machine shown above to create the multi-layered lattice structure (Crane WASP Printing System). The plan is for technical experts from Hessel Studio, ClarkeHopkinsClarke Studio,  Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and EOC to travel to the site and teach locals how to use this Crane WASP technology. The machinery is then planned to be left there, with community members now able to operate it on their own and continue to develop their community spaces. 

Hassell and Imigo

 

The roofing system will be constructed out of local timber and a central steel beam. The roof “resembles a draped blanket. Comprising short pieces of timber, the roof will further be supported by cladding made of readily available corrugated metal sheet panels.” 

Hassell and ClarkeHopkinsClarke

 

This image shows the combined  planned use of wood, corrugated metal sheets and steel beams for the construction of the roof. 

Construction of the village and the community center is set to begin in early to mid 2025. The intention of its construction is to involve the local community and provide job opportunities throughout the building process, all while prioritizing safety and access to crucial resources for local youth. 

Location: Hope Village, Kibaha, Tanzania

Architects: HASSELL, ClarkeHopkinsClarke

Charity/Partner: One Heart Tanzania @one_heart_co

Collaborator: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia 

Structural Engineering: EOC @eocengineers

Renderings: IMIGO @imigo.it

Start Construction: 2025

 

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David Adjaye, Asaase

Location: Gagosian Gallery, New York City

Completion: 2021

Architect:  David Adjaye

‘Asaase’ takes the form of a labyrinthine,  walls made from stacked blocks increasing in height toward a “conical vertex” in the center. The British architect’s first large sculpture was one piece to Social Works, a group exhibition of a dozen Black artists, curated by Antwaun Sargent, to engage with social space “as a community-building tool.”

João Fazenda

“It’s this idea of construction that works across many modes of sensory perceptions….it’s designed to create moments where the audience is just in – between earth. This is something people have forgotten how to do.”

 

 

 

Constructing the rammed earth blocks began with a combination of crushed limestone and schist from New York, with the tops of the shorter walls at the perimeter revealing some of the loose aggregate from the process.

Tiébélé Royal Complex, Burkina Faso

The ‘Asaase’ project incorporates a sense of collective memory and aims to evoke a deeper connection with the land, specifically traditional black architecture and historical identities. References to historic works of West African architecture such as the Tiébélé royal complex in Burkina Faso and the walled city of Agadez in Niger, can be seen in the sculpture’s maze form.

The project reflects on the unique essence of a place, drawing connections between the present and the past by examining Black communal spaces across the African continent. It delves into how these spaces served as central hubs for families and communities to gather.

The curved walls invite visitors to explore the spaces between the gallery walls and the piece before entering the spaces inside. These overlapping walls mean there are numerous ways to encounter  and move through the installation.

‘Asaase’ contemplates the idea of fragments—both in terms of physical spaces and the buildings constructed from the earth—that provided the backdrop to everyday life for Black individuals, symbolizing a connection to heritage and history. What Adjaye describes as “fragments of chambers,” can be demonstrated the most by the niche at the center of the maze.

References

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IAAC: Open Thesis Fabrication

image of 3d printing robot making curvy cellular forms out of clay
Image Source: OTF Booklet

Open Thesis Fabrication is a six-month applied research program for postgraduates at the Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia.

The program focus is on combining additive manufacturing with construction technology to create sustainable architecture with key areas of research in robotic manufacturing, material research, and performance-based design.

The program works with non-governmental organizations to develop designs for use in African humanitarian contexts and is comprised of architects, engineers, designers, and professionals with previous knowledge of digital fabrication and computational design.

It’s learning objectives are for program participants to:

  • Gain experience in large-scale 3D printing
  • Develop skills in digital fabrication, computational design, and material research
  • Learn to provide architectural solutions considering various aspects of construction

This is achieved through the implementation of three phases, Exploration, Prototype Design Charettes, and Prototype Construction.

chart that displays the phases of implementation and timeline
Image Source: OTF Booklet

Examples of projects that have been completed include:

  • Digital Adobe – A 2-meter wide and 5-meter-high printed clay wall [2017-2018]
  • Terraperforma – A façade design of parametrically constructed modules optimized for solar radiation, wind behavior, and structural 3D printing [2016-2017]
  • Digital Urban Orchard – A wooden pavilion made with digital and robotic fabrication divided into a wooden structure, aquaponic system, and silicon skin designed to capture the ideal solar radiation for winter and summer.
  • Minibuilders – a family of small-scale construction robots that are capable of constructing objects larger than itself in order to address the limitation found in additive manufacturing that often constrains the proportions of fabricated objects to the size of the machine.
Image Source: OTF Booklet
Image Source: OTF Booklet
Image Source: OTF Booklet

 

Image Source: OTF Booklet
schematic and images of mini robots being used to produce clay structures larger than the size of the machine
Image Source: OTF Booklet

For more information regarding tuition fees, how to apply, grading systems, etc., be sure to check out IAAC OTF resource guide: https://iaac.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/OTF_Booklet_2019-22-07-2.pdf

 

 

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Renzo Piano’s Emergency Children Surgery Center in Entebbe, Uganda

Renzo Piano is an Italian architect that has received numerous awards and nominations for his work, mostly qualified as “high-tech architecture”, a type of modern architecture that dares to innovate and defy norms. (1) His most famous design is the Centre Pompidou of Paris in which he works with high tech and sustainability through an emphasis on structural and technological elements. (1)

Vittoriano Rastelli / Corbis via Getty Images

Renzo Piano’s involvement in creating an Emergency children’s surgery center out of raw earth in Uganda continues that legacy of surpassing the norm. In this project, Piano contributed with EMERGENCY, a non-profit dedicated to offering complimentary, high-quality medical services to those in need (2). Such a partnership between visionary Renzo Piano and EMERGENCY therefore pushed for a project that guaranteed quality of biomedical devices, quality of building and a quality of life for those in the center(3).

Images courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneria

While the facility currently hosts 72 beds, a diagnostic centre, a laboratory for analysis, a blood bank, a pharmacy, as well auxiliary services such as a canteen and a laundry, it also hosts a healing and playful environment (2). In this center, play becomes part of a healing process as colorful walls populate the facility illuminated with the center’s large windows offering a view of either the heart of the complex: a large garden, or the site, which in total contain 350 trees planted (5).  

Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneria
The Center’s Courtyard. Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center’s Floorplan. Courtesy of ArchDaily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this project, Piano and his team championed local tradition of building with earthen materials while also fusing it with his characteristic modern architecture seeking to build sustainably and efficiently.

Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a complex process of trial and error, architects and engineers of the Milan Ingegneria team researched theories and traditions in the region of earthen architecture, testing out experiments in the laboratory and on the construction site, to eventually come across the most performing mix for the project. The final mix was composed of: silty clay from the site, dried and cleaned in order to remove organic materials; aggregate to give the material compressive strength; Mapesoil, an establishing agent used to solidify the soil; a small amount of cement to stimulate the hardening process; inch-long (2.4 cm) polypropylene fibers to prevent tiny cracks from forming as the material shrinks; a fluidizing agent which made the mix easier to work with; and finally, a clear xylan-based coating applied to the outer surface of the wall to create a water-resistant layer stopping moisture from being absorbed or retained.(6)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A whole process of trial and error                                                                                                           Images courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneri

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rammed earth technique ensures proper humidity and temperature control(4), inducing thermal inertia. 

Image courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati, Milan Ingegneria

This project by Renzo Piano is part of a broader movement that reimagines earthen architecture as a viable and valuable component of our modern world. It challenges the notion that traditional materials belong only to the past, showing how earth-based construction can play a key role in creating a more sustainable future. By integrating innovative techniques with time-honored methods, this approach not only honors architectural heritage but also addresses the urgent environmental needs of today, offering a path forward in the global shift towards more eco-conscious building practices.

Location: Entebbe, Uganda

Completion Date: 2021 

Project Owner: EMERGENCY NGO Onlus

Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop & Studio TAMassociati

Design team: RPBW – G.Grandi (partner in charge), P.Carrera, A.Peschiera, D.Piano, Z.Sawaya and D. Ardant; F.Cappellini, I.Corsaro, D.Lange, F.Terranova (models) – TAMassociati – R.Pantaleo, M.Lepore, S.Sfriso, V.Milan, L.Candelpergher, E. Vianello, M.Gerardi – EMERGENCY Field Operations Department, Building Division – Roberto Crestan, Carlo Maisano.

Consultants: Milan Ingegneria (structure); Prisma Engineering (MEP); Franco and Simona Giorgetta (landscape); GAE Engineering (fire consultant); J&A Consultants

References:

(1)”The Centre Georges Pompidou by Richard Rogers & Renzo Piano.” ArchEyes, www.archeyes.com/the-centre-georges-pompidou-by-richard-rogers-renzo-piano/.

(2)”Emergency USA – A Surgical Center in Uganda.” Emergency USA, www.emergencyusa.org/?doing_wp_cron=1727479427.1156270503997802734375.

(3)”Emergency Children’s Surgery Center.” Renzo Piano Building Workshop, www.rpbw.com/project/emergency-childrens-surgery-center.

(4)”Hospital Quirúrgico Infantil, Entebbe.” Arquitectura Viva, www.arquitecturaviva.com/works/hospital-quirurgico-infantil-entebbe.

(5)”Centre of Excellence in Paediatric Surgery.” Emergency USA, www.emergencyusa.org/prj/uganda/centre-of-excellence-in-paediatric-surgery/.

(6)”Children’s Surgical Hospital: A Scandalously Beautiful Dream.” The Plan, www.theplan.it/eng/whats_on/children-s-surgical-hospital-a-scandalously-beautiful-dream.

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Preschool of Aknaibich

 

 

Location: Aknaibich, Morroco

Completion: 2014

Project Area:  55 m²

Budget: 25.000€

Architect(s): BC architects & studies + MAMOTH

The population of Aknaibich collapsed from 1266 inhabitants in 2014 to only 634 in 2013. Of which the majority were young students migrating to the center of Agadir 30km away, to study. This rural-urban trend  exacerbates not only the physically abandonment of Aknaibich but the cultural abandonment of traditional earthen building. Returning migrants opt for the faster and easier concrete construction to build their village homes, scattering the village with exposed rebar.

BC Architects proposes a strategic combination of traditional vernacular seismically maximized by innovative technologies, built by the community, in an architecture that might be called a new, contemporary vernacular. The vernacular embraces the humanity of Aknaibich, it’s logical and thoughtful response to the communities needs. The utilization of local typologies and materials allows bioclimatic functioning. A dialogue is created with the existing concrete school on site, leaving it up to the teachers and children to make their own perceptions of the juxtaposing materiality. The school complex further visualized the importance of education in the small village.

Plan
Section

Adobe Brick + Qued Stone

Gravel earth, excavated from the site, and clayey soil, from the river bank of Qued Souss are made into sun-dried soil bricks. The process of forming the earth into a brick is only ever done in the village by a single craftsmen. Stones found at the same river bed are traditionally used for foundations, for its strength and durability.  These stones are processed for an even wall surface.

Thomas Joos

Cement ‘Where it is Necessary’

To resolve seismic challenges of traditional earthen buildings, cement is strategically placed, in ring beams connected by reinforcement bars and the foundation, to guarantee stability. In replacement to local wood, which is poor in tension, normally used in Moroccan construction. At the south facade, these ring beams become small platforms or niches. At the north facade, the ring beams become openings to the interior courtyard.

Rammed Earth ‘Leh’

Rammed earth, ‘Leh’ in Berber, walls are using for enclosure walls.

‘Tamelass’ + ‘ Nouss-Nouss’

For protection against weather and impact, a rendering of straw, sand, and earth is used to finish exterior adobe walls. In interior spaces, a finer and more worked plaster, made of sieved clayey soil and gypsum called ‘Nouss-nouss,’ or half-half in Berber. The material reflects light well, luminating the classroom.

Ratan

Moroccan carpenters weave in between wooden beams in order to create a flat roof and a pergola. Overlaid on a lattice of wooden beams, the ratan allows for hot air to rise and escape the interior space. Then a thick, heavy earthen flat roof, additionally insulated by 10cm of cork, slows down the heating process from the exterior.

The interior courtyard consists of a playground as well, protected from the sun by a pergola covered by ratan. This outdoor space creates enough shade that it doubles as a possible outdoor classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

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New Gourna – Hassan Fathy

Location: Egypt, New Gourna
Year: 1946 to 1952
​Architect: Hassan Fathy

The project is done by Hassan Fathy, which is an Egyptian architect renowned for his pioneer technology for building, especially by working with regional materials such as adobe and mud brick. By working with traditional materials and construction processes Hassan tried to propose another type of architecture that is opposed to the international style which was popular during the period.

The project was assigned by the Egypt government in 1946 and was built between 1946 to 1952. The purpose of the project is to rebuild a new village 3 kilometers away from the old Gourna and relocate the residents in order to safeguard the pharaonic tombs that were embedded in the mountain of Gorn.

In the master plan, the new settlement provided the residents with a mosque, a school, a theater, a market, and a total of 90 houses. However, the project has never been completed due to political and financial reasons as well as the inhabitants’ rejection of the new site and the new architecture.

The design has failed to connect to the lives of its intended residents. For instance, Fathy made courtyards an essential part of the residences. However, courtyards were rarely used in that region of Egypt, and when they were used, they served a more practical function as a work area, not a space for leisure and enjoyment as Fathy intended.

Despite the failure of replacing the old village, the new Gourna still showcases the potential of traditional techniques as genuine solutions to some contemporary problems. Hassan has chosen adobe and mud brick as the materials due to their simplicity and affordability, which could be constructed with local materials without relying on international resources.

Source:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13602360903357120#d1e238

The project applied the ancient Nubian Vault technique, which Fathy is often associated with. This technique enables vaulted roofs to be built without the need for the usual timber framework and using only standard mud bricks. Ideal I locations where wood is not an abundant resource, particularly in some arid regions where harvesting what timber there is can cause serious erosion problems.

 

Source:https://www.designboom.com/architecture/anicent-nubian-vault-modern-solution-for-tanzania-07-29-2020/

Source: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/01/video-interview-thomas-sgranier-nubian-vault-transform-housing-future-africa-movie/

Source: https://daily.jstor.org/hassan-fathy-and-new-gourna/

The technique itself is as simple as it is ingenious. Building off of a vertical wall, brick courses are laid in angled arches, inclining against the wall, each supporting the next. The first 5 courses are not complete arches (the first only consists of a single brick on each side) as they have to establish the incline. This produces a vault with forces working more or less in the traditional way but that is self-supporting from the very start of construction as opposed to requiring support until the last brick is laid.

By using traditional materials and construction in a modern way, Hassan’s experiment found a contemporary vernacular architecture answer for post-colonial Egypt instead of the globalized modern international style.

 

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The Great Mosque of Djenne

The Great Mosque of Djenne, east facade.

 

The national emblem of Mali.

Originally built during the 13th century CE, the Great Mosque of Djenne was rebuilt in 1906, and remains the largest mud brick building in the world to this day. It is located in the town of Djenne, which is situated near the Bani River in Mali. It is considered the preeminent example of Sudano-Sahelian architecture, and served as a center of Islamic knowledge for centuries before it fell into ruins. The Old Towns of Djenne were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, including various other mud buildings and archaeological sites in addition to the Great Mosque. The Great Mosque has been featured on Mali’s national emblem since it was adopted in 1961.

Photo taken by Edmond Fortier in 1906.

The Great Mosque is located in the city center of Djenne, adjacent to the marketplace. It is built on a raised platform or mound of earth 3m tall, and measuring 75m by 75m. This platform protects the Great Mosque from damage when the nearby Bani River floods. Rain does damage the mosque, though usually only causing cracks that are addressed through regular maintenance. Unusually heavy rain can cause greater damage, as was the case in 2009 when the upper portion of the south tower of the east facade collapsed. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture funded repairs in 2010, and the mosque has been fully restored as of the present day.

La fete de creppisage, the annual festival when the Great Mosque is fully rendered and repaired.

The Great Mosque is maintained through an annual festival, “La fete de crepissage,” where community members participate in the rendering of the building. The mud plaster used in this annual process is mixed in large pits, and left to cure and ferment for several days before it is ready to use. Young men and boys climb the toron, the rodier palm clusters protruding from the facade of the mosque that serve as scaffolding, while the young women and girls bring water to aid in plastering. More senior masons observe the young men as they smear a new layer of mud plaster over the mosque, and later check the work to ensure that it is smooth and even. The festival begins with a race to see who can bring the first bowl of mud plaster to the mosque, and ends with the workers washing the plaster off in the remaining water.

Detail view of the exterior wall of the Great Mosque.

The Great Mosque is constructed entirely from mud, excepting the toron. Mud forms the bricks, the mortar, and the plaster with which the mosque was originally built. These bricks are made of banco, a combination of grain husks and the traditional West African brown mud that forms much of the earthen architecture of the region. The qibla, or prayer wall, of the mosque faces east, toward the central square of Djenne and toward Mecca. The qibla is roughly a meter thick and punctuated by three main towers, with small minarets at either end. The wall derives additional support from the eighteen pilasters, each ending in a conical pinnacle.

East elevation of the Great Mosque.
Plan of the Great Mosque.

The prayer hall is directly behind the qibla, and takes up roughly half of the interior of the mosque. The other half is an open court which is surrounded on three sides by galleries with pointed archways, one of which is reserved for women. The roof of the prayer hall is made of more rodier palm clusters, which run crossways, and are covered in mud plaster. It is supported by interior walls.

Interior of one of the galleries of the Great Mosque.

In 2005, the Zamani Project spatially documented the Great Mosque, producing 3D scans and GIS analysis of the area. Play with the 3D model produced by the Zamani Project here. Watch an animated tour of the model here.

 

References:

[1] https://zamaniproject.org/site-mali-djenne-great-mosque.html

[2] https://www.archnet.org/sites/6395

[3] https://reportage.org/2000/Djene/PagesDjeneFrames/DjeneFrameset.html

[4] https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/116/

[5] https://the.akdn/en/where-we-work/west-africa/mali/cultural-development-mali

[6] https://edmondfortier.org.br/fr/postal/soudan-djenne-ruines-de-lancienne-mosquee/?highlight=Djenne