chapter 4 history of modern African architecture

history of modern African architecture

1. Pre-modern African Architecture
Contents
•1.General
Characteristics
•2.Examples

2. Pre-modern African Architecture
•1. General Characteristics
•Africa, second-largest of the
Earth's seven continents, with
adjacent islands, covering
about 30,330,000 sq km
(11,699,000 sq mi), or about 22
per cent of the world's total
land area.
•At the end of the 20th century
more than 13 per cent of the
world's population lived in
Africa.

3. Pre-modern African Architecture
•1. General Characteristics
•Inhabited by a thousand
different people each with
unique material culture
•Architecture - one of the
principal means of cultural
identity in the way in which
buildings were laid out
•Constructed and decorated
•Grouped together

4. Pre-modern African Architecture
•it is difficult to generalize
about the character of
African pre colonial
architecture
•were never direct copies
of those of other cultures.
•The layout, methods of
construction and forms of
decoration were unique
to Africa

5. Pre-modern African Architecture
•A. Meroitic
Architecture
•Meroë is the name
of an ancient city on
the east bank of the
Nile about 6 km
north-east of the
Kabushiya station
near Shendi, Sudan

6. Pre-modern African Architecture
•A. Meroitic Architecture
•Drew upon Egyptian
building forms
•Axial planning was
common in important
buildings
•Rooms were organized in
sequence
•Buildings were decorated
with inscriptions or relief
depicting meroitic victories

7. Pre-modern African Architecture
•B. Axumite
Architecture
•4
th
century ad -7
th

century ad
•Planning was formal,
with groups of rooms
around courtyards
•Many multistory
structures with plain
articulated stone
walls

8. Pre-modern African Architecture
•C. East African Coast
Architecture
•Muslim influences are
apparent
•Layouts were based on
rooms in sequence with
reception spaces for guests
leading to private suites of
rooms further from the street
•Doors and window openings
as well as decoration drew
upon and adapted Islamic
themes

9. Pre-modern African Architecture
•D. West African
Architecture
•Palaces were planned and
constructed in a similar
way to the houses of
commons, but the basic
building block comprising a
single dwelling was
repeated where a large
building was required
•Frequently palaces were
arranged around open
courtyards

10. Pre-modern African Architecture
•2. Examples
•A. Domestic buildings
•i. Meroitic houses
(ancient Nubia)
•Had two rooms –a larger
living and sleeping room
about 3x5m in plan,
containing cooking pots
and a hearth…led to a
smaller squarish interior
room, used as a store

11. Pre-modern African Architecture
•ii. Axumite houses–
400AD
•Consisted of only one
rectangular or circular
room and were stone
built
•Two storey round
houses were also built
from stone reinforced
with timber

12. Pre-modern African Architecture
•iii. Swahili houses in Kenya
–1300 AD from the town of
Gedi
•Special progression from the
street
•Clustered in small groups
•A large door led to a private
courtyard and thence to a
sequence of narrow rooms of
similar proportion

13. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The front court usually
had a sunken central
area with seating around
three sides
•Doorway had a wide
pointed arch set in a
recessed rectangular
field with small niches on
either side containing oil
lamps.

14. Pre-modern African Architecture
•Originally single storey
–later upper storey
(16h c)
•The lower floor was
windowless but the
upper floor had
windows overlooking a
court yard
•Access to upper floor
appears to have been
by timber ladders

15. Pre-modern African Architecture
•B. Palaces and Chief’s
Dwellings
•i. The Meroitic Western
Palace, Faras
Nubia(C.100)
•Squarish building of sun-
dried brick (40x45m)
•It comprised a pillared
courtyard surrounded by a
series of small rooms which
enclosed a central building

16. Pre-modern African Architecture
•ii. Axumite royal
residence
•Squarish in plan and
approached by a flight
of stone steps leading
to a portico
•3000 m2 complex
•Axumite palaces
combined the
character of a castle
with the luxury of a
villa.

17. Pre-modern African Architecture
•Timber beams and framing
combined with monolithic
stone panels columns
slabs and large scale
polished stone blocks in a
form of mixed construction
•Palaces were decorated
with carved wooden
friezes and had floors
inlaid with basalt, granite
marble, and lime stone

18. Pre-modern African Architecture
•iii. Swahili palace at Gedi
(Kenya) 15th C
•Covered 18 ha and was
approached from the town
square
•The main entrance was
through a portal with pointed
arches
•Beyond was a sunken
reception court with benches
down the long sides, this led
to an audience court

19. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The reception rooms
were decorated with
niches and there
were recesses for oil
lamps and pegs for
wall hangings and
carpets.

20. Pre-modern African Architecture
•C. Religious Buildings
•i. Shrines
•The Ashanti Shrine at
Bawjwiasi (Ghana)

21. Pre-modern African Architecture
•ii. Temples
•The Temple of Amun at
Meroe (ancient Nubia)
150m long.
•The great enclosure at
es–sofra100c
•Comprised buildings and
walled enclosure covering
an area of 40,000 m2
surrounding a temple.

22. Pre-modern African Architecture
•From the temple, a
colonnade gave access
to a series of passages
and ramps connecting
the various parts of the
group of buildings which
might have been used
for the training of war
elephants
•The animals featured
prominently in the relief
decorating the walls

23. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The Pre axumite
temple at Yeha
•Yeha is a village in
northern Ethiopia,
located in the Tigra
Region.

24. Pre-modern African Architecture
•iii. Mosques
•The great mosque at
Kilwa, in Tanzania
(12c.)
•Was divided into square
bays each of which was
roofed with a dome
supported by square
capitals on octagonal
pillars of dressed coral.

25. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The mihrab was of
dressed coral and the
walls were of coral ruble
and lime cement.
•The original mosque was
considerably enlarged in
the 15th c. four rows of
columns were added
making it one of the
largest mosques in East
Africa.

26. Pre-modern African Architecture
•iv. Churches
•Lalibela, the ancient
Zagwe capital has 11
churches in three groups
of six, four and one.
•All hewn out of solid rock
during 12th and 13th
century
•Many have features
which can be traced
back to Axumite
buildings.

27. Pre-modern African Architecture
•One of the most
elegant is the isolated
Bete Giorghis
•It is approached
through a narrow
winding trench cut
into the rock.
•The church is a 12m
cube cut into the form
of a cross.

28. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The main door has a
monumental triple
frame and the ground
floor has nine blind
windows.
•The interior of the
church has four three
–sided pillars and the
roof of the sanctuary
is cut into the shape
of a dome.

29. Pre-modern African Architecture
•D. Funerary and other
monuments
•i. At Axum, giant pillars
or Stella up to 33m high
and hewn from single
pieces of rock were
erected .
•Some of these Stella were
carved in to stylized
representations of multi –
storey buildings
•mark the tombs of 3rd-
and 4th-century kings of
Aksum

30. Pre-modern African Architecture
•ii. The royal
cemetery at Meroe
in Nubia contains the
pyramid burials of
many of the dynastic
rulers of ancient
Meroe.

31. Pre-modern African Architecture
•At Meroë, in the
Sudan, crumbling
pyramids recall the
vanished glories of
the Kushite kings,
who were buried
inside them.

32. Pre-modern African Architecture
•The tomb had a
wooden roof, above
which lay the bodies
of slaves.
•Two nearby cache
pits contained grave
goods.