Earth and the Environment in African Architecture

The first lecture explores how earth has been conceptualized and
integrated into African thought and architectural practice as material, metaphor, environment, and intervention over time. Some of the first known man-made environments on the African continent were carved out of rock features in the landscape, and from this point of origin, cultures across the continent would proceed to develop a variety of distinctive architectural traditions and material practices that were regularly governed by the availability of specific materials in their environment, namely dirt, clay, and other substances derived from the earth. Students will engage with these structures using cross-disciplinary methodologies ranging from art and architectural history to anthropology and environmental studies to critically analyze the physical and conceptual strategies deployed at these sites over time and space with regards to the material and meaning of earth. In particular, they will explore how environmental material like earth came to signify important socio-political, cultural, and spiritual messages in the architectural landscape.

The second lecture picks up where the previous lecture left off, this lecture explores the ways in which earth and architectural practice has evolved in the contemporary period in the context of increased concern around issues of pollution, unsustainable development, and the widespread depletion of natural resources in Africa. Architects are increasingly turning to so-called vernacular materials like earth and experimented with different methods of construction technology in an effort to establish a trajectory of architectural building into the future that focuses on low-cost, low energy built environments constructed from readily available, low-impact materials like earth. As such, this lecture will explore a range of ecologically-related issues and critical methodologies that have thus far been addressed in African architectural production and will explore the ways in which different contexts are responding to contemporary environmental problems on the continent through the use of so-called 'vernacular' materials like earth.