Book on Modern Architecture in Africa

July 2005, ArchiAfrika organised a three-week workshop in collaboration with European and Tanzanian Architectural Institutes, rounded off by an international conference on the theme 'Modern Architecture in East Africa'.
The background of this theme was the question of what had been preserved from the marvellous examples of modern architecture realised in Tanzania in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

However, during the conference, European academic curiosity about “architectural modernism in a non-western context” was faced with a plain African pragmatism. East African participants to the conference wondered why one should put such a narrow focus on determining a “Tanzanian modernist heritage”, while completely different issues are at stake in contemporary practice. In fact, what is there to learn from Tanzanian architectural history?
During the conference, the discussions moved from the significance and universal value of cultural heritage to the issue of the role architecture might play in African post-colonial identity.
In the end, perhaps the most important result of the workshop and conference has been the deployment of culture as a catalyst in the dialogue between north and south.

As a continuation of the workshop and conference, a book containing the reflections of a series of European and African academics on 'modern architecture in Africa' is to be published. The book will provide an academic analysis of the history, meaning and material value of modernist heritage from different viewpoints.

Project team:
Joep Mol - Project coordinator ArchiAfrika
Bert Lemmens - Project assistant ArchiAfrika

Scientific team:
Prof. dr. ir. Bruno de Meulder, TU Eindhoven
Dr. ir. Jos Bosman, TU Eindhoven
Prof. dr. ir. Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven
Mrs. Hannah le Roux, University of Witwatersrand