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A quick note tangential to this topic. For a while I've been interested
in how the dominant contemporary forms of urban concrete building
particularly in the Sahel handles heat (aborbs it) and requires climate
control (very expensive).
This is a bit afield I think from the subject of the conference, but even
as the styles of architecture get more adventuresome, edging away from the
concrete box style, the basic problem with the material and approach remain.
One of my favorite anecdotes in this regard is about an expat family that
had to abandon the top two floors of the new house they moved into in
Bamako Niarela during hot season because it was simply too hot and too
expensive to cool.
Such stories of sweltering in new concrete structures are definitely not
limited to larger dwellings of the better off (some of which are rented out
to foreigners).
All of this seems like a kind of "form stiffs function" in popular
architecture and building. But what realistic alternatives are there? What
is being experimented with that might work better for the needs and means
of people living in urban(izing) areas or seeking to upgrade their dwellings?
Adobe/banco is often discussed - and as a former resident of Djenne I'm
partial to it - but even in the drier Sahel people find it has
disadvantages in the urban environment.
Don Osborn
Wannan wasik'ar i-mel ce daga H-Hausa,
inda za'a cigaba da hira game da harshe da al'adu
da tarihi da sauran lamura na Hausawa da mak'wabtansu.
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