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5. Ушаков Д. Н. Большой толковый словарь современного русского языка / Д. Н. Ушаков. - М., 2007. - 1239 с.
UDC 165
DOI 10.24411/2409-3203-2018-11664
MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Apeh Stanley Okwudily
Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria Abudja, Nigeria
Abstract. The article reveals the issues of architecture of African states after independence, associated with the peculiarities of climate, economy, culture. Particular attention is paid to the assistance of the Soviet Union in the construction of cities, universities, workers' settlements.
Key words: independence, steel, concrete, brick, clay, multi-storey buildings, construction industry, reconstruction, improvement.
After the projection of the inequality of goods (1960), quarters of standard houses were built for workers, It was promoted by the rationalization of the city.
The level of construction in the countries that were colonially dependent was not high after World War I: the views established in the last century were that qualified architects were a luxury for colonies. This is evidenced, in particular, by the collection of projects for the Belgian Congo, published in the 1930s by engineer. J. Rowart. The publication contains recommendations for the construction of cottages for Europeans, banks, hotels, hospitals, restaurants, office buildings, etc. The proposed drawings were not projects in the exact sense of the word, for the most part they are just sketches of the appearance of buildings made sloppy and illiterate.
The author warns about the poor quality of local materials - wood, clay, stone, suggesting the use of concrete, cement, cement blocks, corrugated iron and eternite. Measures to adapt to local conditions are elementary - sun protection blinds, mosquito nets, impregnation of wooden parts with termite creosote. There is also a project of a settlement for African workers with barracks of the barracks type.
In the cities, social contrasts were aggravated by the racial intolerance of the colonialists. The local population, strictly separated from immigrants from Europe, lived on the outskirts in huts and shabby shacks. Together with the growth of cities in tropical Africa, their ulcer became, as elsewhere in the colonies, "bidonvili" - slum dwellings from any random materials, including tin (hence the name).
Only after the Second World War, measures were taken to streamline the plan of cities and their development. Plans were made for the reconstruction of Kampala (1945, Uganda, architect E. May), Nairobi (1947, Kenya, architect T. White), cities of the Gold Coast - present-day Ghana (late 40s, in consultation with M. Fry). Planned on a chess grid, with business centers, built-in skyscrapers, the cities of Southern Rhodesia got the appearance of typical cosmopolitan cities.
Due to the fact that public buildings served only white settlers, the typology of urban buildings was incomplete. There were almost no theaters (the European population was usually too small), the appearance of the city center was largely determined by office and bank buildings. The latter are often combined with dwellings, occupying only the lower tier of a multistory building. By about the 1950s, the construction of the first colleges and university complexes, usually located in spacious areas outside the city limits, belongs.
After World War II, steel and concrete structures began to be introduced into construction. Lack of local construction industry, lack of raw materials and skilled labor created difficulties that forced to import ready-made structures from the metropolis. At the one-story mass building, local materials were used - raw brick and clay.
Along with the introduction of new technology, the requirements of comfort, adaptation of architecture to climate conditions are being put forward. This led to the formation of new means of expression. In the 50s, the architecture features were formed, which can be characterized as "tropical style". This is a cosmopolitan, essentially, architecture of concrete, steel, glass and other advanced materials, but supplemented with sun-protection devices and other devices necessary in hot climates.
The climate of tropical Africa is heterogeneous, and therefore such devices are diverse. In areas of a dry hot climate, small openings, blank walls, and flat roofs are needed; in areas of humid tropics - wide openings for enhanced ventilation, openwork walls, pitched roofs, installation of a building on poles; in both cases - ventilated structures of roofs, systems of sun-protection ribs, canopies and grilles.
After the Second World War, attitudes toward architecture in the colonies changed markedly. Architects were built from the metropolis, often by great masters.
Social transformations are directly reflected in the construction program. To the forefront is the massive construction of homes and schools. Not less attention is paid to the developed network of healthcare institutions - hospitals, clinics, maternity homes.
For independent development, specialists are needed in all areas of the national economy; therefore, secondary and higher educational institutions — pedagogical and medical schools, technical schools, and university complexes — are being built intensively. In Ghana, two universities were established on the basis of colleges in Leggon and Kumasi, colleges in Ibadan (Nigeria), Freetown (Sierra Leone) and other cities received university status. In the early 1960s, a university complex was built in Nsukka north of Enugu (Nigeria) with a campus for 3,000 people, with a library, an open-air theater, a swimming pool and sports facilities (J. Cubbit; Fig. 4). In the 60s, a university campus was built in Tananarive (Malagasy Republic, architect A. Simune). The colleges in Kampala (Uganda) and Nairobi (Kenya) turned into universities, the universities were built in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania, 1963, Norman & Dow Bern) and Lusaka (Zambia). By 1970, 15 universities functioned in countries in tropical Africa.
New African states needed new government and administrative buildings. The very type of these buildings turned out to be connected with the ideas of national liberation, becoming a state symbol. The parliament building in Kampala (Uganda), opened as early as 1960 (architects Pitfield and Bodgener), combines the main building with a hall and working rooms, an administrative building and an openwork tower (Fig. 5). The reliefs on the facade (artificial stone) and on the sidelines (wood) tell about the life of the people of Uganda and the riches of nature in the country with its forests and wildlife (sculptor J. Mayo). In the early 60s, when Nigeria was still a federal state; in its largest cities - Lagos, Ibadan and Enugu - high-rise administrative buildings were raised. The government building in Lagos (engineer O. Faber) has 24 floors, administrative buildings in Ibadan (Nixon and Boris company) and Enugu (architect. E. R. Collister) - 25 and 17 floors. The government center is being built in Khartoum (Sudan, a group of Yugoslav specialists under the direction of architect V. Stojanovic) and designed for Lusaka (Zambia).
There are community centers. Under the general concept of a cultural center, buildings of various purposes are often combined - visual and exhibition halls, cinemas, cafes, etc. Sometimes
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a cultural center, as in Khartoum, is combined into one complex with the government. The influx of tourists caused the construction of hotels and motels, especially large and numerous on the coast of West Africa. At the time of colonialism, sports were not accessible to Africans, now in the cities there are sports complexes with stadiums, playgrounds and swimming pools. Local industry is developing, plants and factories are being built.
It is not easy to repair the damage done by the colonial system to the development of cities in Africa. The most serious attention is directed to their reconstruction and improvement, primarily to the elimination of slums. In 1959, K. Doxiadis prepared project proposals for the reconstruction of Khartoum and Port Sudan. In 1964, the Fort Lamy reconstruction project (Chad, architects J. Kandilis, A. Iosich, S. Woods) was drafted, along which the ravine separating the European and African parts of the city was transformed from a barrier into a link. In 1968, arch. X. Scholz from the GDR has developed a draft plan for the Ngambo-African suburb of Zanzibar (Tanzania). In 1969, the project of perspective development of Conakry (Guinea, Yugoslav architects-architects - R. Miskevich and others) was presented. Other capitals and cities are being improved, new cities are being built, such as the Subject in Ghana, villages are being built on the coast and inside the mainland.
Construction in the liberated countries of Africa met with effective support from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. Soviet specialists build schools and hospitals, hotels, factories and stadiums. You can call the Polytechnic Institute in Conakry (Guinea) for 1,500 students - the largest in West Africa (1964, architects E. V. Rybitsky, G. N. Tsytovich, engineer A. N. Filatov), a higher administrative school and a medical school in Bamako (Mali, 1965, architects L. N. Afanasyev, N. A. Alexandrovskaya and others), sports complexes with stadiums for 25,000 spectators each in Conakry and Bamako (1964 and 1965, architects E. V. Rybitsky, L. N. Afanasyev and others), comfortable Kamayen hotels in Conakry (1963, architects P. P. Zinoviev, I. A. Vakhutin, L. N. Bezukhova, engineer D. N. Nikolaev) and Cosmos in Brazzaville (Congo, architects P. P. Zinoviev, I. A. Vakhutin, engineer D. N. Nikolaev), maternity hospital for 100 beds in Brazzaville (1967, architect K S. Matayan, engineer G. M. Abrosimova), a 400-bed hospital in Kisumi (Kenya, 1966, architect A. M. Musorin, engineer G. M. Abrosimova) and many others.
But in the liberated countries of tropical Africa, their own builders appeared. In the 1950s, African architects could receive education only in Europe. Many of them, such as, for example, the Guineans A. Barry and X. Drame, graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. In the 1960s, many university departments in tropical African countries began to graduate from architects.
Bibliography:
1. A.V. Ikonnikov. The architecture of the capitalist countries of the twentieth century -M., 1973 2. http://tehne.com/node/6107
