Mariam Kamara writes:
More hereLiving and working in West Africa roughly half the year, I have learned many lessons about practicing remotely and practicing in a "developing" country. For the past three years I have been going back and forth as projects demand, overseeing construction and touching base with clients. In case the articles in this blog haven't been clear enough, we are very much committed to re-thinking the way architecture is viewed and conceptualized in the African urban context. Because many of our current cities are a product of colonization, they are often ill-fitted to our local context. The materials are usually expensive (concrete and steel) and quite frankly inappropriate for many countries (do you have any idea how hot a cement house gets on one of Niger's 45degrees Celsius days???). More than that, our standard reflex has been to copy what is done in the West as examples of what contemporary architecture should be. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with Western architecture obviously. It is fantastic! But does it work for us? Can't we create something equally fantastic that is affordable, adapted and, well, "us"?
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