The Built Environment: West African Architecture:Mande, Nabdam, Ganvie, Bamileke; Igbo; and Afro-Brazilian

To explore how the built environment shapes, expresses or reflectsthe ecology, culture, and history of the various West African peoples

-To demonstrate the variety and types of architecture that exists in the sub-region-To identify the diversity of materials used in the creation of

African architecture in general

Mande Architecture

Characteristics:

Mud architecture with buttresses and parapets called toronFound throughout the Mande world—Mali, Ivory coast and Burkina Faso

Structures include tombs of religious leaders, and Mosques Structures have minarets that towers above their roofs

Djenne Mosque, Djenne, Mali, adobe bricks, Completed in 1907 after the original 14th century model

Village Mosque at Kawara, Ivory Coast, Mande Architecture

Tomb of Askia Mohammed, (1493-1529) Mali

Sankore Mosque at Timbuktu,Mali, Originally built in 1300 ADPeriodically revampedSince the 14th century

Mosque at Dougouba, Mali

Walata, Nabdam and Hausa

Found in Mauritania; Ghana and Northern Nigeria

Architecture made from stone and covered with mudHouses have two stories, flat roofs and interior courtyards

Exterior walls painted with red ocher, doors and windows decorated with curvilinear patterns

Interior of rooms painted with white and red motifsMotifs inspired by Arabic scripts and referred to as Arabesque

Mostly painted by Women

Courtyard, Mauritania

Interior of the home of the Mayor of Walata with Arabesque decorations, Mauritania

Arabesque decorations, Mauritania

Façade of a Hausa compound decorated in low relief and paints,Zaria, Nigeria

Relief decorations on mud walls,Hausa Architecture,Zaria, Nigeria

Frafra Compound, Painted Mud walls, Northern Ghana

Frafra painted house, pigments on mud walls, Ghana

Granary with prefabricated roofBeing raised into position

Ground plan of Frafra compound

Toguna—Men’s Meeting House--Mali

Dogon Toguna with carved pillars, Mali

Dogon Toguna, Carved wood, millet, stone and mud, Mali

Bamileke—Cameroon

Made by the Bamileke peoples in the Cameroon GrasslandHouses are constructed from palm reeds, bamboo, leaves and wood

Wood used in creating wooden structures that adorn the exterior of the buildingMat woven from vegetable fibers used to create movable partitions inside the house

Thatched roofs, no windows, low doors and raised thresholds

Interior courtyard of the palace showing carved pillars Foumba, Bamum, Cameroon

Framework of a square house ready for thatching, Cameroon

Ganvie, Republic of Benin

“The African Venice”

Ganvie Village, D.R. Benin

Stilt House, Ganvie Village, D.R. Benin

Ganvie Villiage, D.R. Benin

Afro-Portuguese Impulses:

Baroque inspired architecture created by returneesWho settled in Lagos Nigeria, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Characterized by elaborate façade with intricate decorative patternsLater evolved into animated/figurative images

To communicate status

Central Mosque, Afro-Portuguese Baroque Architecture, Joao Baptist Da Costa, 1908-1913, Lagos, Nigeria

Adjavon House, Afro-Portuguese Baroque Architecture, Wydah, D.R. Benin

Americo-Liberian Architecture

Created by returnees; missionaries and administratorsCharacteristics:

Two-story structuresConstructed of wood, tin/zinc

Mostly on stilts with veranda surrounding the first two floors

Macon Hall House, Fortsville, Liberia, Late 19th century. Wood and Tin

Igbo Mbari Houses

Architecture created in response to urgent environmental and social issues/concerns

A communal endeavor erected as shrines in veneration of Ala, the Earth Goddess

Created with mud with representational images to depict scenes of everyday lives

that might parody, critique, mirror, and or chronicle social eventsSculptures are panted with uli decorative patterns

Igbo Mbari House,Ala flanked by her children, Igboland, NigeriaPainted mud, 20th century

Igbo Mbari House to Ala, the Earth Goddess, Adobe and wood, 20th century

Doors, Windows and House Posts

Door,Igbo,Wood,Early 20th century

Door,Olowe,Wood,Yoruba1910-1914

Verandah Posts,Olowe,Wood,Yoruba,1910-1914