SUDANESE ARCHITECTURE: A FOCUS ON THE SOCIAL AGENDAS OF AFRICAN MODERNISM (1900-1970)

Nov 17, 2016

This talk was presented to DSD DESIS LAB (http://www.designsocietydevelopment.org) on the 19th of August 2016.

PARTS 1: dsd-desis-lab-pp-082016-1

PART 2: dsd-desis-lab-pp-082016-2_2

PART 3: dsd-desis-lab-pp-082016-3

The talk was comprised of THREE parts, presenting the historical and present-day settings in which architecture evolved:

  1. THOUGHTS AND IMAGES FROM THE SUDAN and A NEGLECTED 3000 YEAR OLD HERITAGE (based on my PhD thesis ‘Space, place and meaning in northern riverain Sudan’, 2004, University of Pretoria).
  2. THE KHARTOUM STRUCTURE PLAN: A CALL TO STOP THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KPP5 (2016)(https://theconversation.com/sudan-student-protests-show-how-much-city-planning-and-design-matter-58877 and http://amiraosman.co.za/2016/08/10/khartoum-sudan-protest-and-the-kpp5-stage-1-dissemination/)
  3. SUDANESE ARCHITECTURE: A FOCUS ON THE SOCIAL AGENDAS OF AFRICAN MODERNISM (1900-1970)(DOCOMOMO, Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement, journals 32 and 44: Architecture in Sudan: The Post–Independence Era (1956–1970). The Work of Abdel Moneim Mustafa by Omer S. Osman, Amira O. S. Osman and Ibrahim Z. Bahreldin; Khartoum’s Modern Heritageby Omer S. Osman & Amira O.S. Osman)

An interpretation of the socio-political conditions in the Sudan was presented, and linked to the agendas of African Modernism. It was argued that Sudanese modernism was early experimentation in ‘critical regionalism’ and many times generated by demands for humane and comfortable living and working environments for an emerging middle class. It was also explained that post-industrial developments in Europe, as well as Ebenezer Howard’s ‘garden cities’ movement had great impact on planning and architecture in Khartoum. Eclectic visual expressions and composite structural and technical systems characterised the colonial era (1821-1956) identified as a ‘new style’ towards the end of this period. The influence of Shultz Weir meant simplicity in forms and detailing, more consideration for local material and abandonment of ornamentation (1909 onwards). This then evolved into a distinct ‘Khartoum School of architecture’, driven by the first batch of graduates from a, then, newly established department at Khartoum University (1957).