archiafrika
a new dialogue with implementable outcomes
ArchiAfrika is a design-based ‘community’ based in - and inspired by - Africa! We are architects, artists, musicians, writers, film makers and creative people who through their work, chronicle the ‘African condition’ with a great focus of our discourse focussed on implementable outcomes. Together, we are broadening the discourse on Africa’s built environment to encompass the role of socio-cultural design inspired development. ArchiAfrika’s goal is to promote design strategies developed within the continent, which address the challenges of our future and engage the next generation of professionals in this critical dialogue. In the last three years, ArchiAfrika has come to the realization that the cultural and artistic aspects of our programming must be linked to commercial success and sustainability in order to achieve truly beneficial outcomes for the creative industry. The current economic system, with its focus on erasure, has too many barriers to make the growth of African cities sustainable, inclusive and socially relevant. ArchiAfrika seeks to contribute to the design of a new economic model for the creative industries in Ghana to benefit from new forms of financing for cultural and commercial activities in the city of Accra. To date, we have hosted and driven a number of initiatives aimed at empowering those who operate within what is incorrectly referred to as the informal economy, using our creative foundation as a basis for a variety of different events, gatherings and urban interventions; Osu Night Market, Gbekebii Film Festival, The Accra Revisited Urban Design Conference and others have served as great beginning for what we hope will be a sustainable contribution to the city of Accra, particularly her Old City.
Artist’s impression of the Osu Night Market Initiative, A Ghana Design Network initiative [ArchiAfrika is a member]. This event commenced in May 2015 and hosts the public once a month in the historical market, providing them with music and entertainment while they dine on local delicacies
developing accra
endangering heritage in the name of development Since a time before independence, heavy migration of Ghanaian rural populations to the cities has placed immense pressure on the urban areas, particularly in the capital. Now more than ever, the city’s governing body is under pressure to deliver infrastructure and housing to the population at an unprecedented rate. One of the inevitable results of this demand is a large hike in property values, whether it be for housing or for the service providers who serve the city. This - along with the heavy development ongoing in the northern suburbs of Accra - has served to futher marginalise the lower income populations of Accra. The shortage of available prime land in the capital has resulted in another casualty, the historical buildings of Accra. With the passing of ownership from individuals to developers and investors, the city’s architectural heritage is now endangered as the new owners more often than not choose to demolish or contemporise the buildings, erasing the history behind the structure and the community that houses them, rather than integrating them into the new function the site holds. This has the added negative effect of driving real estate values up, again serving to marginalise the lower income populations of Accra even further. The Accra of the independence era was intended to be an inclusionary city and Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s government went to great efforts to achieve this, developing spaces of interaction and empowerment in new galleries and libraries, supported by the local population who opened cinemas and other places where one could engage with their culture as well as their neighbour. The political instability experienced in Ghana in the 60s through to the 80s led to cultural gathering spaces such as the much loved cinemas of Accra to shut down due to imposed curfews. Abandoned and uncared for, many buildings such as these fell into a state of disrepair. Some collapsed and others still stand abandoned, but the majority of these structures which stood on prime land were, through a process of erasure, appropriated for contemporary use. One example of such a situation is the Opera Theatre in Central Accra. Once one of the most popular cinemas in Accra, this popular cinema was abandoned until it was reclaimed as a shopping center, the iconic facade now hidden behind the cladding of the building’s current primary tenants, Guaranty Trust Bank [GTBank]. ArchiAfrika has followed the developments for the past three years, contributing to the development dialogue by hosting conversations and pushing the ‘Integration over Erasure’ approach, a thought process that has manifested itself in the following concept that we hope will address both the issue of social marginalisation of the lower income class and that the preservation of Accra’s Cultural and Architectural Heritage.
“ok’
Many have pointed fingers at various governments in power; others attribute this state of affairs to our poor maintenance culture as a nation. The other category of people informed me that the cinemas were not generating enough revenue and had had to be sold off by government... It can be said that many of these cinemas collapsed due to our poor maintenance culture, others were sold by the government then in power to churches and trading companies. For instance, Alive Chapel used to occupy the Orion cinema till it moved out and, unfortunately, squatters took over. Orbit cinema is currently the home of Kaneshie market; Rex cinema is presently home to a chain of shops; Regal cinema on the Osu-La road was some time ago converted into a church but is now the home of a trading enterprise owned by a company that deals in curtains. Churches springing up occupy some of them. That’s the end of the once- vibrant cinema experience.
“ok”
[Doe, 2014. Why Did All The Old Cinema Houses Die Out?]
jamestown
accra’s old city
Located directly east of the Korle Lagoon, Jamestown and Ussher town are the oldest districts in the city of Accra, Ghana and emerged as communities around the 17th century British James Fort and Ussher Fort on the Gulf of Guinea coast. These districts were heavily developed by the end of the 19th century, and following the rapid growth of the city during the 20th century, they became areas of a dense mixture of commercial and residential use. Today, both Jamestown and Ussher town remain fishing communities inhabited primarily by the Ga. Although in a state of decay following years of neglect by subsequent governments, the districts are popular tourist destinations for those seeking to see the remnants of Accra's colonial past. In terms of population, however, Accra is the second most populated region, after the Ashanti Region, with a population of 4,010,054 representing 16.3 percent, of Ghana's total population in 2010. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly is one of the ten (10) District Assemblies that make the Greater Accra Region and one of the one hundred and seventy (170) Districts within the Country. Ga Homowo or Harvest Custom is the harvest festival celebrated by the Ga people from the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Homowo recounts the migration of the Gas and reveals their agricultural success in their new settlement. Other key festivities in these communities include Chale Wote Street Art Festival – to demonstrate how innovation can be used to solve community problems such as improper sewage systems, unemployment and equal access to education. Through this interaction Jamestown residents nurture a creative capacity for change. The festival also provides networking opportunities to community members to continue producing interactive art events and programs.
A study conducted by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the University of Ghana under Columbia University’s Millenium Cities Initiative [MCI] revealed that the Jamestown community’s livelihoods are based largely on varied small scale economic activities. Fishing is still a major source of livelihood, though it cannot be considered a major activity as small scale trading activities now dominate the community. With its high population density, Ga Mashie is now a completely built-up area, lacking adequate social and public amenities [Mahama et al, 2011]. With the demand for real estate increasing in Accra, it is only a matter of time before the inflated land prices reach the Old City - it is already happening. The proximity of Jamestown to the centre of Accra and its economy make the Old City a desirable destination for developers and investors. The impact of development by erasure through gentrification will have devastating consequences for the existing community of Jamestown and so there is an urgent need for an intervention that will not halt growth, but integrate the interests of the Jamestown community into the plans for the development of Accra.
Image: ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio
That it is possible for community of Jamestown to contribute to the development of Accra is not in question; local initiatives such as the annual Chale Wote Street Art Festival organised by Accra [Dot] Alt are of great value to the city, bringing the tourist market into Accra [90% of tourists who visit Accra visiting Jamestown]. This initiative is supported by the locals and many local cultural networks like Attukwei Art Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana - it has raised interest in the area and exposed the residents of Accra to the already thriving cultural and economic potential of the area. One of the mandates of our organization is to encourage urban regeneration and the preservation of historic buildings. As part of this mandate, ArchiAfrika Accra is seeking to develop initiatives to restore Accra’s historic Jamestown as one of the key cultural and tourist hubs of Ghana. Jamestown can and must be developed organically with a focus on socio-economic development, rather than resorting to the curent flawed model of urbanization.
Image: Africa Channel
Image: Selorm Jay Image: ACCRA [dot] ALT Radio
Image: Nana Osei
Image: Samuel Nana Ntim Gyakari
a museum without walls at chale wote festival [aug 2015] ArchiAfrika’s priority in Jamestown is to curate a space in Jamestown by and for the people, enabling them to more fully engage with existing cultural and artistic initiatives. Every time there is a festival in Jamestown, it is a temporary staging; outsiders come in and use the space for a period. We want the people in the community to have a creative base, a permanent cultural and artistic space within the community. The currency of the local partners in the project is their local knowledge; we want them as shareholders in the project by investing this currency – the local currency of culture, history and creativity becomes equity in a physical project. We are seeking to develop a new model for urban regeneration in Africa that is truly viable, inclusive and financially self-sustainable; by entering into a joint venture with the locals through community networks such as the Ga Mashie Development Council we hope to create an opportunity for financial gain for the community in time for the upcoming real estate boom. Based on our interactions with the Jamestown community through the mapping of open cultural spaces and related initiatives, ArchiAfrika has already commissioned and produced a conceptual design of a hub for the selected site as part of its equity in the project. Our design approach is inclusive of the needs of the shareholders with the interest of the community at the centre. Through a flagship project in Jamestown, ArchiAfrika will lead a project to transform an old dilapidated warehouse in Jamestown into Accra’s leading mixed-use development and artistic space. The warehouse will be transformed into lofts, apartments, retail, performance space and a landmark ‘kenkey and fish’ boutique café. The aim is for the courtyard space to become a gathering place for both everyday activities of the Jamestown community, and also during special events and festivals that happen once a year in Jamestown. The hope is that a financial, commercial and social success of the creative and cultural hub will be replicated and become more regular in the model for regeneration of Africa’s cities. By linking the ethereal creative industry with the real economy of Jamestown and the indelible need for affordable chic housing in urban centres, this hub will become a trigger for a new form of community development in Ghana. The creation of a commercial hub will increase opportunity for employment in the area and facilitate the meeting of visitors to the area with the locals, thus increasing the benefits of the tourist market in Jamestown.
CFAO WAREHOUSE Jamestown, Accra
THE MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS As part of our drive to raise awareness of the proposed site and our initiative, ArchiAfrika is pairing up with Vida e Caffe to host a creative space at our proposed site for the duration of the 2015 Chale Wote Festival. History describes a time in Ga, when the rains stopped and the sea closed its gates. A deadly famine spread throughout the southern Accra Plains, the home of the Ga people. Homowo recounts the migration of the Gas and reveals their agricultural success in their new settlement. They were inspired by the famine to embark on massive food production exercises which eventually yielded them bumper harvest. Their hunger ended and with great joy they “hooted at hunger”. This is the meaning of the word HOMOWO. The same entrepreneur mentality exists in the people of Accra today. In an insecure economy, the people of Jamestown, Accra [and indeed, Ghana] continue to thrive, working around and with an incomplete infrastructure to ensure their daily well-being. ArchiAfrika wishes to celebrate that spirit, the one that drives the kenkey seller and the fisherman, the artist and the businessman. We want to raise awareness of the benefits of culture paired with entrepreneurship. ArchiAfrika will pair up with Café Chain Vida e Caffé and host an open air museum event designed to bring attention to our proposed site and to challenge participants to engage with a new dialogue, in which old meets contemporary, manifesting itself in development. We propose a 2 day creative festival in and around our site, bringing together local and other creatives in a fun and informative event. The main draw of the event will be an artists’ exhibition based on a lecture on the Old City by former Mayor Nat Nuno Amarteifio. This would take place in our building in the green space adjacent to the Jamestown Police Station, housed in our Accra structure from World Design Capital 2014 [see it here]. Also included in the exhibition will be our renderings of the proposed Creative Hub. The event will include film screenings, music and other forms of entertainment, as well as free Wi-Fi zones, all interspersed between local trading spots. An event such as this serves to build the relationship between Accra citizens and her old city [as Chale Wote has already shown], and will create access for potential investors from all walks of life to efforts to rejuvenate the area - on the local population’s terms.
EXHIBITION ROUTE FROM LIGHT HOUSE
Proposed Location of the Creative Festival
vida e caffe
The main idea is to in the marketing or sales of vida coffee retailors into the Chale Wote festival of the people of Jamestown AccraGhana, which will as a result aid spice up the event. The general concept for the area to be allocated to vida e caffĂŠ is to use very common materials like shipping pallets, oil drums, and bamboo basically. The shipping pallets for instance could be joined together to make the platform on which the seating arrangements will be placed. The oil drums to host some amount of soil and plants, as well as hold some kind of flags or banners of vida e caffĂŠ. Whiles the bamboo can be used in many different ways for aesthetical improvements and even to design simple sofas on which friends can sit together an street-watch or better still make separated with which to create a red-carpet platform. Most importantly with the customer seats, to be economical, vida could make use of its very own chairs and tables as shown in one of the images. All this will indeed attract people during the festive period.
aerial view
accessibility
Roads interconnecting with the Museum With No Walls
Connecting the people from the road of the main festival to the Museum With No Walls; we aim to be incorporated into the main event.
shipping pallet components
BANNER STAND
DOUBLE BANNER STAND
seating
design approach VIDA E CAFFé SALES STRATEGY The James Town ChaleWote festival must be spiced up, and this is just a step forward using our very own local materials to the participants of the festival. Our proposal involves: Approach The idea is to sell the products of vida e caffé to the people boiling down to creating huge awareness!!!! This initiation will be breaking new ground, and will create new links for this caffé , thus, having initiative plans with other likely programs nationwide. We will engage: Community development: identify an area along the street of an old building which is definitely not in use or not a busy one. This would give an opportunity of awareness for this building which might re-developed by interested persons which will comprise lofts and creative office spaces for lease or sale. This will in turn create opportunities for development within the community. Project breakdown Vision and Concept: ArchiAfrika with creative partner. Funding: vida e caffé How do we minimize risks? Pre selling in area noted before date of festival to create pre-awareness. Bring in Wi-Fi to the site to directly attract people to the area of sales.
an archiafrika initiative