FRANCIS KÉRÉ AND THE EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE

ESPAÑOL

One of the most celebrated keynote speeches at the XXV World Congress of Architecture in Durban, was presented by the African architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, born in the small village of Gando in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world.
Kéré gave a lecture whose pillars were the importance of communal work and the use of local materials, especially earth, and traditional techniques but with spatial and technical innovation, in order to promote sustainable practices.

African traditional architecture makes frequent use of the mud.

With his characteristic spontaneity, Kéré recounted having to move from his small village, where there was no electricity nor school, to a distant city, as his father wanted him to learn to read and write. Later, he won a scholarship which allowed him to study architecture at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. During his studies he established a foundation and with the help of his friends he managed to collect $ 50,000. Subsequently, he returned to his hometown and used that money to build a school, using local materials and local labor from the community.
Beyond this noble gesture, it is noteworthy his innovative capacity and ability in design, which shows that large budgets or luxury materials are not indispensable to create memorable and useful architecture. It is very inspiring to see how Kéré managed to provide plastic quality and practical functionality from simple and austere environments.
However, his proposal to use clay was not welcomed by the members of the community, who wanted to use more "Western" materials. However, he manage to convince them to use traditional materials with experimental techniques such as steel rods to reinforce the clay, vaulted elements or manually tamping clay to make the floor, which then was polished by hand with stones, Kéré  and the community successfully developed its first school in Gando.

Various stages of tamped earth on the floor

The volume of the primary school, inspired by the rationality of Mies van der Rohe, was provided with a prominent overhanging roof. The open ceiling allows natural ventilation in place  that otherwise could reach up to 45 ° C in summer.

After the development of the school, other facilities were added. For the library, he used an interesting strategy, reusing clay pots, slicing them and place them as skylights, obtaining a rich internal game of light and shadow.

His innovative use of earthen architecture  led him to develop several projects in Burkina Faso (as the Opera Village and Centre de Santé et Promotion Sociale) and Mali (as the National Park of Mali and the Centre de l'Architecture en Terre).

Opera Village, Laongo, Burkina Faso

Secondary School, Dano, Burkina Faso

Centre de Santé et Promotion Sociale

Surgical Clinic and Health Center, Léo, Burkina Faso

Centre de l'Architecture in Terre, Mopti, Mali

However, his production is not  limited to projects in Africa, since he was the of a competition  for the rehabilitation of Oxford-Kaserne in Münster, Germany, a project of urban renewal that integrates historic buildings to new facilities, as well as an integrated proposal of landscape architecture.

He has also participated in the exhibition "Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined" in the gallery of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This is a temporary structure made of small panels forming vaults, in which the public was invited to insert their used plastic drinking straws, a way to become aware of the pollution that these objects produce when not being recycled properly.

With talent and simplicity, Kéré has not lose their roots and use his increasing popularity to develop projects for his community, which certainly must be very proud of him.

"If you think in terms of a year plant a seed,
in terms of 10 years, plant trees
in terms of 100 years, teach people "
Confucius

SEE ALSO
-   ADOBE ARCHITECTURE IN CONTEMPORARY

• Colca Lodge, Álvaro Pastor

THE PYRAMID AND COMPLEX OF DJOSER IN SAQQARA

ESPAÑOL

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara is the first monument built in stone in the history of humanity and the one that determined the development of future Egyptian pyramids throughout different dynasties. Envisioned and carried out by the great architect, philosopher and physician Imhotep, the complex at Saqqara not only took a giant leap in the development of Egyptian funerary architecture but also (a fact less known) he experimented with an item that would have a huge impact on Egyptian as well as Greco-Roman architecture : the bearing column.

LOCATION

One of the most significant aspects of the Saqqara complex is its location, West of Memphis, the Pharaonic capital and about 7 kms from the Nile River. It is important to stress that Saqqara, like Giza, were not inhabited settlements: they were cities for the dead . The location on  the West is related to the direction of the sunset, a representation of death and the point where the sun touches the earth. The Saqqara plateau was ideal for this purpose, its height protected it from the floods of the Nile, as well as due to the desert character of the landscape, in contrast to the lively one in the capital Memphis. Even today it is clear that abrupt separation between the crops and arid surroundings of the funerary complex. Both the overall layout of the complex as well as the details of many of its individual buildings can be explained as the secular translation of residential architecture in Memphis to stone funerary architecture in Saqqara.

THE MASTABAS

Prior to Djoser, the tombs of the nobles and dignitaries were mastabas (Arabic word that means "benches" given their trapezoidal shape), which were stone  equivalents to the adobe houses of the cities. Structures were rectangular and of slightly sloping walls, flat ceiling and with a single entry. Once the sarcophagus and the treasures of the deceased were placed in an inner room called serdab the door was sealed and covered with rocks and sand.

THE STEP PYRAMID

The pyramid shape was not planned from the beginning. Initially just a mastaba was developed, as it was the tradition. It is said that Djoser was very disappointed to see the stature of his grave and demanded to be built higher. Thus, the great architect Imhotep came with the solution of to creating a platform above the first mastaba, then another, and another, until a total of 6. Prior to increase the height he was also expanding the  mastabas at the bottom, until covering an area of 125 x 109 meters a base. These additions became evident after the collapse of part of the southern wall thus revealing its internal structure.

Of course, neither Djoser nor anyone would have noticed this puzzle-like solution, as the limestone blocks that made up the platforms of the pyramid were covered with granite, giving stylistic unity and homogeneity to the monument.

I can imagine the joy of Djoser when he saw his tomb completed around 2650 BC.  With its 62 meters it was not only much higher than any previous tomb, but its step form stimulated the idea of ​​ascension into heaven and the connection with the afterlife. Moreover, the pyramid meant the realization of two paradigmatic Ancient  Kingdom funerary styles: the house type and the type burial mound, which were typical of the settlements of Upper and Lower Egypt respectively. When combined in the pyramid, the architecture of the royal tomb became a symbol of the two components of the Egyptian state. In addition to its impressive size, the pyramid contained a maze of passages and an innovative system for the grave could support the weight of such a huge structure.

THE COMPLEX OF DJOSER

The royal funerary complex is surrounded by a niched wall, enclosing a huge compound of 277 x 544 meters, which is an imitation of the mud-brick wall that surrounded the residence of Pharaoh in Memphis, the aim being to provide the king with a continued use of his palace in the afterlife. For this reason many of the buildings are solid, massive structures, without any space or room inside and lacking any particular function.

1 Pyramid. 2 South Tomb. 3. Shrine of the Sed Feast. 4. "T" Temple . 5 South.Patio 6 South Pavilion. 7 North Pavilion. 8. Mortuary Temple 10 Colonnade. 11 North Court. 12 Northern storages.13 Northern galleries. 14 Serdab. 15 Northern Altar. 

The large square in front of the pyramid is a spatial typology that seeks to highlight the scale and monumentality of the structure. It is a resource used in other cultures' pyramis, distant in time and space from Egypt, such asTeotihuacan, the Maya and the Moche.

Entrance the complex

Only one of the 13 false doors of this wall leads into the square, through a passage, whose roof was supported by beams which in turn were supported by a colonnade. These were the first bearing columns in history, and apparently Imhotep was not sure that  they would work, as he joined them in pairs and filled the space between them. This experience would be the basis for future free-standing columns in Luxor, Karnak, etc. In Saqqara columns were rounded to have the appearance of palm trees.

They were built by superimposing individual blocks and they have a wider base to better distribute the loads from the roof.

After touring this passage in the semidarkness, the visitor dazzled by accessing a large square where the Heb Sed took place, a ceremony in the twentieth or thirtieth year of the reign of the pharaoh, a sort of royal jubilee in which the monarch was "blessed" by the gods after participating in religious ceremonies and a series of physical demonstrations. To do this, a shrine (whose shape resembled the desert tents), welcomed a procession and a series of ceremonies officiated by the High Priest. After the ceremony the Pharaoh was crowned again carrying the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Side chapels.

THE RECOVERY PROCESS

Currently a combined team of Egyptian and British experts is undertaking a process of restoration and structural reinforcement of the pyramid, especially at the burial chamber which is in danger of collapse. The project aims to introduce a set of steel bars which would increase the stability of the rocks that make up the camera coverage of the gravestone. However, since the drilling itself could cause the collapse, it was necessary to first clean the inside of the camera and then install a scaffold containing a sort of air mattresses, which may support the rocks in case  they collapse. The project has been carried out despite very difficult logistical and political conditions, due to the recent outbreak of a revolution.

SEE ALSO
- OTHER ANCIENT PYRAMIDS

• coming soon

THE MELIKOV HOUSE AND THE RUSSIAN CONSTRUCTIVISM

ESPAÑOL

The Konstantin Melnikov's house-studio, the most renowned example of Russian Constructivism, is located in the peaceful Krivoarbatsky street (parallel to the bustling pedestrian Arbat street in Moscow), hidden behind the foliage of the only tree on the block.

At first glance, it is remarkable that this is the only building with a setback in the whole block. A front garden makes evident the curved geometry of the building and its unique composition. These characteristics, dissimilar to those of the typical Stalinist architecture of the time, were permitted only due to the popularity of Konstantin Melnikov, who won the gold medal at the Paris Exposition in 1930. However, in later decades he was isolated and ridiculed by his colleagues and the house was repeatedly threatened with demolition.

Furthermore, it is curious that this was one of the few residences that were allowed to shelter a single family in a time between 3-4 families were living communally in the same house. The reason is probably that the Soviet authorities wanted to take this case as an experiment to study new housing typologies.

Indeed, in 1927 Melnikov received a small plot to build his private home - painting and architectural workshop. Once the project was approved, the architect himself began its construction, which culminated in 1929.

Sketch of the plant

The building consists of two interlinked cylinders of three levels each. They have the same diameter but with different heights, with the shorter south cylinder containing the entrance. This difference in height allows the light to enter generously through a window located on the last floor.

In the southern side to the street, the cylinder is cut by a glass screen that occupies the entire facade.

In contrast, the rest of the volume is more massive, pierced by a series of hexagonal windows.

The geometry of the windows allowed saving material as bricks were scarce at the time of construction.

The structure works like a honeycomb and some of the hexagons were covered with clay and rubble (which also helps to keep a warmer temperature in winter).

Others were converted into frames that housed about 60 windows of different sizes, whose role is to provide controlled illumination to the interior spaces.

Outline and arrangement of the windows in the house

Indoors when the architect was alive

Architect Workshop.

Interior of the house during a recent art exhibition

The entire structural load is absorbed into these cylindrical walls in order to free the internal space from walls, which allows higher flexibility.

The first of the three levels includes the entrance, hallway, kitchen, dining and working rooms for the architect's wife and children. The second level in one of the cylinders contains a living room and the other one a bedroom. The third level houses of the painting and architectural workshop and a terrace overlooking the double height of the entrance

The architect also designed the furniture which has been kept by his descendants.

I must confess that I was impressed to see the situation of this iconic piece of modern architecture of the twentieth century. As you can see in the pictures it is unfortunate that the building is in such state of decay, despite the efforts of the family and the ministry of culture  to convert the house into a museum. Structural cracks are evidence that this structure is threatened to collapse, and although emergency has been declared already a couple of years ago, it seems there are still no concrete possibilities for its short-term restoration.

SEE ALSO

• House-Studio of Victor Horta, Brussels, Belgium (1898-1900)

• Fallingwater, Pennsylvanya, USA. Frank L. Wright (1935-37)

• Luis Barragan House and Studio, Mexico, Mexico (1947)
• Curutchet House, La Plata, Argentina. Le Corbusier (1949-53)