Sustainable housing could play a significant role in the way the continent tackles its housing deficit. We unpack the ground-breaking innovations, Initiatives and ideations&nbsp;developing&nbsp;the&nbsp;‘green&nbsp;scene’. 



In a village in the Mtwara region of Tanzania, a project borne from the concepts of architectural innovation, sustainability and social responsibility is underway. And it’s just one of many aimed at tackling the demand for environmentally-conscious housing in Africa.



A report from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) states that the continent’s housing deficit is estimated at over 97 million units and “this is expected to increase as the continent’s population grows, and urbanization continues”.



The clinical trial in Mtwara, dubbed The Star Homes Project, was initiated in 2021 by Denmark-based Ingvartsen Architects in cooperation with the Hanako Foundation and, according to the company, was developed by a cross-disciplinary team of architects, physicians, entomologists and social scientists along with local community leaders and stakeholders.



However, Jakob Knudsen, Principal Architect at Ingvartsen, says that the focus of the project, initially, was simply to improve the health of the occupants of the houses.



“The [houses] are made [of ] very light materials. It looks like concrete, but actually it’s a very thin steel profile with a thin plaster, so it has a very low material use. And what looks like glass is basically a net, so we kind of replaced all the walls with netting, and we made this house naturally very cool. We can see that we have lowered the material consumption and CO2 use by 30% to 40% depending on how you calculate it. And that’s because we try to kind of maximize all the components,” he says.



“It actually didn’t start as a sustainability thing. It started as a way to make the buildings cheaper, but we realized, during the process, that actually we are onto something where we’re using far less materials. It also became interesting from a financial side and a material side, and this is what we’re looking at now. We know that these houses are actually working against malaria, we can see that.”



An article from the World Health Organization on Malaria Day 2023 indicates that Tanzania is one of the four countries in Africa that accounted for slightly over half (52%) of all malaria deaths globally in 2021. Further to this, the country alone accounted for 4% of all malaria deaths, and the disease continues to pose a major burden in the northwest and southeastern regions of the country.



As part of the Star Homes Project, the health of the occupants of the 110 constructed homes will be compared to those living in 440 control homes over a three-year period, which is set to conclude this year.



“We conclude by the end of this year, then we have the three- year period. Nothing is published yet, but I can say that we have very promising results already on the malaria [aspect]. There’s a clear benefit from having a new house when you’re looking at malaria. I mean, this is a rural area in Tanzania, so lots of people [have] malaria, and they’re much better protected. But this is one of the first housing projects, to our knowledge, the first time a house has been built and used in this way to demonstrate it.”



Each house also has a 40W solar panel that provides lights in each room and USB charging, and rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in a 2,000-liter tank for clean drinking water. According to Knudsen, based on the materials used, it cost around $9,000 to build at the time.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-does-a-green-future-look-like">What does a ‘green’ future look like?</h4>



The ongoing demand for affordable housing coupled with growing climate change concerns has brought sustainable or green architecture to the fore.



Britannica defines green architecture as a philosophy of architecture that advocates sustainable energy sources, the conservation of energy, the reuse and safety of building materials, and the siting of a building with consideration of its impact on the environment.



A 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) titled, Building Materials And The Climate: Constructing A New Future, indicates that the buildings and construction sector is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 37% of global emissions.



However, herein lies the opportunity. Entrepreneurs and businesses alike have taken up the mantle to innovate, ‘go green’ and make a positive impact on the environment at large.



According to the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Africa Manifesto for Sustainable Cities and the Built Environment, by 2050, Africa will be home to 1.1 billion more people than it is today, and 80% of the buildings that will exist in Africa in 2050 are yet to be built.



Lisa Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) and Vice Chair for the WorldGBC’s Africa Regional Network, emphasizes the progress of the collaborative efforts across the continent. 



“We’ve got different sort of levels of Green Building Councils. In Africa, there are two established Green Building Councils – South Africa and Kenya, and the others are mixed between emerging and prospective. Our job, and I include Kenya in it, is really to support the prospective and emerging councils,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.



“Africa has [been] hit by climate events, so there is a huge awareness that, whether it be the Green Building Council or governments, [we] have to do something to alleviate these things,” Reynolds adds.



Knudsen echoes the sentiment on collaboration, stating, “I think one of the sustainability problems I see in Africa is that materials are used in a very inefficient way in many local buildings. You could easily save 30% of the materials if there was better knowledge for the builder who’s doing this, but that’s not something you can expect. We need somebody else who knows how to work with building techniques.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Trash to treasure</h4>



In 2019, the first plastic road was laid down in South Africa’s Jeffery’s Bay, and reports, published recently, indicate that it has lasted longer than traditional tar roads. And the uses for this often-troublesome product seem to only increase from here.



As per the United Nations’ goal 11 of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, entrepreneurs across Africa are tackling sustainable building prac- tices in their own way.



One such example is Kubik CEO and co-founder, Kidus Asfaw. Kubik, an environmental tech company, takes plastic waste and transforms it into low-carbon, low-cost housing in Ethiopia, where the startup is based.



Asfaw, who has worked for the World Bank, Accenture, and Google, as well as on technology and innovation initiatives for UNICEF, relays the story of how he got into the trash business. “I helped set up the first-ever circular economy project for UNICEF in Cote d’Ivoire, and we were able to create bricks out of plastic waste. We made over 500 schools using those and my love changed from software to trash, affordability, housing and cities. I did that for about four years,” he says.



“During that time, I learned the issues not just around trash, but a multitude of major challenges that human beings that live in cities are facing, especially on rapidly urbanizing continents like Africa. Alongside poor waste management [which] needs to be addressed, affordable housing is probably one of the biggest priorities in many countries right now. And then, of course, there’s climate change.”



Kubik, which was founded in 2021, produces products that are high in compression strength, non-flammable, non-toxic and modular.



“We’re a business that transforms hard-to-recycle plastic waste into building materials that real estate developers can use at a cheaper price than conventional cement-based materials without compromising the quality or safety of those buildings,” says Asfaw.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63677" style="width:568px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kubik Wall expression</figcaption></figure></div>


“Part of them doing business with Kubik [is] they’re also reducing the greenhouse gas impact that they bring to building cities like Addis Ababa. In a nutshell, we take all of that very bad plastic that you typically see in a landfill, and we make things like bricks that can make an entire wall, and that wall is as unremarkable as it looks, because it’s supposed to look just like every other building. What makes it remarkable to us is how accessible it is to lower-income communities, price-wise, and how green and sustainable it is within the real estate sector.”



In South Africa, sisters Kedibone and Kekeletso Tsiloane are tackling the plastic pollution and waste management issue through Ramtsilo Manufacturing and Construction, a company they founded in 2013. The business focuses on transforming hard-to-recycle plastics and other waste products into eco-bricks.



Kekeletso, who has a background in engineering, tells FORBES AFRICA about how this passion project turned into a fully-fledged business in a traditionally male-dominated industry.



“We initially started with small construction jobs, so building roads and building small projects, and that’s when we actually noticed that we spent so much money on materials, specifically bricks for us. We went out to look for a woman-owned brick manufacturing company, which we struggled to find. We then started making the bricks ourselves,” she says.



“I am interested in the green economy and what happens to waste and that grew an interest of learning about the afterlife of waste. In our research, we did not know that plastic had different properties and had different values. In terms of money, per kilogram, in the recycling space, it has different prices as well. And with that, we then sought out to make a product that we’re still comfortable with, but is innovative and in the green space.” South Africa, according to World Wide Fund (WWF), produces over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic annually. And while the bricks produced by Ramtsilo reportedly function in exactly the same way as conventional bricks, Kedibone, who has a finance background, states that the company still had to do a fair amount of educating on the product.



“We’re still having to re-educate people. It’s a plug and play solution but it integrates seamlessly into the construction industry. That was one of our biggest value-adds… the fact that people could easily use the product because they had the same look and feel as the conventional brick,” she explains.



“We then realized there’s additional benefits that come with the products – from an installation perspective, from a condensation water absorption [perspective] – because of the use of the plastic. The brick is actually branded so that people know that they’re [buying] an eco-friendly product. We’ve seen from the retailers, that product doesn’t stay in the retail stores and it’s simply because of the quality [and] the performance of the product.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-768x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-63676" style="width:516px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kekeletso &amp; Kedibone Tsiloane (Photo Supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


According to Kedibone, the bricks can be found at South African retailers like Builders Warehouse and Leroy Merlin in Gauteng. And while Ramtsilo’s business model tends to focus more on partnerships with corporates and retailers – a model that appears to be working well for them – Kubik’s has opted to focus on and develop the company’s relationships with waste pickers.



“We grappled with what our supply chain model should look like for many months. There are thousands of waste pickers in Ethiopia. Most of those pickers happen to be women, over 80% of them, and most of them end up selling their produce for the day to brokers at very low prices that are not economically sustainable for them to pass the poverty line,” he says.



“We wanted our business model to have a supply chain that not only worked at scale and made business/financial sense for us, but ethically is also empowering those that have previously been exploited in this space. We typically would work with city administrations that typically manage landfills. We get into a partnership with them, set up a collection site and we directly source from these waste pickers at prices that are at least three, four times more than what they would normally get from a broker.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-endless-possibilities">Endless possibilities</h4>



A quick search online reveals some of the most commonly-used sustainable materials in construction. Aside from bamboo and recycled plastic, others include recycled or reclaimed wood, cork, Hempcrete and biocomposite cement.



Traditional building practices have also been employed in some parts of the continent. UNEP had published an article about a project at a school in Burkina Faso, where the modules that form the structure for the school are built out of locally- sourced laterite. This is then cut into bricks and left in the sun to harden. The bricks reportedly absorb the heat during the day and radiate it at night.



Another example of innovation at work is the The Wits Flower Hall Examination and Test Centre in South Africa. Ac- cording to a recent release by the institution, the now energy- efficient building has been recognized for its sustainable design and shortlisted in the Creative Reuse category at the World Ar- chitecture Festival, set to take place in November.



“We believe that adaptive reuse is a critical foundation of green sustainable building due to the embodied carbon content of existing buildings. Wits has a great track record of repurposing buildings, for example the Science Stadium,” said Dr Heather Dodd from Savage + Dodd Architects, who worked on this project in 2022, in the release.



The growth of the sustainable or green building space presents significant employment opportunities as well, according to Reynolds.



“The more that certification grows, the more people need to be aware the job opportunities are growing with it. I do a CEO message on all our newsletters; the latest one is talking about job expansion. So, you know, there’s job creation, but there’s also potential for job expansion because we need accredited professionals; we need EDGE experts,” she states. “We did our first certification in 2009. If you think of pre-2009, there were no such things as accredited professionals. Now, small companies are formed just doing certification. It’s a true reflection of job creation and I would try to encourage more and more people to do it. If they’re in the space [and] it’s not job creation, expand your portfolio and go into this space.”

Com_Ingvartsen_Mtwara_StarHomes_C-JulienLanoo_20220907L1034048 copy

Building Africa’s Green Future: How One Project Is Even Aiming To Curb Malaria With Sustainable Architecture

If distinctive architecture marks a great city, then, Nairobi, chief among the great capitals of the continent, has plenty to appreciate. Unfortunately, faced with the urgent needs of development, the preservation of its historical buildings has often been overlooked.&nbsp; 



Nairobi, as some may know it, presents a bewildering range
of architectural styles. Influences conflict from religion and the decadence of
imperial culture to the studied modernism of post-independence and the
synthesized futurism of late. 



Yet, even in this dazzling array of constructed expression,
the city’s architecture will not be recommended by many, if any, of its locals.




One might notice that a lot of the older buildings, some
survived from the colonial era and others erected in the fleeting euphoria of
post-independence, are taken for granted. Their relevance now narrowly defined
by current occupants and not by what they were and how they came to be.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="434" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39897" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi2.png 434w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi2-300x426.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi2-211x300.png 211w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px" /><figcaption> Nairobi Kenya architecture. Picture: Getty </figcaption></figure></div>



The more anonymous international-style towers made of glass
and steel that define the city skyline enjoy more frequent limelight, locating
the ambitions of a modern African city in an increasingly globalized world.



This attitude has been explained by a popular theory
frequently offered in the niche but studied debate within Kenyan architecture.
One that often dominates any headline to do with the designs of the capital.



Evelyne Wanjiku, an aficionado of African architecture and
co-author of a book on the history of Nairobi’s buildings, lambasted the tastes
of her fellow countrymen as a crisis in the city’s property fashions.



“Buildings in Nairobi are a testimony to the influences of
various industrialized countries. A walk around the city reveals buildings of
British, Indian, and even Dutch influence,” she notes in a particularly
disgruntled article in one of the papers of record, Daily Nation.



Beyond the alien persuasions of the Nairobi skyline, she
says that even the well-to-do homeowners in the country reinforce this pattern
through the “Victorian houses or fancy Tuscany structures” that they have built
for themselves.



The assertion is heavy. Kenyans as, consumers of
architecture, are all too willing to be swayed by those of an ‘imported
culture’. 



The reality, however, is a lot more complex.



In just a number of decades, Nairobi has spread, from its
traditional center, to a sprawling network of settlements. In this frantic
urbanization, the designs of architecture have been subordinate to the needs of
development; conditions that the discipline has traditionally tried to avoid. 



This phenomenon inspired a tangent in a conversation with Dr
Bitange Ndemo, a popular newspaper columnist and professor at the University of
Nairobi in Kenya. 



“The beef I have&#8230; is that once we are all dead, nobody
will say that architecture existed in Kenya!” he laments.



To those new to the argument, the beef is two-fold. 



Nairobi’s history is quietly disappearing. Some of it
claimed in a recent spate of demolitions such as those of the colonial-era
bungalows in and around the neighborhoods of Kileleshwa and the famous Kariokor
Estate, home to the African porters of the ‘Carrier Corps’ during the first
World War.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Their replacements, brutally modern apartment blocks,
allegedly erected for immediate commercial return that the professor, and other
proponents, maintain, do not redefine these areas in any language but instead
deprive them of all identity. Worse still, with average rental prices per month
averaging upwards of $800, only a small slice of the city’s inhabitants can now
afford to call these places home. 



Nairobi, often dubbed as the ‘green city in the sun’, has a
storied history which is told rather vividly through its buildings. 



Founded at the turn of the 20th century, as a depot on the
Uganda Railway, it quickly rose to prominence as a trading post in what would
become British East Africa. It was the industrial center of the country’s
colonial economy &#8211; the main artery in the trade of coffee, sisal and tea.
Eventually, in 1907, it was declared the capital of that region of the British
Empire, a title furtively snatched from the bordering town of Machakos.



As such, Nairobi’s architecture cleverly accommodates the country’s diverse indigenous and settled cultures along with their individual histories.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/sometime-in-africa/2019/03/14/zimbabwe-two-realities-in-one-country/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Zimbabwe: Two Realities In One Country (opens in a new tab)">Zimbabwe: Two Realities In One Country</a>



Even today, monumental buildings, commissioned by the colonial
government of the day, show a pride in Kenya’s position within the empire.
Designed by a ‘rebel’ architect from the British School of the Arts in Rome,
Parliament House, the home of the country’s legislature, is not a carbon copy
of its archetype as was intended. Instead, it is a cheerful interpretation of
Westminster, showered by the equatorial sun and in constant conversation with
the towering palm trees around it.



The South Asian community, among the city’s early settlers,
is responsible for a large part of the architectural kitsch. Forming the&nbsp; bulk of Nairobi’s established merchant class,
they have left an indelible stamp in the Art Deco styles prominent in some of
the older downtown blocks such as Nanak House, which resembles a distant cousin
of London’s Commonwealth House on New Oxford Street. An example of the generous
extravagance of 1930s design, it is today better known for the upmarket hair
salon on its first floor, than the conditions that inspired it.



While overshadowed by a clustering of modern towers, Jamia
Mosque, in the center of town, is a beautiful specimen of Islamic architecture
in the Arab tradition typical of the period of its construction, the first
decade of the 20th century. Now a central place of worship for Nairobi’s sizable
Muslim population, it is also well known for the businesses that have sprung
from it, including an eponymous shopping mall several yards away.



Even as antiquated foreign fashions identify some of its
streets, there are vernacular interpretations of them shrouded in the edifices
of Nairobi. The Catholic Parish of St. Austin’s, at the edge of the middle
class Lavington suburb, is a glorious showpiece of Gothic Revival with an
African accent. 



With its colossal mabati (corrugated iron) and timber roof
trusses, it is a firm favorite of Ndemo.



“I get satisfaction from good architectural design&#8230; and if
you go inside [the church], you can feel that someone put their thoughts
together to do this,” he says. 



The preservation of these Kenyan relics is not a recent
concern. There is, in fact, a government agency dedicated to this crucial
mandate at the National Museums of Kenya. However, for many of these buildings,
the costs of safeguarding them for posterity far outweigh those of constructing
anew. 



Perhaps no one in the country is more aware of this conflict
than the Head of the Directorate of Antiquities, Sites and Monuments, Dr Purity
Kiura. While adamant that the task of preservation, in an effort to conserve
history and memory in Kenya is important, she insists that there are other
factors that weigh the equation.



“There is agriculture, there is education, there is health&#8230;and all of these are competing with other needs for the nation so monuments are not a priority,” she says. 



She does admit that attitudes are slowing changing. With so
many of the buildings in need of protection poignant reminders of a difficult
period in the country’s past, the need to conserve them is often set against
embittered sentiment. 



A younger cosmopolitan population, a few generations removed
from that time, lends a more sympathetic ear to the obligations of
architectural conservation.



&nbsp;“We are starting to
see a more positive response&#8230; they seem to be understanding their history and
accepting that history,” she continues.



Outside of public office, there has also been, in response,
a modest movement building. Sometime in 2013, the Architectural and Heritage
Advisory Committee (AHAC) was convened. The group, comprised of an eclectic mix
of brand name architects, lay enthusiasts, a prominent journalist and an
architect-turned-photographer, set out to protect Nairobi’s built heritage. 



Its architect, an economist by trade, Aref Adamali, was
compelled to organize it after returning home in 2008. Having lived in some of
the world’s great architectural cities, among them New York and London, he was
met with a fast-changing metropolis in the midst of a property boom.



To him, these developments were not convincing evidence that
it was heading in the right direction. 



“We were losing older buildings&#8230; not just old colonial
buildings made of stone but [some] from the ’60s and ’70s with
post-independence modernist architecture and even cool buildings from the
’80s&#8230; that we could [never] recover,” he recalls.



After a number of conversations, Adamali began the
initiative that would form AHAC. Looking to avoid the taxing listing procedures
of the National Museums, they took their campaign to the interwebs.



“Listing can be contentious [so] we decided not to take the
regulatory approach&#8230; our interest was in casting our net further than the
city center and into the neighborhoods that were quickly changing,” he
explains.



The result was an online poll open to all of Nairobi and a
blog cataloging the capital’s aging architectural gems. After a period of
voting, AHAC compiled a list of 50 of the city’s most treasured historical
properties informed by a broad spectrum of its residents. They also
collaborated with local artists and photographers to immortalize these
structures in exhibitions that appealed to the greater public.



The committee is still contemplating a longer term approach
but they do have a few ideas.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="433" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39898" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi3.png 433w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi3-300x427.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/nairobi3-211x300.png 211w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px" /><figcaption>Nairobi Kenya architecture. Picture: Getty</figcaption></figure></div>



“We’d want the owners of these buildings to be, in effect,
the unofficial custodians of them,” Adamali proposes. 



Some of the buildings that feature on the list include some
of Nairobi’s most photographed landmarks like the iconic Kenyatta International
Conference Centre. 



Inspired by the vernacular structure of an African hut and
constructed using locally-sourced materials, it was designed by Norwegian, Karl
Henrik Nøstvik, in close consultation with the country’s first architect, David
Mutiso, in 1968. 



The exercise was a particularly important one for Nairobi.
As the architectural debate blares on, in local newspapers or in intellectual
salons, along with its interpretations of identity, it remains far removed from
the wider Kenyan public. 



Offering locals and laymen an opportunity to locate and
share their own ideas of the city’s heritage gives the preservationists some
support and a lasting shot at success. 



Nairobi is host to not just one but a cornucopia of cultural
connotations through its buildings. Each making conversation, in the language
of design, about their origins and place in the city. Taken for granted as they
are, these monuments of old will continue be lost without memory by the
modernizing nation around them.



As Adamali insists, this cannot be allowed to happen.



“We’ve got to appreciate what we’ve got and together try to do what we can to preserve them for future generations,” he says.



-Marie Shabaya

nairobi

Is Nairobi’s  Storied History Quietly Disappearing?

I have taken a sabbatical from corporate life and as I write this I am experiencing, first hand, the cultures, history and architecture of the ancient world in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor.
Travelling through Turkey, the Balkans and the new countries born of the collapse of the Soviet Union, one cannot escape the striking diversity of the infrastructure that modern citizens of these countries have inherited. There are important lessons we should have learned from the past, but have we?
Roman engineering and construction techniques laid the foundation for our modern construction technology and methods – they created massive infrastructure across 5,000 kilometers of territory from northern Europe to northern Africa and the Black Sea in the east over a period of around 500 years from 27 BC. The Romans were dedicated master civil engineers and constructors using marble and hard rock, such as granite, transported from all corners of their empire to create cities comprising massive structures, water and transport systems, as well as public facilities that could accommodate thousands in stadiums. They invented concrete and the manufacture of kiln-fired red brick. They recycled materials and large building components as the empire expanded and contracted.
“Why did the Romans build so many ruins?” asked a tourist to our great amusement – fact is that their structures have outlasted most others, hence these are still with us. The Romans worked from a master plan, used detailed design techniques, the best materials, and skilled craftsmen. They mastered logistics, manpower and project management like the ancient Egyptians had done 3,000 years earlier.
The Ottoman Empire usurped the Romans in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor for the next 400 years into the 15th century before Eastern European communities started to win back their countries from the oppression of the Ottoman Turks and re-establish their own art, culture and architecture. During their reign, the Ottomans, while perfecting the construction of large domes in their places of worship, chose interlocking soft sandstone and used simpler construction methods. Their structures have not survived as well, with some notable exceptions, requiring regular restoration and preservation, at great cost.
In Istanbul there are two obelisks a hundred meters apart. One is sandstone from the Ottoman era around 1400 AD, but now a crumbling image of its former self. The second is an Egyptian granite obelisk still in almost pristine condition from around 2000 BC, situated upon a still substantial foundation of a Roman hippodrome built circa 330 AD of solid granite, marble and red brick and mortar (cement).
Fast forward to my visit to Romania and Bulgaria, where the fabulous granite and marble structures of the Renaissance period, through to the 18th century post the defeat of the Ottoman Turks, stand proudly while all around are the crumbling relics of Soviet Russia era multi-story mass housing blocks and public buildings – falling apart after only a few decades. The new democracies in these countries have massive restoration and rebuilding programs – substantially funded with EU contributions, which fuels the British, French and German taxpayer debate on who benefits from the EU.
The contrast with the structures of the ancient and antique world is remarkable.
Spotlight moves to Africa and what has been achieved in infrastructure delivery.
The crumbling RDP houses, the years of time and cost overruns on public sector power plants and pipelines, roads and railways. The lack of infrastructure planning and maintenance across our region is in stark contrast to the world class private sector delivery of mines, toll roads, World Cup stadiums, renewable energy plants, commercial and retail infrastructure and private hospitals delivered in recent years.
It would seem obvious, and history tells us, that infrastructure is best delivered by professionals using proven design processes, skilled craftsmen, the appropriate materials and technologies, effective planning and project management techniques.
Infrastructure delivery should not be controlled by politics, cadre deployment, state institutions that have limited technical capacity, tenderpreneurs, or cobbled-together contractors who may be well-networked.
By nature of their training, demonstrable skills and track record, infrastructure delivery is the domain of professional individuals and companies who should, but still wait patiently, be invited into the inner sanctum of government to discuss the master plan for both South Africa and the regional infrastructure backlog that will unlock the future.
The Romans had this sorted – why can’t we?

Where is caesar   when you need him

I have always been intrigued by sub-Saharan trade. In the interest of understanding caravan journeys better, I made trips to Mali and Morocco to observe their most famous routes. Goods such as gold, ivory – and regretfully, millions of  slaves – were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to Timbuktu, then through the desert and over the Atlas mountains to Marrakech and onto the port of Essaouira, which served as Morocco’s principal port, offering the cargo of the caravans to the world.
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My journey from Casablanca airport to Essaouira was a 400-kilometer ride that passed along the Atlantic sea coast and then inland along plateaus dotted with argan trees endemic to the region and known the world over for its use in producing aromatic oil. It was late in the night when I arrived in Essaouira, an Arabic/Berber medina contained within a European fortress with winding alleys and streets. Finding my seafront hotel was an adventure in itself, in a town with many dead-end alleyways.
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It was a moment of great excitement when I opened my windows, illuminated by the Maghreb sunlight, and realized my room was right on top of the ramparts of the fort overlooking a broad seafront. Later, while walking along the crenellated ramparts of the cannon-lined fort, I could see the city wake up on one side while the finest fisheries off the waters of Morocco were coming alive with boats and attendant gulls on the other. Upon reaching the port, I caught a glimpse of the lives of fishermen who were unloading their large catches of sardines and conger eels; a haul big enough to sustain its economy.
The historic charm of the UNESCO World Heritage listed city is evident in every twist and turn in the maze of pedestrian-only streets that make up the medina. Broken facades and decorative doors open to reveal ancient Kasbahs lined with courtyards and fountains. Essaouira has been in existence in recorded history since the days of imperial Rome, where the purple stripes of the senatorial toga (garment of ancient Rome) came from a dye factory, made from sea snails found here. Ruled by Romans and then by Berber kings, it was swept up under the influence of Islam in the eighth century and ruled by Arab kings until the Portuguese captured it in the 16th century. This was followed by French occupation and it finally came under Moroccan rulers in 1777 when it was declared an independent nation.
This rich history of occupation has provided Essaouira with a French-designed fortress, Genoese-designed port citadels, a classic Arabic medina complete with a royal Kasbah, Jewish mella or quarter and a European enclave.
Walking through its winding streets I could see Arabic, French and Spanish influences in the architecture.
Essaouira’s real beginning as an import-export center came in the 1770s when the sultan of Morocco appointed families from Casablanca, Marrakech and other northern cities to settle here and become official royal traders to conduct trade with Europe and the Americas. It has been noted that seven of the town’s leading families in the 19th century were Muslim, while 25 were Jews, who once comprised 40% of the population.
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The homes of former Jewish traders and the synagogue reveal themselves through Hebrew carvings on the door lintels.
The souk area was quite interesting with many shops selling spices, wood carvings and cabinetry. Unlike the bustle found in the souks of Marrakesh, the pace here was very relaxed under the warm sunlight and a steady breeze from the ocean. The fort area has more upscale shops while the souks had a classic Arabic atmosphere. The delicious seafood available in restaurants around the harbor was absolutely amazing and at very reasonable prices. I found men here wearing the classic djellabas and women walking around in colorful qmis (long jacket) covering their baggy pants.
Essaouira is best reached from Marrakesh by road and can be covered as a day trip. Emirates Airline can fly one to Morocco from any big African city via Dubai.
With its unspoilt beaches, luxurious hotels, wonderful cafes and seafood restaurants, Essaouira is fast becoming a must-visit destination. Morocco has a lot to offer. In this context, Essaouira is often ignored. But for the intrepid traveler, it offers a special place where the caravans of the Sahara finally emptied its wares for the world to consume.

137-Forbes

Where Africa’s Caravans Were Headed

The future of architecture is evolving before my eyes on the laptop of Luca Frattari. In a series of keystrokes the architectural engineering Ph.D., now a business development manager at software firm Altair, thins out the blocky outer shell of a new skyscraper into a willowy exoskeleton that would stand out even among the gaudier designs in the Dubai skyline. Its irregular lattice leaves room for giant, undulating pools of window glass. Yet when he runs a wind-flow analysis on the simulation, the building’s organic form wicks away stiff breezes far more efficiently than a rectilinear structure. And the reduction in outer material gives the building an excellent chance of going up faster and for less money.
More things should look bony. Millions of years of evolution have honed the skeleton into the perfect shape for survival. Our hollow, long bones are thick and strong where needed, and light and flexible where possible. Their excesses were purged long ago.
Adapting nature’s forms to human problems, a trend called biomimicry, is an idea that has taken root at engineering-intensive firms such as Ford, General Motors, Boeing and Airbus, all of them hungry buyers of technology to improve the shapes of the machines and structures they build. The biggest computer-aided engineering software firms, Ansys, Dassault Systèmes and LMS International, a Siemens subsidiary, have enjoyed double-digit revenue growth in recent years as large customers snap up their pricey suites of simulation and material analysis software. Unseen by drivers and frequent fliers, the straight angles and solid forms under the skins of autos and airliners have been replaced over the past several years by funky-looking ribs that are lighter and stronger than the original. For each hundred pounds trimmed off a car, drivers could save about 1% to 2% on fuel economy, which could add up to billions of dollars nationally, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Even shaving 1 gram off a water bottle would eliminate 160 million pounds of material per year, assuming consumption of 200 million bottles per day, says Thierry Marchal, Ansys’ director of industry marketing for consumer goods.
Altair of Troy, Mich. has a lead over its rivals in a particularly interesting field called topology optimization, according to research firm CIMdata. Altair’s OptiStruct software simulates on metal and carbon-fiber structures the same trial-and-error forces that have shaped bone growth over millennia—but repeats them at semiconductor speed until an engineer arrives at a design that meets the need without any excess material. The process can lead to unique and sometimes nonintuitive shapes that are often 20% to 30% lighter than traditionally formed structures.
The privately held company, cofounded by CEO James Scapa, a Ford veteran, and two others in 1985, got half of its estimated 2012 revenue of $240 million (up 13% from 2011) from the auto industry but is growing 30% year over year in aerospace and electronics, three times the growth of its steady auto business. Airbus used Altair software to shed a thousand pounds off the A380 by redesigning 13 wing ribs on each side of the plane. Altair now works with more than 3,000 clients, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA and the Department of Defense, but it is rapidly spreading the gospel of evolutionary perfection to a wider audience in consumer products and infrastructure and among commercial architects.
In October Altair released what it says is the first simulation and analysis software designed to be easily used by the engineering masses. Called solidThinking Inspire, it will be bundled into Altair’s flagship software package ($20,000 on average) or sold separately for $8,000. Early adopters of Inspire include auto supplier Key Safety Systems and the Pratt Institute in New York. Architects in the U.S. and Europe are planning high-rises to be unveiled later this year in Asia that will look like descendants of the biomorphic forms created by Antoni Gaudi and Frei Otto.
Altair got its inspiration for bone-based software 20 years ago when Scapa and his chief technology officer, Jim Brancheau, found Jeff Brennan in a lab at the University of Michigan. Brennan was a biomechanical engineer studying how humans bones grow; Scapa brought Brennan in to oversee what would become OptiStruct. Brennan spent the early 1990s schlepping a computer from one carmaker to another, struggling to get analytical engineers to accept his OptiStruct software’s counterintuitive visual results. After OptiStruct became part of Altair’s bigger HyperWorks software suite and no longer needed individual salesmen, Brennan eventually took over as CMO. “We brought Jeff in, and for years and years the competition couldn’t see why we did it—they said there was no market,” Scapa says. “Now they are trying to catch up.”
Altair says it has grown at a 14% compounded annual rate since 2004 but has no plans to go public. It is majority owned by its three founders and last raised money eight years ago selling an undisclosed minority stake to General Atlantic for $30 million. Scapa aims to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2020, a stretch goal that largely depends on how much Inspire broadens the user base.
Even if Altair fails to hit the billion-dollar goal, it will be an aesthetic victory for the rest of us as more buildings, cars, trains and gadgets take on the swooping curves beloved by nature.

Tag: Architecture

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