The search for hybrid tectonics in contemporary African architecture: encounters between the global and the local

Louw, Michael Paul

The search for hybrid tectonics in contemporary African architecture: encounters between the global and the local

Doctoral Thesis

2021

Abstract

This thesis is based on the proposition that there is an emerging phenomenon of tectonic hybridisation in contemporary architecture in Africa where global and local ways of making are being combined. A growing awareness of this tendency was informed by an extended period of practicing, teaching, and re - searching architectural technology in Africa. I embarked on a directed search for examples that demonstrate this, but I soon realised that they are shaped by ongoing tectonic transitions that highlight the encounters between techno and technē, between the global and the local, and between the global North and the global South. These binaries can and should be contested, and this study seeks to understand the underpinnings and tectonic strategies of buildings that demonstrate evidence of this contestation. The phenomenon of tectonic hybridisation was interrogated as a case study using mixed methods consisting of literature reviews, the identification, investigation and cataloguing of works, and the analysis of key projects through primary sources and visual research methods. The literature review explored different positions related to technē, technology and tectonics, and consid - ered theories that range from Bhabha's reading of hybridisation to Frampton, Lefaivre and Tzonis' development of Critical Regionalism. In parallel, a cata - logue of buildings that exhibit a tendency towards hybridisation was produced and developed into an open access website. Subsequent analysis of this un - covered common strategies across projects which could be located within the spectrum of global and local tectonics. Further examination revealed buildings that share similar tectonic strategies, which often coalesce into constellations, and key projects within these were identified for more detailed investigation. Data was gathered through personal interviews with the architects, site visits, seminars, additional literature review, and in some instances, through co-pro - duction. The data was then analysed further through cross-comparison in the form of tables, discursive textual comparison, and visual research methods. As a result of these investigations, a significant number of works that signal a shift towards hybridisation are revealed. Further analysis clarifies their tectonic strategies, their ethical underpinnings, and how they relate to this transitional shift. A set of criteria is proposed as a measure for recognising, studying, and evaluating contemporary architecture in Africa. The prospect of this work is to extend the field into the further investigation of hybrid tectonics.

Keywords

Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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