An Essay About Building Initiatives
FEBRUARY 16, 2026BY: MTHIMKHULU
“Abstract”
IT’S 2026, AND EVERY THIRD PERSON I MEET ASKS FOR AN INFORMED OPINION ON THIS STREAMER BOY. I DO MY BEST AT BEING SELECTIVE WITH THE CONTENT I CONSUME SO I SAW NO NEED BUT THE IMPACT FELT UNAVOIDABLE. EVENTUALLY I DECIDED TO WATCH ISHOWSPEED’S AFRICA TOUR. THE MIXED EMOTIONS SENT ME INTO A FRENZY. I WENT FROM ANGRY, TO SAD, TO SURPRISED, TO AMAZED THEN WHOLEHEARTEDLY INSPIRED.
ADMITTEDLY, REACTIONS FROM THE BLACK DIASPORA PULLED ME BACK TO SURPRISE. I KEPT SEEING THE SAME CONVERSATIONS AND MY MIND SPIRALED AT THE LACK OF DEPTH IN THE COMMENTARY. THERE SEEMED TO BE A REAL LIFE SHOCK SURROUNDING AFRICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE. COUNTLESS PEOPLE QUOTED SAYING “THEIR BUILDINGS ARE JUST LIKE OURS”, AT FIRST, I WAS GLAD PEOPLE WERE RELIEVED THEY COULD RELATE. THEN AGAIN, I BECAME UNHAPPY “OUR BUILDINGS ARE JUST LIKE THEIRS” AND PEOPLE WERE RELIEVED THEY COULD RELATE.
AS THE BLACK DIASPORA, SHOULD RELATABILITY HINGE ON A MIRRORED RESEMBLANCE? MAYBE I’M NOT ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTION ..
EIGHTY THREE LIGHT HOURS OF RESEARCH LED TO THIS SHORT ESSAY ON “VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE” IT MAY SEEM FAR-FETCHED, BUT BEAR WITH ME. TO THIS DAY, DOMINANT NARRATIVES IMPLY THAT AFRICA HAD NO STRUCTURAL MEMORY BEFORE REINFORCED CONCRETE AND THE RECTANGULAR GRID. IN DOING SO, THE “POWERS THAT BE” REAP WHERE THEY HAVE NOT SOWN, MISLEADING GENERATIONS INTO BELIEVING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ARRIVED WITH COLONIAL MODERNITY.
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, FRANCIS KÉRÉ’S WORK HAS ENCOURAGED COMMUNITIES TO SOURCE LOCAL MATERIALS WELL ADAPTABLE FOR THEIR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT, ENABLING AFRICAN PRIDE AS A WHOLE. ARCHITECTURAL SYSTEMS ROOTED IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATION WERE GRADUALLY PHASED OUT OF ARCHITECTURAL DISCOURSE AND REPLACED BY IMPORTED STYLES LIKE RENAISSANCE, GREEK REVIVAL, NEOCLASSICAL, ETC. THOUGH THESE STYLES DIFFER IN IDEOLOGY AND DECOR, I BELIEVE THEY SHARE A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT: THE RECTANGULAR GRID AND LINEAR HIERARCHY. AS AFRICA POISES ITSELF TO “RULE THE WORLD” (8:11-8:26), THE QUESTION BECOMES UNAVOIDABLE: HOW AFROCENTRIC WILL THIS RULING BE IN ITS TRUE FORM? THE RHETORIC FOR AFRICA BEING A PILLAR FOR FUTURE GLOBAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS SOUNDS GOOD BUT HOW DO WE PRACTICE IT? FURTHERMORE, IF AFRICA IS SERIOUS ABOUT PUTTING HER CULTURAL SOVEREIGNTY INTO PRACTICE, WILL HER DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS FROM THE EAST OR ELSEWHERE SUPPORT ARCHITECTURAL EXPRESSIONS THAT DON’T RESEMBLE THEIR OWN? TO ANSWER THIS, ONE MUST UNDERSTAND WHERE AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE HAS ALWAYS BEGUN - ASSAR IMHOTEP’S LECTURES ON BANTU COSMOLOGY PROVIDES A CRUCIAL CORRECTIVE TO THE MYTH ABOUT AFRICAN BUILDING TRADITIONS BEING MERELY “VERNACULAR” OR TECHNOLOGICALLY UNDERDEVELOPED. IN THE HIGH LAWS OF THE BANTU, SPACE IS FAR FROM ABSTRACT. IN FACT, BANTU’S VIEW SPACE AND TIME AS INTERCONNECTED MOVING PARTS ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN CONDITIONS AND TIME. THE UNIVERSE IS UNDERSTOOD AS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS AS OPPOSED TO LINEAR PROGRESSION, MAKING SPACE MORE ALIVE AND RELATIONAL. THINK OF LIFE, DEATH & REBIRTH FORMING A LOOP AS OPPOSED TO A STRAIGHT LINE. IT MIGHT SOUND STRANGE TO SOME BUT TRUTHFULLY, THIS WORLDVIEW IS MIRRORED IN SOCIAL PRACTICES THAT PERSIST ACROSS BANTU SOCIETIES - AFRICAN ELDERS CONSULT IN A CIRCLE, RITUALS ARE PERFORMED IN A CIRCLE, FAMILIES FOSTER THEIR COMMUNITY & OFTEN CELEBRATE IN CIRCULAR FORMATIONS. AFRICAN COMMUNITIES HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN THIS FOR CENTURIES . HENCEFORTH, I’M OF THE OPINION THAT ARCHITECTURE IN THIS CONTEXT SERVES AS AN EXTENSION OF COSMOLOGY MADE HABITABLE & PRACTICAL FOR AFRICA TO APPLY AFTER/WHILE SHE SOBERS UP.
THE RONDAVEL - OFTENTIMES PRESENTED AS A PREMODERN FORM OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN EMBODIES THIS COSMOLOGICAL CONCEPT. ITS CIRCULAR PLAN RESISTS HIERARCHY AND CREATES A SPACE WITH A NATURAL SENSE OF INCLUSION, THE EXECUTIVE OF THE BUILDING IS NOT ELEVATED TO A PRIVILEGED STATUS OF THE HIGHEST FLOOR. STRUCTURALLY, SIMILAR TO WALTHER BAUERSFELD’S INVENTION OF THE GEODESIC DOME, THE RONDAVEL IS ALSO ENVIRONMENTALLY INTELLIGENT, IT REGULATES TEMPERATURE EFFICIENTLY AND ADAPTS TO LOCAL MATERIALS. DESPITE THESE ADVANTAGES, THE RONDAVEL HAS BEEN EXCLUDED FROM MODERN ARCHITECTURAL AMBITION. MEANWHILE, EUROPE HAS BEEN TAKING ACTION TO IMPROVE THEIR ECONOMIES AS THEY DEFINE IT. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SET BY THE EU PUBLISHED THEIR PLAN FOR A CIRCULAR ECONOMY .
CRITICS OFTEN ARGUE THAT CIRCULAR DESIGNS ARE UNSUITABLE FOR MODERN LARGE SCALE INFRASTRUCTURE BUT CONTEMPORARY ENGINEERING SAYS OTHERWISE. BUCKMINSTER FULLER’S VERSION OF THE GEODESIC DOME ALLOWED FOR MAXIMUM INTERIOR SPACE WHILE OPTIMIZING VENTILATION AND SUNLIGHT. THE PANTHEON IN ROME, BUILT NEARLY 2000 YEARS AGO, REMAINS ONE OF THE LARGEST UNREINFORCED CONCRETE DOMES IN THE WORLD. ITS CIRCULAR PLAN DEMONSTRATES THE STRUCTURAL LONGEVITY OF RADIAL SYSTEMS AND STRENGTH TO SURVIVE FLOODS, EARTHQUAKES, ETC. TRADITIONAL GRAIN SILOS ACROSS AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA RELY ON CIRCULAR GEOMETRY BECAUSE IT HANDLES VERTICAL LOADS EFFICIENTLY. CONTEMPORARY SKYSCRAPERS INCREASINGLY USE CYLINDRICAL FORMS (MARINA BAY SANDS TOWERS) TO REDUCE WIND SHIFTS AND MATERIAL WASTE.
RONDAVEL-BASED HOUSING CAN BE ORGANIZED IN CONCENTRIC OR CLAYLIKE CLUSTERS WHILE INTEGRATING MODERN UTILITIES. HOSPITALS DESIGNED AROUND CIRCULAR COURTYARDS CAN SUPPORT HOLISTIC HEALING MODELS, INTEGRATING NATURE AND COMMUNITY LED CARE RATHER THAN ISOLATING PATIENTS IN LINEAR CORRIDORS. SCHOOLS ORGANIZED OUTWARDLY ENCOURAGE DIALOGUE AND PARTICIPATORY LEARNING, DISRUPTING COLONIAL CLASSROOM POWER STRUCTURES. RONDAVEL SKYSCRAPERS SOURCING LOCAL CONCENTRIC RINGS AND REUSABLE MATERIALS CAN REDEFINE AFRICAN SKYLINES WITHOUT SURRENDERING TO IMPORTED GRIDS - THESE TYPES OF BUILDINGS PROVE TO BE FUNCTIONAL AND EFFICIENT. WITH SO CALLED PAN AFRICAN REAL ESTATE COMPANIES ON RISE, OPPORTUNITIES BECOME INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE.
IN CLOSING, AS OUR REALITY FACES ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE AND SOCIAL FRAGMENTATION, AFRICA’S CIRCULAR WORLDVIEW IS IMPACT DRIVEN AND FIT FOR PURPOSE. I REACHED OUT TO FRANCIS KERRE & HIS COLLEAGUES REGARDING ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND COST ESTIMATES FOR DIRECT TO CONSUMER SERVICES (I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM THEM SOON) I’M CURIOUS, IF AFRICA WANTS TO REFRAME THEIR CURRENT STRUCTURE THROUGH A CIRCULAR LENS AS OPPOSED TO CONTINUING THE CURRENT MODEL OF LOOKING LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD - WHAT PRACTICAL STEPS DO ARCHITECTS HAVE TO OFFER FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MASS AFRO CENTRIC PROJECTS IN OUR LIFETIME?