Review: African Vernacular Architecture Data Base, by Jon Sojkowski

Abstract

Jon Sojkowski, creator African Vernacular Architecture Data Base http://www.africavernaculararchitecture.com The African Vernacular Architecture Data Base, an online project initiated and maintained by architect Jon Sojkowski, is an important and welcome new source of information about vernacular building practices in Africa. Conceived as a visual database of building types categorized by location, it includes photographs submitted by numerous contributors. Although sparsely annotated and lacking a comprehensive scientific methodology, this online project is an important contribution to the field of architectural history and will prove valuable to practicing architects and social scientists interested in the vernacular building traditions of Africa. Sojkowski, a registered architect based in Beaufort, South Carolina, began collecting images of vernacular architecture in Africa in 1997–98 while he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. During his time in that Southern African country, he found few resources to help him understand the wealth of native building traditions across the continent, which he hoped to integrate into his design courses at Copperbelt University in Kitwe. Sojkowski, who also goes by the nom de plume Jon Twingi, began assembling a visual database of Zambian vernacular architecture, using photographs he took as he traveled the country. He collected this work in the online database Zambia Vernacular Architecture (http://www.zambiaarchitecture.com), which …