Review: Architecture of Independence: African Modernism

Abstract

Architecture of Independence: African Modernism Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein 20 February–31 May 2015 Graham Foundation, Chicago 29 January–16 April 2016 Maison de l'Architecture, Geneva 20 May–30 June 2016 Architecture of Independence: African Modernism was curated by Manuel Herz, with photography by Iwan Baan and Alexia Webster. The exhibition's title situated the buildings displayed in the West African postcolonial period, spanning the decades from the end of World War II to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when all West African states attained self-rule or independence from colonial rule. This era was dominated by an architectural shift from the typical colonial “public works department” style to the International Style. This architectural movement was espoused in Africa mainly by groups of young expatriates, including a few indigenous architects whose Western training had been influenced by the design theories of Bauhaus pedagogues such as Walter Gropius, the manifestos of CIAM, and the architecture of Le Corbusier. In the tropical climate zone, which comprises much of Africa and Southeast Asia, this new version of the International Style was adapted to respond to the climatic concerns of these warmer regions; it became known as tropical modernism, a theme echoed in this exhibition's title. The exhibition was unusual in that it followed from the curator's similarly titled 2015 book.1 This edited volume gives a more comprehensive account of Herz's examination of African modernism, comprising a set of essays that support the book's pictorial content. The exhibition therefore provided a curated set of photographs and supporting exhibits from the more extensive material to be found in the book. The main exhibition, as mounted by the Graham Foundation, consisted of a series of curated pictures arranged by country across different rooms and floors of the foundation's building. Most of the photographs …