architecture should be integrative, instead
of just stopping at the threshold or site
boundary line. Growing up during the last
years of apartheid and having grappled
with the ethics of being white, privileged
because of race, as well as a contested
African identity, makes me very concerned
with issues of community. Understanding
context and responding appropriately to
context, helps to resolve this search for
identity.
Namibian vernacular architecture
inhibits classification, as it depends
on culture, climate, and availability of
skills and resources. How is practicing
in such an environment where these
factors vary from region to region, town
to town, and even family to family?
Architectural design in Namibia is as
much a matter of contextual response as
anywhere in the world. To a large extent
such response is forced on all of us here
through distance and cost, as it is seldom
possible to justify the importation of
“exotic” materials and skills. In that way,
Namibian contemporary architecture
is subject to a certain uniformity, but
development of a true regionalist
vernacular is prevented by the influence
of international media on architectural
design.
I am personally influenced by land- and
bio-form, which requires investigations
into wider fields such as anthropology,
geology, botany and zoology
complemented with inter alia languages,
contemporary culture and local traditions.
Such investigations can only benefit
architects in local practice, but few seem
to recognize wider interests as relevant.
This may be due to the current global
adherence to “Architecture” as almost
a belief system in itself rather than a
component of a larger world.
Namibian practices are generally small.
Single architects supported by one or two
technicians are responsible for entire
projects, unlike the much larger project
teams in many other countries. This can
result in very individualistic approaches,
but also creates a lack of depth in most
work, unless thorough research and design
development is done. I agree with Dr Jaco
Wasserfall that among Namibian architects
time pressures due to lack of resources
often lead to shortcuts taken in these
two areas, resulting in mundane design
resolutions.
In many countries, water’s role in
construction is taken for granted. But
in Namibia, the absence of it forced
you into becoming quite frugal and
inventive in your design process. What
are some of the unique lessons you’ve
learnt from being in an environment
where the very resources one needs to
build are scarce?
Scarce resources mean that minimalism
is so much more than a matter of form.
Inventive use of basic materials, rethinking the uses of space, using the
outdoors as extensions of indoor space,
are all strategies born from this scarcity.
Locally available materials and skills can
also be manipulated to create a kind of
modern local vernacular, an architecture
which is born of its place and time. And it
is much more fun – creatively challenging
– to be inventive than to just choose
something from a catalogue.
Should architects be proud
scavengers?
Oh yes. However, the time demands of
modern practice as well as restrictive
regulatory environments can make it
difficult. In rural Namibia, we have the
rare freedom of working with very little
regulatory demands, which opens up
creative opportunities.
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