Bibliographie
Nasser Abourahme, “Assembling and Spilling-Over: Towards an ‘Ethnography of Cement’ in a Palestinian Refugee Camp,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39, 2014, p. 200-217.
Gabriel Arboleda, Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Practice, Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 2022.
Vandana Baweja, “Sustainability and the Architectural History Survey,” Enquiry. The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research, 11/1, 2014, p. 40-51.
BC Architects & Studies and Pauline Lefebvre, The Act of Building, Antwerp, Flanders Architecture Institute, 2018.
Laurens Bekemans, My Invisible Friend. Laurens Bekemans on “BC Architects & Studies” and a Foreman, Montréal, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 2019.
Zeynep Çelik, “Cultural Intersections: Re-Visioning Architecture and the City in the Twentieth Century,” in Russel Ferguson (ed.), At the End of the Century: One Hundred Years of Architecture, Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, 1998, p. 190-227.
Jiat-Hwee Chang, A Geneaology of Tropical Architecture. Colonial Networks, Nature and Technoscience, New York, Routledge, 2016.
Armelle Choplin, Matière grise de l’urbain. La vie du ciment en Afrique, Genève, Métis Presses, 2020.
Robby Fivez, “A Concrete State: Constructing Materials and Building Ambitions in the (Belgian) Congo,” PhD, Ghent University, 2023.
Robby Fivez, “The Rubble in the Jungle: A Fragmented Biography of Lukala’s Cementscape, DR Congo,” Journal of Landscape Architecture, 1, 2020, p. 78-87.
Robby Fivez, Simon De Nys-Ketels, and Katie Lloyd Thomas, “Historicizing Material Properties: Between Technological and Cultural History,” in Mateus Mascarenhas and Paula Pires (eds.), History of Construction Cultures, Leiden, CRC Press, 2012.
Robby Fivez and Monika Motylinska. “Cement as Weapon: Meta-Infrastructure in the ‘World’s Last Cement Frontier’,” in Josep Heathcott (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Infrastructure Design: Global Perspectives from Architectural History, New York, Routledge, 2022.
Antoni Folkers, Modern Architecture in Africa, Amsterdam, SUN, 2010.
Adrian Forty, Concrete and Culture. A Material History, London, Reaktion Books, 2012.
Allyn Gaestel, “Things fall apart,” The Atavist Magazine, 76, 2018.
Naigzy Gebremedhin, “Vernacular Sustainability: Examples from Ethiopia and Eritrea,” in Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021, p. 169-171.
Nina Gribat and Sandra Meireis, “A critique of the new ‘social architecture’ debate. Moving beyond localism, developmentalism and aesthetics,” City, 21/6, 2017, p. 779-788.
Sandra Harding, Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities, Durham/London, Duke University Press, 2008.
Mariam Kamara, “Othering Africa: The Trouble with ‘African Architecture’,” in Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021, p. 187-188.
Johan Lagae, “History Matters: Authenticity and Cultural Guardianship,” in Philipp Meuser et Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021, p. 138-143.
Bruno Latour, “Can We Get Our Materialism Back, Please?,” Isis, 98, 2007, p. 138-142.
Andres Lepik, Small scale big change. New architecture of social engagement, New York/Basel, The Museum of Modern Art/ Birkhäuser, 2010.
Kali Rubaii, “Cement, War, and Toxicity: The Materialities of Displacement in Iraq,” Environment in Context podcast, 2020, [online] [https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41244], consulted on 27/02/2024.
Ola Uduku, “Affording Authenticity: Thoughts on African Architecture,” in Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021, p. 188-189.
Kelvin W. Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, London, Westview Press, 1990.
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Notes
Pedro Guedes, “Learning from the ‘Other’: Early Modern Emulation and Trans-Imperial Exchange of ‘Native’ Building Technologies,” in Ine Wouters et al. (eds.), Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories, London, Taylor and Francis Group, 2018, p. 299–306.
“L’Habitation du noir,” La Belgique Coloniale, 5, 1896, p. 52.
“L’Habitation européenne I,” Le Congo Illustré, 2/23, 1893, p. 178.
Following the consensus in the field of postcolonial theory, I use post-colonial (with hyphen) to point to the period that chronologically came after colonialism, whereas I use postcolonial (without hyphen) to refer to the more critical body of theory, that signals and contests the continuity of colonial logics.
Together with Katie Lloyd-Thomas and Simon De Nys-Ketels, I organized a thematic session on material characteristics at the 7th International Conference on Construction History. See: Robby Fivez, Simon De Nys-Ketels, and Katie Lloyd Thomas, “Historicizing Material Properties: Between Technological and Cultural History,” in Mateus Mascarenhas and Paula Pires (eds.), History of Construction Cultures, Leiden, CRC Press, 2012.
For a good entry into postcolonial STS, see: Sandra Harding, “Beyond Postcolonial Theory: Two Undertheorized Perspectives on Science and Technology,” in Sandra Harding (ed.) The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2011; Sandra Harding, Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2008.
Laurens Bekemans, My Invisible Friend. Laurens Bekemans on “BC Architects & Studies” and a foreman, Montréal, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 2019. [online] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rES-aTmyoxU], consulted on 13/09/2023.
In the book Modern Architecture in Africa, Antoni Folkers writes from an insider’s perspective about the work he did for the Institut für Tropenbau, one of the many research institutes devoted to building in the tropics. In his book, he rather uncritically adopts the term “inno-native” building materials — originally coined by Ghanese architect Joe Osae-Addo — to talk about these experiments to “upgrade” and “innovate” native building materials. Antoni Folkers, Modern architecture in Africa, Amsterdam, SUN, 2010.
Kapil Raj, Relocating Modern Science: Circulation and the Construction of Knowledge in South Asia and Europe, 1650–1900, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, p. 6.
Ibid.
Laurens Bekemans, My Invisible Friend, op. cit.
BC Architects & Studies and Pauline Lefebvre, The Act of Building, Antwerp, Flanders Architecture Institute, 2018.
Ibid.
BC Architects, “Library of Muyinga,” C-File, [online] [https://cfileonline.org/architecture-bc-architects-library-muyinga] consulted on 01/01/2023.
BC Architects & Studies and Pauline Lefebvre, The Act of Building, op. cit.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Social design is a form of activist architecture that hopes to engage meaningfully with impoverished societies, mainly in the non-West, and aims to “do something” through architecture. The awarding of the Pritzker prize to Diébédo Francis Kéré is a primary example of the importance given to this architectural idiom. However, this is only the latest feat in a longer tradition of such social design practices gaining primacy in the Western discourse on architecture in Africa. Another turning point would be the 2011 MoMa exhibition Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement. See: Andres Lepik, Small Scale Big Change. New Architecture of Social Engagement, New York/Basel, The Museum of Modern Art/Birkhäuser, 2010.
For a critical approach to the Makoko school, see: Allyn Gaestel, “Things Fall Apart”, The Atavist Magazine, 76, 2018.
BC Architects & Studies and Pauline Lefebvre, The Act of Building, op. cit.
For a discussion of the figure of the ‘expert’ in non-European settings see: Johan Lagae, “Editorial: Global Experts ‘Off Radar’”, ABE journal, 4, 2013.
For recent books celebrating “vernacular” building materials and connecting them to the notion of “sustainability,” see for instance: Salma Samar Damluji and Viola Bertini, Hassan Fathy: Earth & Utopia, London, Laurence King Publishing, 2018; C. Mileto et al. (eds.), Vernacular Architecture: Towards a Sustainable Future, London, CRC Press, 2015.
Nina Gribat and Sandra Meireis, “A Critique of the New ‘Social Architecture’ Debate. Moving Beyond Localism, Developmentalism and Aesthetics,” City, 21/6, 2017, p. 783.
Mariam Kamara, “Othering Africa: The Trouble with ‘African Architecture’,” in Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021.
Ola Uduku, “Affording Authenticity: thoughts on African Architecture,” in ibid.
Naigzy Gebremedhin, “Vernacular Sustainability: Examples from Ethiopia and Eritrea,” in ibid.
Gabriel Arboleda, Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Practice, Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 2022, p. 24-25.
Vandana Baweja, “Sustainability and the Architectural History Survey,” Enquiry. The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research, 11/1, 2014.
Johan Lagae, “History Matters: Authenticity and Cultural Guardianship,” in Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Berlin, Dom Publishers, 2021.
Egide-Jean Devroey and Eudore De Backer, La Réglementation sur les constructions au Congo belge, Brussels, Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1942.
Octave Louwers, Charles Kuck, and Léon Pétillon, Codes et lois du Congo belge, Brussels, M. Weissenbruch, 1934.
This law can be connected to an earlier urban planning law that aimed to segregate Africans from Europeans in the town of Boma. Remarkably, these segregationist intentions were cloaked as a law on building materials as well. Though the head of the Public Works Department later stated that the law did not fulfill its segregationist intentions, the idea was to bar Africans from the city center of Boma by prohibiting the use of local building materials. See: Devroey and De Backer, La Réglementation sur les Constructions au Congo belge, op. cit., p. 182.
Here, “off-the-record,” refers to the absence of the use of local materials in the official discourse. This absence in the discourse is also reflected in the archival records: the continued reliance on local building materials and techniques is barely documented.
Jiat-Hwee Chang, A Geneaology of Tropical Architecture. Colonial Networks, Nature and Technoscience, New York, Routledge, 2016.
The “Colonial Liaison Unit” of the “British Building Research Station,” led by George Atkinson, was crucial in the formation of this network; not only because several research laboratories existed in the British colonial territories, but also because Atkinson actively tried to bring together and disseminate knowledge about building in the tropics, even beyond imperial boundaries. One of the instruments of this dissemination was the Colonial Building Notes (1948-1958). By the end of the colonial era, the name was conveniently changed to Overseas Building Notes (1958-1994). Before this official publication, Atkinson already sent out Colonial Building Circular Letters to numerous colonial public works departments and laboratories, including those in the Belgian Congo.
Stephanie Van de Voorde and Rika Devos, “The Scientification of Reinforced Concrete in Belgium During the Interwar Period: Development and Dissemination of Scientific, Theoretical and Technical Knowledge,” in Nuts & Bolts of Construction History: Culture, Technology and Society, Paris, Picard, 2012.
“Les super-ciments et leur adaptabilité d’emploi aux bétons exécutés en pays chauds,” Le Ciment, 9, 1932.
Robby Fivez and Monika Motylinska, “Cement as Weapon: Meta-Infrastructure in the ‘World’s Last Cement Frontier’,” in Joseph Heathcott (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Infrastructure Design: Global Perspectives from Architectural History, New York, Routledge, 2022.
Fernand Nisot, “La Fabrication du ciment Portland artificiel au Bas-Congo,” Congo. Revue Générale de la Colonie belge, 1/1, 1929.
Colonial Geological Surveys Mineral Resources Division, “Cement in the Colonial Territories: A Review,” Colonial Geology and Mineral Resources, 3/3, 1953, reprinted in Colonial Building Notes, 22, 1953.
Ibid.
“The Thermal Expansion of Concrete,” Colonial Building Notes, 5, 1951.
“Aerated Concrete,” Colonial Building Notes, 5, 1951.
Neville Nettleton, “Hurricanes: Details of Building Construction,” Colonial Building Notes, 9, 1953.
“No-Fines Concrete: Its Use for Low-Cost Housing in Southern Rhodesia,” Colonial Building Notes, 4, 1951.
“Housing in Kenya: A Novel Form of Concrete Rondavel House,” Colonial Building Notes, 24, 1954.
Betty Spence, “Prefabricated Houses for Africans,” Colonial Building Circular Letter, 49/4, 1949. For a thorough historization of the figure of Betty Spence, see: Rixt Woudstra et Hannah Leroux, “‘Build Your Own House’: Betty Spence’s Design-Research in 1950s South Africa,” Architectural Theory Review, 26/3, 2022.
“Mortar Plasticizers: Their Use in Cement-Sand Mortars, External Renderings and Internal Plasters,” Colonial Building Notes, 30, 1955.
“Concrete Building Blocks: Their Manufacture and Use,” Colonial Building Notes, 34, 1956.
George Atkinson, “Building Research and the Problems of Building in Tropical Africa,” Colonial Building Circular Letter, E 181, 1949, p. 9.
Alfred Edward Savige Alcock, “‘Swishcrete’: Notes on Stabilised Cement-Earth Building in the Gold Coast,” Colonial Building Notes, 16, 1953.
Archaeological research has shown how lime burning was a technique used in the Bas-Congo region. See: Bernard Clist, Pierre de Maret and Koen Bostoen (ed.), Une archéologie des provinces septentrionales du royaume Kongo, Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, 2018; Bernard Clist et al., “African-European Contacts in the Kongo Kingdom (Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries): New Archaeological Insights from Ngongo Mbata (Lower Congo, DRC),” International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 19, 2015. Other archival and archaeological traces even suggest how this suggested technology transfer from India to Africa indeed happened much earlier in history, with shells — used for lime burning — traded between India, Zanzibar and the African East-Coast.
The archival and library collection of the Institüt für Tropenbau, one of the research institutes of the postcolonial era, was recently acquired by the Canadian Centre for Architecture. The collection, housed at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, is an important source for investigating this discursive shift, holding numerous publications on “alternative” materials, “appropriate” materials, and construction techniques “for export to developing countries,” from the late 1950s onward.
G. E. Bessey, “Production and Use of Lime in the Developing Countries,” Overseas Building Notes, 161, 1975.
Zeynep Çelik, “Cultural Intersections: Re-Visioning Architecture and the City in the Twentieth Century,” in Russell Ferguson (ed.), At the End of the Century: One Hundred Years of Architecture, Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, 1998, p. 205.
Robby Fivez, “A Concrete State: Constructing Materials and Building Ambitions in the (Belgian) Congo”, PhD, Ghent University, 2023.
One often cited reason for the shift is an economic one: in the context of the global energy crisis of the 1970s, European economists massively started to declare the energy—and capital—intensive technologies unfit for an African context. In his tendentiously titled work, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, the German economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher — one of the driving forces behind this discursive shift — propagated the use of “intermediate technologies”: “I believe, therefore, that the best way to make contact with the essential problem is by speaking of technology: economic development in poverty-stricken areas can be fruitful only on the basis of what I have called ‘intermediate technology’. In the end, intermediate technology will be ‘labour-intensive’ and will lend itself to use in small-scale establishments.” E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, London, Blond and Briggs, 1973.
Bruno Latour, “Can We Get Our Materialism Back, Please?,” Isis, 98, 2007, p. 139.
Ibid., p. 141.
Ibid., p. 140.
Robby Fivez, “The Rubble in the Jungle: A Fragmented Biography of Lukala’s Cementscape, DR Congo,” Journal of Landscape Architecture, 1, 2020. The biographic approach to commodities, in this case cement, is borrowed from: Arjun Appadurai (ed.), The Social Life of Things, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986.
See, for example: Nasser Abourahme, “Assembling and Spilling-Over: Towards an ‘Ethnography of Cement’ in a Palestinian Refugee Camp,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39, 2014; Armelle Choplin, Matière grise de l’urbain. La vie du ciment en Afrique, Genève, Métis Presses, 2020; Rachel Harkness, Cristián Simonetti and Judith Winter, “Liquid Rock: Gathering, Flattening, Curing,” Parallax, 21/3, 2015.
Kali Rubaii, “Cement, War, and Toxicity: The Materialities of Displacement in Iraq,” Environment in Context podcast, 2020, [online] [https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41244], consulted on 27/02/2024.
For instance, in the seminal work of Adrian Forty, Concrete and Culture, cement is considered “a global commodity” that relied on its “absolute uniformity and consistency,” a “standardized product” without “distinctive regional qualities.” Adrian Forty, Concrete and Culture. A Material History, London, Reaktion Books, 2012, p. 101.
When cement is hydrated, and therefore hardens, it forms ettringite rods. Microscopic imagery of the process shows how these rods entangle and grasp the surrounding grains of sand and aggregates.
Moreover, besides these local consequences, cement production’s impact on climate change is now a well-known problem, with arguably the most devastating effects on the African continent.
Gabriel Arboleda, Sustainability and Privilege, op. cit.
Kelvin W. Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, London, Westview Press, 1990, p. 335.
Bruno Latour, “Can We Get Our Materialism Back, Please?,” op. cit.
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