Bennett Oghifo
Anthony Aihie has referred to as for a brand new method to African design, urging architects and different inventive professionals to maneuver past particular person expression and embrace innovation, collaboration and commercialisation as important instruments for shaping the continent’s future.
Aihie made the decision in a presentation titled ‘From Material to Market: The Evolving Role of the Future Designer’, delivered beneath Design Union Ltd. The presentation examined how odd supplies, indigenous information, native craftsmanship and technological development might be remodeled into modern functions with sensible and industrial worth.
At the guts of his presentation was a easy however highly effective concept: the true worth of a fabric lies not solely in what it’s, however in what human ingenuity could make of it.
Using a grain of sand as an instance this precept, Aihie traced the transformation of pure supplies into concrete, glass, photo voltaic expertise and microchips. The examples demonstrated how discovery, information and purposeful software can flip seemingly odd assets into merchandise and applied sciences that form fashionable life.
For African designers, he argued, this precept provides a chance to rethink how native supplies are sourced, developed and utilized to modern challenges.
### Reimagining supplies for modern structure
Aihie highlighted the potential for architects to grow to be materials innovators somewhat than limiting their work to the choice and software of present merchandise.
The presentation featured modified concrete masonry blocks, polystyrene-concrete blocks, reusable beam and column formwork, and the inventive use of paving stones and strong blocks as display partitions.
Projects together with Canalily Place and Ilupeju Gardens in Lagos illustrated the appliance of materials innovation throughout the constructed atmosphere. The Oando Canopy additionally demonstrated the position architects can play in collaborating with native industries to develop and execute design options.
These examples underscored the significance of resourcefulness in architectural observe, displaying how acquainted supplies and building strategies might be tailored to carry out new capabilities.
“High design does not always require high-tech materials. It requires intelligent application,” the presentation acknowledged.
The message challenges the idea that high quality structure should rely on costly imported merchandise or refined supplies. Instead, it encourages designers to research the potential of domestically accessible assets and develop functions suited to their tasks and environments.
Adaptive reuse provides one other path to innovation
The presentation additionally explored how present buildings might be remodeled to fulfill altering wants with out routinely resorting to demolition and new building.
Aihie cited the Innovation and Design Centre on the American International School of Lagos, the place an present condominium constructing was tailored for a brand new goal. The undertaking concerned preserving and strengthening the prevailing construction whereas reconfiguring areas for laboratory services and outside terraces.
The instance demonstrated how architects can method present buildings as alternatives for reinvention, utilizing design pondering to increase their usefulness and create areas that serve modern necessities.
This method reinforces the presentation’s wider argument that innovation doesn’t all the time require ranging from scratch. Sometimes, the best answer lies in recognising the untapped potential of what already exists.
### Elevating indigenous craftsmanship
A serious theme of Aihie’s presentation was the position of native artisans and craftspeople in creating distinctive architectural experiences.
Examples included the Aihie Villa in Lagos, George’s Court in Ikoyi, Edo Restaurant at DoMo, Ehima Cave Spa and Oditah House in Ibusa.
The tasks showcased the contribution of native experience by crafted doorways, hanging staircases, wooden ceilings, metallic screens, wall murals, cloth ceilings, sculptures and different architectural particulars.
At the Aihie Villa, for example, the presentation highlighted a entrance door by Adeyemo Shokunbi, a dangling staircase by the late Alhaji Bashir, and wooden ceilings produced by native Bini craftsmen.
George’s Court featured metallic screens created by native artisans, whereas Edo Restaurant and Ehima Cave Spa included murals by native artists.
These examples illustrated how indigenous abilities can grow to be integral to modern structure somewhat than being handled as secondary ornamental additions.
By integrating craftsmanship into the design course of, architects can create areas with distinctive identities whereas recognising the experience and artistic contributions of native makers.
Culture and nature as parts of design
Aihie additional explored the significance of indigenous artwork, cultural expression and the pure atmosphere in shaping architectural id.
At Oditah House in Ibusa, native artworks and sculptures demonstrated how inventive expression can grow to be an integral half of a constructing’s character. At Edo Restaurant and the Edo Garden at DoMo in Lagos, murals, native flora, bushes, shrubs, stone, water and wildlife illustrated the potential of the pure atmosphere to affect the expertise of an area.
“Local art gives contemporary architecture a distinctive cultural identity,” the presentation acknowledged.
It additionally emphasised that nature shouldn’t be handled merely as a backdrop to structure, however as an integral half of the design itself.
This perspective locations cultural information and environmental consciousness alongside materials choice and technical execution, encouraging designers to create buildings that reply meaningfully to their environment.
From particular person creativity to collective problem-solving
Looking in the direction of the longer term, Aihie recognized a number of limitations that African designers should confront, together with restricted storytelling, insufficient documentation, an import-oriented mindset and reluctance to embrace expertise.
The presentation referred to as for a broader understanding of the designer’s position, one which extends past inventive expression to incorporate discovery, invention, collaboration and the power to deliver concepts to market.
Aihie outlined seven priorities for the longer term of African design: storytelling, collective pondering, discovery, invention, promoting, celebration and expertise.
The first is storytelling. Designers should talk the concepts, cultural contexts and processes behind their work, guaranteeing that their improvements are understood and appreciated.
The second is collective pondering, with an emphasis on fixing frequent issues somewhat than focusing completely on particular person expression.
The third is discovery: figuring out the worth embedded in African cultures, supplies and locations. This have to be adopted by invention, by which designers develop new methods of making use of these assets.
The fifth precedence is promoting. Aihie emphasised the significance of taking innovations to market, recognising that inventive concepts want industrial pathways if they’re to realize wider impression.
The sixth is celebration, which includes recognising achievements, selling inventive work and acknowledging the folks contributing to the event of African design.
The seventh is expertise. The presentation urged designers to embrace expertise to strengthen information possession, documentation, written information and the coaching of synthetic intelligence methods.
Together, these priorities current the longer term African designer as greater than a inventive practitioner. The designer should additionally grow to be a researcher, storyteller, collaborator, inventor and entrepreneur.
Turning African design into market worth
The central message of ‘From Material to Market’ is that Africa’s design potential have to be matched by the power to develop, doc, talk and commercialise innovation.
Local supplies and indigenous craftsmanship supply alternatives for distinctive design options, however their broader impression relies on how successfully professionals join creativity with manufacturing, collaboration and {the marketplace}.
For the structure and building industries, this implies inspecting acquainted supplies with recent eyes, working extra carefully with native artisans and fabricators, and adopting applied sciences that enhance the documentation and improvement of concepts.
It additionally means recognising that African tradition, inventive expression and native environmental information can contribute to modern design with out dropping their id.
Aihie’s presentation provides a framework for making that transition: uncover native assets, invent new functions, collaborate to unravel issues, inform the story behind the work and create pathways for its industrial success.
Ultimately, the longer term of African design will rely not solely on the supplies accessible to its practitioners, however on their means to rework these supplies and the information surrounding them into options which are related, distinctive and marketable.
The name is for a design tradition that strikes past remoted creativity in the direction of purposeful innovation—one which connects supplies, folks, expertise, tradition and commerce.
