Page 21 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 11

ART & CULTURE

children had ever been inside an on the planet. The first freestanding
Shibero Akatsa is a certified earthen house, nor had they ever human dwellings may have been
Clinical Psycotherapist, cultural en- experienced the joy of playing with built of mud and twigs. One finds
thusiast and creative artist. You can mud or grass outside. structures in thatch, stick/wood,
find her work on www.shibero.com From the questions the children mud, mud-brick, rammed earth,
asked, I realized that they had a lot
and stone, with the preference for
of misconceptions about anything materials varying by region. North
made of earth, especially as a home, Africa for stone and rammed earth,
and those living in these kinds of Horn of Africa for dry stone and
environments. There was an air mortar, West Africa for mud/adobe,
of earthen houses being equal to Central Africa for thatch/wood and
poverty and primitiveness, and stone more perishable materials, Southeast
houses being equal to wealth and the and Southern Africa for stone and
21st century lifestyle. thatch/wood, and Eastern Africa
Children’s attitudes are very telling for earth and twigs and mud brick.
of the things they hear from their Earth building can potentially offer
adult role models, and spending all the comfort, durability and
time with them was an eye opener. aesthetic requirements sought in
It made me wonder just how many conventional construction, but with
parents exposed their children to the much higher ecological and social
rich traditional architecture of our value. Though it may sound primi-
African ancestors. tive, it’s not. Building with earth is
mud or in mud houses with cor- The History of Building with a venerable world tradition dating
rugated iron sheets roofs, with no Earth back to at least 4,000 years, with the
modern conveniences. Throughout the history of Africa, oldest surviving specimens found in
Sadly, this long thread of indigenous Africans have had their own rich, the Middle East and South America,
African knowledge of earth building historical, and cultural precedent and ending up today in places like
is at risk of getting lost, as it is in- architectural traditions of building Britain, France, USA, Peru, Iran,
creasingly rejected in favor of bricks with earth. In some cases, broader Iraq, Morocco, and Mali.
and concrete as many Africans styles can be identified, such as the Advantages of Earthen Houses
slowly lose the rich African history Sahelian architecture of an area of The advantages of using earth as
of building using earth. West Africa. a building material are numerous.
Attitudes towards Earthen Hous- Because of its versatility and Earthen houses are:
es widespread availability, traditional •Cost-effective: Assuming the
I set out to build my first earthen African architecture uses a wide earth comes from on-site and is of
house in 2006, right in the middle range of materials, especially earth, adequate composition, building with
of a well-to-do suburb in Kenya. being the oldest building materials earth and twigs or earth bricks, costs
As the houses were going up, there virtually nothing to make (exclud-
was no end of curiosity. Neighbors ing labor), making it affordable to
and some friends, I could see them the wider population than masonry
‘thinking’ I had finally lost it. One bricks and cement. Earth buildings
friend came over with a newly mar- don’t need to be framed out in tim-
ried young couple, and as I engaged ber or reinforced with steel. Thus,
in conversation with the couple, I they require less additional financial
mentioned that I was planning on input in their construction.
building more mud houses. The new •Accessible: Because suitable earth
bride piped up indignantly, “I could can also be found in 80% of places,
never live in a mud house’. it is a highly accessible and inclusive
The mud house raised a lot of building material—particularly in
curiosity and soon became an ed- rural areas.
ucational site, where children from •Adaptable: Earth and twigs or
nearby schools came to learn about earth bricks can easily be adapted
their African heritage. Not many to locally-specific contexts. They

WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 11 | MAR/APRIL 2021 21