African, Asian and South American cities have been undergoing dramatic urban transformations for the last fifty years. The rapid urbanization process has resulted in unprecedented construction activities and infrastructure developments. Today, high-density vertical cities have shifted from Europe and North America to Shanghai, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro and the like where the renaissance of modern architecture is being celebrated.
Despite its low-profile in the world architecture-media-gimmick circus, Addis is also experiencing building and road construction boom unparalleled in the city’s history. This is remarkable to visitors who have had a chance to see the skyline after a long time, and also to residents who are living through the day-to-day evolution. The magnitude of the construction activity exceeds expectation. One-family houses, town houses and walk-up apartments are mushrooming in the city’s fringe to the far horizon as far as the eye can see. Vertical office buildings, hotels, condominiums, and malls are replacing the horizontal inner city slums that once sheltered low-income citizens and provided the city with small services and varieties of domestic products. Ironically, the vertical growth is biting into open spaces and green areas that were once distributed through out the city. Such developments should have, in fact, encouraged land conservation and the reduction of material expenditure.
The high-rise construction technology has clearly liberated itself from the conventional, scarce wood scaffolding-formwork method, and the stone and mortar building techniques. Architects and engineers are enthusiastically consuming affordable import construction technologies: prefabricated systems, tower cranes, portable cranes, pre-cast concrete structural components, metal panels, curtain walls, and etc. are taking over. This has allowed architectural production to shift focus to spatial plasticity, lightness, transparency, and reflectivity. No longer is the building skin restricted by structures and functions, nor protected by sun-screening elements. Wide glass walls are offsetting the popular punched-opening window systems and applied to all building faces regardless of the possibility of solar heat gain risks that often compromise the comfort of occupants.
In the course of this transformation, Ethiopian architects are searching for languages that define the image of the city in the world map. Some seem to have established rigorous design systems that are ingeniously engraved into the city’s vistas and squares, while others are either freely experimenting with the available resources or are stuck with boringly replicated self-same elements. I raise my hat to all of them for recognizing the fact that they bear a big responsibility in shaping the faces of the city and influencing the life styles of millions of residents. Yet, as interesting as the current production process is, fringe activities concerned with mere forms and quantitative programs are not enough to sustain the growth of the city.
Many know that planning and building practices are currently undergoing a massive transformation and paradigm shift around the world. Professionals and policymakers are making the most of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic, solar power, and wind to minimize the use of fossil fuels. They are re-using and recycling solid wastes, gray water as a source of energy, and treating wastewater for landscaping. Building envelops such as walls, windows, floors and roofs are carefully designed to control heat generated by solar radiation and optimize the use of natural daylight. This contributes greatly to energy efficiency, comfort, and affordability. Even contemporary great architects like Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid have embraced the notion of ecological and sustainable systems and are merging them with the high-tech mania. Due to insufficient resources and services, and ineffective management systems, Addis is unable to cope with the sheer transformation of the rest of the world. In fact, as Getachew implied, the current building and infrastructure developments may exponentially multiply the present problems if existing buildings continue to dilapidate; and the status quo septic tank sewage systems, unplanned solid waste disposal, and open storm drain runoff remain unaltered.
Unlike Ethiopia’s famous historic buildings, the recent architectural works in the capital have not received any recognition in the continent, let alone in the world. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the buildings are just a version of the ideal transplanted from somewhere else, and the system in general hasn’t caught up with the new paradigm of green architecture. I am however convinced that professionals and policymakers will soon push the present achievement some more steps forward and address the efficiency and moderation issues in the use of energy, materials and spaces, the comfort of occupants, the operation and maintenance questions, and put the city in the forefront of world architecture.
