AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2003, Qupperneq 51

Halldóra Arnardóttir, Art Historian
Architecture
from What’s
Available
With what attitude do architects
undertake projects in a distant
land? Different cultural worlds
meet and the question is, ‘what
emerges?’ The results of one
series of projects in the 199ÓS,
the designing of a health clinic,
two primary schools and a chick-
en-farming school for the Indigo
Development Company, and a
home for company founder, Eila
Kivekás, in the West African
country of Guinea, by Finnish
architects Mikko Heikkenen and
Markku Komonen, show totally
different locations culturally and
economically, technical ability and
choice of materials. What is con-
sidered typical for the work of
Heikkenen and Komonen, known
for the MacDonald building in
Helsinki and the Finnish Embassy
in New York, their African
projects are created with existing
technology and materials, follow-
ing needs of the building whilst
reflecting the indigenous culture.
The Indigo Development
Company
What were the conditions that
met Heikkenen and Komonen in
Guinea? In 1989, the Finnish
anthropologist and economist,
Eila Kivekás, had started the
development company Indigo in
West Africa. The goal of this
company was to improve the
position and employment situa-
tion of women, and direct and
work with the local people in con-
nection with health care, hygiene
and nutrition. Eila met the scholar
Alpha Diallo from Guinea several
years previously in Finland, who
enchanted her with stories of his
country and heritage. Alpha was
also very interested in improving
the position of his country, stress-
ing the importance of its develop-
ment, and mentioned the possi-
bility of establishing a chicken-
farm to increase the protein-con-
sumption of the nation.
Unfortunately, Diallo died sudden-
ly in Finland but the discussion
took its influence. Eila became
increasingly interested in its ideas
and as a result visited Guinea. On
returning to Finland, she started
the Indigo Company, whose
name showed her respect for
local traditions. Indigo refers
to the indigo colouring of textiles.
Work was divided in such a way
that men wove the material but
women coloured it. Eila also
planned four exhibitions in a short
time about the culture and build-
ing heritage, pottery and textiles
in West Africa that were shown in
Pyynikinlinna, Tampere and the
Finnish Museum of Architecture in
Helskinki. She also secured the
cooperation of Finnish specialists
in chicken-farming to assist her in
Guinea. Eila Kivekás decided to
start her operations in the Mali
district of NA-Guinea, not the
least because the Fouta Djalon
district in the northern part of the
country was a very important dis-
trict for West Africa. The rivers
Niger, Senegal and Gambia all
have their origins there and the
whole area depends on sustain-
able development.
Architecture - made from
what is available
Because of these complicated
conditions, the architects felt the
need to learn about the culture
and climatic conditions of Guinea
before the design process began.
Apart from studying the financial
position of the country, much
emphasis was put on protecting
the environment and gaining
knowledge of local building meth-
ods. Although both were popular
in the construction of buildings,
the burning of bricks and burning
of woodlands to clear areas for
cultivation were illegal in the
country because of the danger to
woods, and consequently the
whole ecosystem. In addition, it
was desirable that importation of
building materials and heavy
transport would be kept to a
minimum. However, contrary to
what could have been expected,
concrete and metal cladding had
become popular and respected in
large housing areas, despite
being expensive and having bad
insulation properties. The most
accepted and best building mate-
rial was without question earth
bricks, which both cooled the
building during the day and
retained heat during the night.
Earth was available almost every-
where and people knew how to
use this material. The mixture
was made of earth with 2% of
cement as a binding material to
obtain the right temperature.
Then the bricks are pressed by
hand and compacted. This
method requires good construc-
tion knowledge and exact build-
ing technology, as the bricks are
prone to becoming deformed and
are difficult to cut.
Having obtained this knowledge,
Heikkenen and Komonen started
on the first part of the project in
1994, the designing of a health
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