African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Noktecture, Ojile Ameh Godswill

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the Nok terracotta.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

I am of the opinion that original African culture has not been fully portrayed especially in our Architecture, at least that is the reason we still run helter-skelter using / adopting Roman classical forms of cornices (concrete fascia), entablatures in a bit to coining ours. I believe if we could only make move to look inwards; there is richness in African originality that if harnessed would yield unfathomable impact. CPDI Africa is a platform we have craved …

The Mena, Julia Mauser, Girum Solomon, Minasie Terefe

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the art of the Konso people of Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

Our Africa is a continent with unparalleled cultural richness and stories to be told. However, what we are witnessing today is only the smallest fraction of the vast potential we have got. So much resource just sitting by, time moving fast and we seem to be stuck in the present while the whole world speeding pass by us. Instead of laying back and complaining we took it upon ourselves to do something …

Desert Wave, Omelchenko Alisa, Ksenia Bilyk

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the vernacular architecture of Northern Nigeria.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The most unexpected thing was the huge variety of African architectural typology and forms. Just like any other culture typical for certain area it has its recognizable features, but having examined it deeply we cognized its diversity.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

We have always been captivated by Africa’s ancient history and its authentic design, multifaceted culture and the ability to observe it …

Northern Pafta, Gebrekidan G. Debre

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the culture of the Konso people of Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

For the past three years I was working on research called Ethioplugin Add-on Library at my campus (EiABC). There the objective, was digitalizing the heritages of Ethiopia such as furniture and fixtures, patterns and textures, construction details, so that they will be accessible by the professionals like interior designers, architects electronically. This made me familiar with working on cultural elements and extracting designed product out of them. I was excited (about the competition) …

Shebaxumite, Liuel Hizikias Ketema

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the Axumite people of Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

The evolution of African architecture has almost come to a standstill due to western influence. The potential of construction materials used in African designs have a far greater utility in their specific climates or natural conditions as opposed to western materials. It‘s easy to say my inspiration came from my deep passion to explore the potential of African construction materials for what they are truly worth.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during …

Tata, Tan Boon Chiou

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the vernacular architecture of the Benin people.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

The culturally rich and diverse nature of the African continent has always fascinated me. The long history of construction skills and know-how displayed by different ethnic groups that reflect the harmonious symphony with the various landscapes and terrains have and would continue to exert the potentials to inspire the architecture of the next generations. For example, the use of fractal geometries, which is native to various tribes of the continent, serves an important …

K'Jong, Nakimuli Thatcher, Lawrence Okoth, Brian Murungi

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the Karamojong people of Northern Uganda.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

Studio Manyatta was created with this very vision in mind. As a team of young designers from various design disciplines, and inspired by the Karamojong one of Africa's most intriguing cultures, we set out to explore what kind of environments Africa would have created with minimal influence from the colonization era. This competition was a chance to carry out his goal on a larger platform.

Why do you believe African homeowners will be interested …

The Ije, Izuchukwu M. Amadi

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the pyramids of Egypt.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

The need to promote and create an indigenous African architectural language using our local materials, methods and also to express the rich heritage of the African people both in design and life style.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The most challenging point of my research was how to use recycled pet bottle for the facade cladding in another innovative way, having used it for my …

Afar Sidama, Amanuale Brook

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the Afar and Sidama people of Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

I am interested in vernacular African architecture especially from my home region, Eastern Africa. Its obvious Vernacular architecture is dear to me. How the people have evolved from historical and diverse socio-cultural, climatic conditions and civilizations. Our built environment is a good way to appreciate our progress.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

My research into how people survive in the most uninhabitable …

Assita, Jun Yanagimuro, Hayashi Yoichiro, Ignacio Darras

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the culture of the Burkina Faso.

Why do you believe African homeowners will be interested in building a home such as the one you have submitted today?

In our design, as mentioned before, we focused in one main aspect: giving new perspectives around their existing ways of constructing. We believe to have got in contact with very main aspects of their construction that needed a change and many others that didn´t so, at least for now, we gave priority to the ones we think they should be changed/improved for a better quality of living, of their …

The Irele, Adeyemi Akande

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the art and architecture of the Yoruba and Hamer people.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

I have been tremendously overtaken by the desire to explore a modern cultural identity and outlook for contemporary Africa. A visual identity that MUST stem out of the continent‘s deepest philosophy and interpretation of self. So to find the CPDI competition was a perfect platform for me to finally begin to articulate all the ideas I have been brewing for some time. The CPDI‘s ideology perfectly mirrored my most profound …

Cetiana, Nahom Bekele

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the people and nations of Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

This competition is a chance for young Africans to build their own future, I for that matter was highly inspired to set my footprint on the history of Africa to be made!

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The biggest challenge was the availability of accurately recorded historic data. It made the research more intensive

Why do you believe African homeowners will be interested …

Fusion Point, Zuhra Zuhair

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by African cultural identity and modern convenience.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

Architecture in Africa today is a receding echo of our heritage. Africa's history and culture is rich and diverse, yet we often live in environments with imported architecture that don't reflect Africa's heritage and our identities. Architecture is the creation of spaces subjective to context, identity and the basics of life. Through architectural design that considers Africa's cultural context, history and materiality, a comprehensive, thoughtful and sustainable architecture can be developed for Africa.

What …

The Omo, Roman Gorshkov

ATL

Honorable Mention

Inspired by the Omo River in Ethiopia.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

A unique opportunity to celebrate people of Africa and their culture by providing a beautiful design of their future home.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The most challenging aspect of this project, but also one of the most fascinating things was the vast diversity of different cultures and ways people live in Africa that makes it hard to design but provides an ocean of …

Tata Fu, Seni Dara

ATL

3rd Prize Winner

Inspired by the cultures of Togo and Benin, West Africa.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

I participated in this competition because I am a young architect trained in Africa and who has always been lead to think about the traditional African architecture. The development of local architecture has always been a major concern in my training and my career.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The most interesting was certainly the search for elements of character, …

Ifa House, Eduardo Soto

ATL

2nd Prize Winner

Inspired by the culture of the Yoruba people.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

The inspiration to enter the CPDI Africa 2015 competition came from the desire to learn more about my own culture and my passion for modern architectural design. My cultural heritage is a blend of Spanish, African, and indigenous Taíno races. These three races contributed to the formation and traditions of the Puerto Rican culture. The CPDI Africa 2015 competition gave me the opportunity to learn more about my African heritage while exploring modern …

The Inna, My Dao Le Hong

ATL

1st Prize Winner

Inspired by the people and culture of Mali.

What inspired you to enter this special competition to create a modern architectural language for Africa?

African architecture always inspired me with amazing earthen architecture throughout the continent. This competition is a valuable chance for me to study and understand more about the architecture of the continent, it is also a chance for me to express my ideas about modern architectural language for Africa.

What did you find most interesting or challenging during the research and development of your prototype?

The most interesting is when researching for an image …

Competition Project Brief, Cpdi Africa

ATL

Project Brief for the 2015 CPDI Africa Design Competition.

Introduction To The Special Issue, Nmadili Okwumabua

ATL

Introduction to the Special Issue of ATL on the CPDI Africa Design Competition 2015 by organizer, Nmadili Okwumabua.

Editor's Introduction, Jesse Benjamin

ATL

Editor's introduction to the inaugural issue of ATL.

Foreword, David Hughes

ATL

Foreword to ATL Volume 1, Number 1 by David Hughes, renowned architect and professor.

Full Issue - Vol. 1, No. 1 - February 2016

ATL

The full issue of ATL's inaugural special issue on CPDI Africa's 2015 Competition, featuring the prototype designs and narratives from the 25 recognized submissions, from architects and designers of all around the globe.

South African Marriage In Policy And Practice: A Dynamic Story, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

Law forms one of the major structural contexts within which family lives play out, yet the precise dynamics connecting these two foundational institutions are still poorly understood. This article attempts to help bridge this gap by applying sociolegal concepts to empirical findings about state law's role in family, and especially in marriage, drawn from across several decades and disciplines of South Africanist scholarly research. I sketch the broad outlines of a nuanced theoretical approach for analysing the law-family relationship, which insists that the relationship entails a contingent and dynamic interplay between relatively powerful regulating institutions and relatively powerless regulated populations. …

Ethiopian And Eritrean Businesses Growth Barriers In The Washington, Dc Area, Sereke-Berhan Meres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prior studies have revealed that recent Asian and Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs have made significant contributions to social change in the United States. Although African immigrant entrepreneurs have made such contributions, few studies exist about them, and there is limited knowledge about this business community. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the barriers of growth in Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant-owned firms in the Washington, DC area who were in business for a minimum of 3 years and represented various trade lines and geographical locations. The enhanced integrated model of ethnic business development, which proposes growth strategies by …

Success Strategies For Small Business Owners In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Marcellinus Emeka Madu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African immigrant business owners create jobs and often stimulate economic growth in distressed inner-city areas, yet they continue to experience barriers obtaining financial support in the United States when trying to gain entrance into the broader economy. The objective of this multiple case study was to explore strategies African immigrant business owners used to succeed in business beyond 5 years. The conceptual framework of this study included resource-based theory, human capital theory, and disadvantage theory. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 3 African immigrant business owners in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who had succeeded in business beyond 5 years. Thematic analysis from interviews, …

Consequences Of The Niger Delta Amnesty Program Implementation On Nigeria's Upstream Petroleum Industry, Chisomaga Ihediohanma Ezeocha

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Niger Delta militancy ravaged the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector between 2004-2009, bringing it to a standstill. In response, the Nigerian state adopted an amnesty policy―a globally recognized tool for conflict resolution and peacebuilding―to protect the sector and the economy from collapse. Little is known, however, about the unintended consequences of the amnesty implementation for the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector. Thus, the purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the research literature on the Niger Delta amnesty program. Polarity management was the conceptual framework applied; relative deprivation and polarities of democracy constituted the theoretical foundation for this …

Parent-Adolescent Sexual Health Communication In Immigrant Nigerian American Families, Susan Modupe Ogunnowo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor sexual health communication among first generation Nigerian American parents and their adolescent children due to disparities in cultural integration constitutes a barrier to effective parent-child relationships. The purpose of this phenomenological study, which was guided by the acculturative family distancing (AFD) model, was to explore the lived experience of Nigerian immigrant families in the United States regarding communication effectiveness about sex and integration into the American way of life. The research questions addressed cultural bias, parent-adolescent communication effectiveness, strategies employed, resources available to new immigrants, and barriers to their usage. Data collection was by individual interviews of 5 Nigerian-born …

Motives And Methods Of Social Mobilization In Rural Senegal, Antonia Morzenti

Capstone Collection

Senegal, a predominantly Muslim West African country, has demonstrated political stability, sustained a constitutional democracy, and maintained a pluralistic society since independence in 1960. Amidst this, there are several small groups of social organizers who are engaging in effective social change. Tostan, a regional INGO focusing on community empowerment through nonformal education, has been working in Senegal for more than 25 years and has reached more than three million people in West Africa. After completing Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP), the social organizers have decided to travel from village to village educating and sensitizing others on what they have learned. …

Strategies To Sustain Small-And-Medium Sized Business Enterprises, Matthias Ikenna Chijioke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Eighty-five percent of all firms operating in Nigeria are small-and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) and contribute almost 55% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria. Capital flight and other growth inhibitors pose threats to the sustainability of SMEs in Nigeria. This exploratory multiple-case study was to determine strategies SME leaders use to sustain business operations in Nigeria. The study participants consisted of 15 SME leaders from 3 regional manufacturing firms who had successfully implemented strategies to sustain SMEs in Nigeria. Bertalanffy's general systems theory and Freeman's stakeholder theory were the conceptual frameworks used in the research. The data collection …

Immigration's Impact On Emerging Mental Health Issues Among Kenyans In The Northeast United States, Jane Itumbi Kabuiku

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Immigrants lose their unique psychosocial context when their experiences are subsumed under pan ethnic labels such as Hispanics, Latina/o, Asians or Africans. The stress from navigating different cultural contexts becomes problematic when immigrants operate within mainstream cultural norms that are in conflict with their traditional values. The number of Kenyan immigrants to the United States has steadily increased since the 1980s. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to study the lived experience of Kenyan immigrants by focusing on their integration experience and how the integration processes may have affected their mental health. Very few studies center on the …