Course title

Advanced Design Studio: Asymmetry

Faculty

Francis Kéré, Martin Finio

Semester offered

Fall 2024

Dakar: Colonial Legacies and Modernist Visions

Envisioned by the French as the “Capital of all our African Possessions,” Dakar was established in 1857 as a strategic node that centralized economic, administrative, and military functions—ultimately symbolizing the expansive power of the French colonial project. Dakar’s urban fabric overlaid European aesthetic ideologies and an infrastructure of control onto the organic and communal indigenous planning practices inherent in this Sudano-Sahelian region. This blend of industrial manufacturing, European spatial planning, and local vernacular traditions has produced a distinct urban form characterized by a diverse tapestry of materials and spaces. As French colonial buildings from the 17th century were built on the historical land of the Lebu and Wolof people, the urban condition of commoning, organization, and democracy began to be reshaped. In historic indigenous settlements, these communities would traditionally organize their domestic spaces around a central courtyard and gather under large trees as sites for civil discussions. Over time, these strategies have been eroded to make way for the “efficiency” of a gridded layout, creating the dearth of public spaces evident in Dakar today.

The city’s colonial history, coupled with a post-independence prioritization of the arts in cultural policy, has elevated Modern Dakar as a regional hub of Art and Modernism. After Senegal gained independence from France in 1960, the country’s first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, leaned on his experience as an artist and a poet to create a new national identity. He called for “Asymmetrical Parallelism,” inspiring architects and artists to create a distinctive Sudanese-Sahelian style based on cadence and rhythm “without wavering from the requirements of modernity.” Although the style was never specifically defined, it inspired the built work of a new generation of Senegalese architects such as Cheikh N’Gom and Pierre Goudiaby Atepa. The city’s cultural vibrancy in the arts has also flourished since then, hosting events such as the Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (FESMAN) in 1966 and the Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art, one of the continent’s most relevant art spaces. Today, the city of Dakar is recognized as one of Africa’s cultural capitals, reflected in its dynamic and evolving urban identity and dedication to the arts.

In addition to its cultural vibrancy, Dakar is now one of the largest cities in Africa. From a population of 400,000 in the 1970s, the rural exodus has more than quadrupled this number in 20 years. With a metropolitan population of nearly 3.5 million and an urbanization rate in Senegal of 98%, the population of Dakar is in the midst of immense, unbridled growth. Like many mega-cities in the region, this rapid development has proliferated informal neighborhoods, a lack of proper infrastructure and public spaces, and led to the social vulnerability of many segments of the population.

Nzinga B. Mboup, arguably the most well-known Senegalese architect of her generation, articulates the current state of Dakar’s architectural moment:

“A true palimpsest city, Dakar has been a fertile ground for experimentation and forward-thinking and the place where a lot of questions about the future of cities are still being posed. Some are unique to the context and others are universal. More specifically, we are faced with the challenges of defining what is the role of the architect, and of architecture, in a country of 18 million people, with less than 300 registered architects, and the absence of a National School of Architecture since 1991. For architects living and working in Dakar, research is critical to learning about the context despite the lack of resources specifically on architecture. To access knowledge and engage in a debate on the place of architecture in our societies, we have to think creatively and work across disciplines ranging from art, craft, anthropology, sociology, and history, and find a new language to convey ideas about architecture to the people and create archives and repositories to make knowledge available.”

Cultural Nexus

The German cultural exchange center Goethe Institute has been active globally for more than 60 years. For its Dakar location, it has commissioned the design of a purpose-built space from concept to construction for the first time in the institute’s history. Being one of its main hubs in West Africa, the project wishes to set an example of what cultural exchange looks like in the 21st century. Visitors and employees alike are to be provided with a space that speaks to and is home to the layered and storied cultural tapestry of Senegal’s capital, one that is welcoming and versatile in speaking to the vast and complex history of cultural encounters and asking a diverse community to gather to define an inclusive and sustainable future.

The site of the Goethe-Institut Dakar sits within a residential area and lush garden. The design must respond to the need to be respectful to neighbors (including the Léopold Sédar Senghor Museum) and to the natural environment, while also creating room for the many activities on offer, which range from exhibitions and language courses to concerts and informal gatherings.

The program will include various public activities, including an auditorium, cafeteria and library, while administrative offices and classrooms will be needed to support the cultural exchange and learning functions. The architecture must be committed to a sustainable approach that ensures that this newest addition to the cityscape leaves little footprint beyond the actual space it occupies.