Kampala by Design

I would like to highlight the modern because so often we imagine pre-colonial to be primitive or behind as an alternative to mainstream, current thought. Like architect and artist, Demas Nwoko, also argued, it is important that we see indigenous thought as modern, as forward-thinking such that we encourage its continuity and not stunt it as tradition. The draw to indigenous thought for me and many others I believe is not a superiority race, but a direction chosen out of the practical usefulness of indigenous thought to cater to the realities of colonized and oppressed peoples.

This feature essay is an exploration of three works, all within Kampala, Uganda that emulate the philosophy that unequivocally drove Nwoko. A desire to achieve natural synthesis in his projects. Utilizing organic materials from the lands where he was working. He picked up the generational call to decolonization and from the University of Ibadan attempted to release his and his peers’ minds from the chokehold that was neo-colonialism. While the Zaria art society as they came to be called, came as an obvious response to the lack of African teachers and thought in the curriculum, they were dubbed rebels by onlookers. The Zaria Rebels insisted on the continuation/ celebration of indigenous thought, and modernization. Nwoko’s work to date is interesting, bold, and creative. It does not suffer from the stuntedness of folks that pin Africa down to huts, granary and thatch. Within the authenticity, it is not just a return but a kind of leaping forward with great style and boundless imaginings. Lastly, Nwoko constantly argues that architecture cannot be separated from art. This is to say in not so many ways that buildings should be grand, should be cool, should make the occupant feel something. His notable works include the Dominican Mission Chapel, The Cultural Centre of Ibadan and the Benin Theatre.

I chose three buildings: the Kamwokya Community Centre, which is exceptional in its capacity to exist inconspicuously and still, yet remarkably for the marginalized community in Kampala’s ghettos. The Japanese Yamasen, which consulted with locals to build a modern environmentally friendly and sustainable solution in uptown Kampala and the pre-colonial United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage site that preserved not just the tombs but the indigenous way of construction.