DOCOMOMO ISC U + L Meeting 8-8-12
Agenda Items 3j, k
‘SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE’/AFRICAN ACTIVITIES REPORT
The key activities that have taken place since the last ISC-L meeting in Mexico as related to DOCOMOMO South, and Africa are as follows:
(a) DOCOMOMOSouth blog
(b) ArchiAfrika (OU)
(c) Alan Vaughan Richards project (OU)
a: The DOCOMOMO South Blog:
This is still being maintained, and posts information about DOCOMOMO and ArchiAfrika meetings as they take place. It has had limited interaction but remains an information source which will continue to be maintained and run by Ola Uduku, it is now located within the University of Edinburgh but retains its same address:
www.docomomosouth.eca.ac.uk
New subscribers are welcome.
b: ArchiAfrika
ArchiAfrika is a voluntary organisation which was initially founded by Berend van der Lans, and Antoni Folkers, to organise and encourage architectural interest, meetings and research into African Architecture. Ola Uduku gave a presentation on its work at the DOCOMOMO Conference in Mexico. Since 2010 ArchiAfrika has had its 5th conference which took place in Casablanca in November 2012, and also an African Architectural Education Conference, co-funded by the Aga Khan foundation and held in March in Accra Ghana.
The organisation and offices for ArchiAfrika also formally moved to Accra Ghana in January 2012, and the organisation is now headed by the architect Joe Osae-Addo. The next conference will be held in Lagos in 2013, with the theme: more information will be sent on to ISC and posted on the DOCOMOMOsouth blog once it is available.
Ola Uduku will remain the representative of ArchiAfrika for DOCOMOMO International, and there are plans to work more closely with DOCOMOMO groups in South Africa and Egypt in the future. Also we aim to encourage a West African DOCOMOMO group to be formed incorporating Ghana, Nigeria and hopefully Senegal, where we have strong Archiafrika representation.
c: The Alan Vaughan Richards Archive
Ola Uduku with co-investigator Hannah le Roux are involved in the preservation, documentation, and digitisation of the architectural archive of the late British-Nigerian modernist architect Alan Vaughan Richards. The project has been funded by the British Academy with additional funding from Edinburgh university which has enabled the digitization of 310 architectural drawings, and the funding of an exhibition at Edinburgh University from the 13 - 23rd October on the digitizing process. A public blog is also being set up as an accompaniment to the exhibition. Details of this will also be posted on the DOCOMOMOsouth blog.
A future conservation and business plan for the Alan Vaughan Richards house will also be produced, with the hope that it will be executed as part of a larger development project for the property.
We would hope to have this ready for a DOCOMOMO fiche entry for West Africa, as part of a membership application to be tabled at the next DOCOMOMO AGM in 2014.
