Practice in theory, and the theory of practice: Examining the place of climate and modernity in postcolonial architectural mediation in Ghana since the 1940s

Abstract

The need to mediate architectural practices by expropriating knowledge concepts between cultures in contact remains a twenty-first century concern globally but is especially so in developing former colonies. This interest is raised in the Cultural Policy of Ghana (2004). In the larger African context, the Contemporary African Philosophy (CAP) expresses similar sentiments. The boundaries of mediation, however, depends on influences sketched by several factors including naturally occurring geographies such as the climate, and the notion and appropriation of modernity. The ideas of the climate and modernity seem disparate themes and are typically considered as independent narratives. In the present study, they are considered together as dependent narratives with a postcolonial relevance relative to architectural development in Ghana. For example, while the climate and modernity are central to discourse on mediation in Ghana's architecture, the climate and notion of modernity is also relied upon to denounce especially colonial interventions as architectures of mediation mainly because of authorship. Thus, rethinking the place of architectural responses in Ghana from a contemporary African perspective represents new openings that can positively impact twenty-first century practices. This study therefore seeks to contextualise architectural responses in Ghana from the perspective of the CAP to reveals its place for twenty-first century approach to architectural mediation. Specifically, the thesis seeks to answer the questions: how have the responses, and theory of the responses to climate and modernity in Ghanaian architecture been shaped by the postcolonial theoretical concern of mediation, and how has this unfolded in twenty-first century practices? Three methods are adopted in this study. Firstly, the thesis situates two frameworks based on the climate and CAP for rethinking the postcolonial place of architectural practice in Ghana by theoretical reviews. Furthermore, the thesis critically reviews the significant body of knowledge on architecture in Ghana (precolonial-1960s) based on the climate idea and CAP through thematic discourse. Secondly, interviews with practicing architects and academics on the place of climate, modernity and mediation in twenty-first century practices account for the marginal reports on within this period. Thirdly, case studies demonstrate the postcolonial place of architectural practice in Ghana. The thesis reveals that modern twenty-first century practices are largely driven by that described as fashionable/new, rather than by necessity. The expression of modernity therefore undermines climates place in twenty-first century practices. Further, the study notes the disconnection in the expropriation of knowledge concepts from Ghana's architectural past in twenty-century responses. Interventions by J. Max Bond Jr., Joe Osae Addo, John Owusu Addo, Mario Cucinella, Patrick Wakely, and others as case studies, are discussed in lieu of the failings of practice today, and in terms of CAP. The study concludes that, while the adherence to positive postcolonial practice remains difficult to discern in the twenty-first century, an understanding of firstly, climate as a passive dual aesthetic response to the science of human comfort, and the resultant climatically inflicted socio-cultures, and secondly, of the role or place of the vernacular/local context in contemporary practice as existing in both concrete and abstracted terms, is plausible. This kind of approach to practice is potentially inclusive, reflects CAP and advances on architectural mediation. The study therefore intervenes between binary narratives on architectural mediation by expanding on climate, hybridity and modern architecture as themes in Ghana's architecture based on CAP. Furthermore, while a significant body of knowledge on architecture in Ghana (precolonial-early 1960s) exists, this study extends the discussion to twenty-first century responses. The study thus introduces new ways for rethinking African architecture beyond basic mud forms and their transformational developmental outlooks.