ESSACA: an architecture school for Cameroon
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| ESSACA |
Jean-Jacques Kotto, a Cameroonian
architect, former President of the ONAC (Ordre National des Architectes du Cameroun, the Cameroon architects’ association, which manages architectural registration) and current President of the Union of African Architects, decided to take the leap and created ESSACA in 2009. ESSACA stands for Ecole Supérieure Spéciale d’Architecture du Cameroun – translated literally, “Superior Special School of Architecture of Cameroon” which, in French, does not sound incongruous! In practice, it is a private architecture school, offering B.Arch, M.Arch and doctoral degrees.
The school started out with all of seven students. Five
years later, in 2015, there are 45 students, and the school is celebrating its
first class of graduates with an Open House week, November 16-20. Many guests
are expected, including from other architecture schools in Europe and in
Africa.
The architecture school in Bordeaux, France, for example,
has 1,000 students; at ESSACA, the smaller student population ensures for much
personalized attention.
To date the most collaborative partnership is with the
Architecture School of Bordeaux, France: the ensap Bordeaux (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage), part of the Université Bordeaux. Students from Bordeaux can study
abroad for a year at ESSACA, and select ESSACA students also go for a year to
study in Bordeaux.
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| J.J. Kotto, founder of ESSACA |
The first spark was lit in 2006, when Mr. Kotto was
president of the Africa Union of Architects (AUA). He traveled extensively
throughout the continent and realized that, with the exception of North Africa
and the country of South Africa, there was a true void in architecture schools.
The African continent only has 2% of the world’s architects; however, a
large percentage of architectural professional fees are generated in Africa. Upon
his behest, the AUA Council convened and a task force was created. The ensuing report’s findings, based on the
economic and political realities, were that interested individuals would need
to use their own personal resources to ensure that a project could become
reality.
Mr. Kotto’s proposal for a school in Cameroon was approved
by the AUA, as well as by the International Union of Architects (UIA). He
convened a founders’ association from his personal network, many of whom were
also expected to pitch in financially. While awaiting institutional approval by
the Cameroonian government, they put together 30% of the funds needed to
purchase a piece of land in the central Bastos neighborhood of Yaounde, the
Cameroonian capital; a local bank approved a seven-year loan for the remaining
70%. ESSACA opened in 2009, on the ground floor of the unfinished building,
with eight students hailing from Cameroon, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of
Congo – and eight professors, so the teacher-student ratio was one to one!
The initial team included Jean-Jacques Kotto as Founder and
Director, along with a Chief of Staff and an Academic Director.
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| Students at work in the classroom |
Informal partnerships have been also forged with architects
and schools in other African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast
(school to open in 2016) and Senegal. Curriculum was developed in collaboration
with UNESCO.
One of ESSACA’s signature programs was the brainchild of the
Academic Director, the architect Caroline Barla, and inaugurated in 2013. AIRA (Atelier d’Initiation à la
Restructuration et à l’Aménagement des Quartiers Aléatoires – Workshop:
initiation to restructuring and improving randomly built neighborhoods) is an
ongoing workshop in which the students study a neighborhood to collect data,
make note of “incidences” in the area, make recommendations and create
micro-projects to improve daily life in the Tsinga neighborhood of Yaounde.
Tsinga is not a slum, far from it; most buildings are built with concrete
block; the inhabitants are working people, including civil servants; but urban
amenities and infrastructure are sorely lacking. ESSACA also collaborates with
the mayoral agency working in this neighborhood.
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| ESSACA students working alongside City staff in Tsinga |
ESSACA aims to continue growing its student body, and to
offer a sustainable answer to the need for African professionals, trained in
the continent, closer to the problems they will encounter in their working
lives.
(Full disclosure: This blog post was planned months ago, but in the meantime I have been asked to assist ESSACA in their social media outreach for the Open House Nov. 16-20.)
On Twitter: @Essaca_Yaounde
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| Wall painting at ESSACA made by the students under the guidance of their art teacher, showing Yaounde architectural landmarks |
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