Away from Africa

The ESSACA architecture school is featured in the Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa, Cameroon chapter. Diane Chehab and Epee Ellong, authors of The African Dwelling from Traditional to Western Style Homes  coordinated the Cameroon chapter, as well as wrote several articles for the Guide. Architectural Guide Sub-Saharan Africa  was published on the ESSACA blog (in French).

The book  The African Dwelling - From Traditional to Western Style Homes (McFarland, 2019) is published, and available in many countries. It is the English-language version of the French-language book De la case à la villa (Riveneuve, 2014). However, it is not a replica: the book has been updated to reflect more current naming methodology, with some updated images, and includes an index. There are still about 200 images, in black and white. The foreword is by Jack Travis, FAIA. It is my hope that this book will be found in universities as well as personal libraries around the world, as a resource on the evolution of housing in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a repository for African terms that may not be easily found anymore. Below is a gallery of additional/color photographs. I'll continue posting color photographs as time goes on. Kain Tukuru home in Bonendalé, Cameroon, built 1953-1954 Entrance to a Bamiléké village, photo courtesy Amélie Essesse ...

Two tables, one design, by Lilikpó The Viaduc des Arts in the twelfth arrondissement in Paris now houses cafés and chic shops, including the Lilikpó workshop managed by Sika Viagbo. Walking by, the first thing you notice is the originality and the beauty of the creations through the store window. It's a workshop visible from the street: the designer, Sika Viagbo, works on her creations in front of passersby eyes. Before starting her own company, she worked with Pierre Mesguich (Paris), an internationally known mosaic designer, who has worked all over the world. Sika also interned separately in Tokyo and in China. The company's name means "cloud" in Ewé, one of the languages spoken in Togo, where her parents immigrated from. Her own design influences are multicultural, inspired by her travels and experience. How did Sika get started in this profession? She grew up in Vitry sur Seine, a Paris suburb. As a music major at the University of St. Denis P...

ESSACA  Since Cameroon’s independence in 1960, the country’s architects have all been educated abroad: many in France, as the country was a French Protectorate after World War I, but also in Germany, Greece, the United States and in neighboring Nigeria. 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 celebra...

Caroline Barla When recently in Douala, where my spouse, Epee Ellong, has returned, I got together with a good friend I hadn't seen in a very, very long time. Her name is Caroline Barla, and she is (I think) the first female Cameroonian architect (her father, Nsangue Akwa, was the first in the registry of Cameroon architects, ONAC). Caroline has been busy in all those years in the design field, not only in architecture. We didn't have time to go into much detail, so I will mainly show you photos of her home, which is a showcase for contemporary African style. The Barla living room--a mix of contemporary  and traditional African style Above: Dining Room chair; below: Traditional Bamiléké funeral dancer's headdress Caroline's work area   Caroline also managed a store of original designs for a few years, Caramelle. One of her inventions was to create versions of the "kaba" (the Duala women's traditional dress since about 100 year...

The embed function doesn't appear to work... this is the link: http://www.telesud.com/le-replay/lecture/?replay_program=340&replay_id=x28swo0 Interview with Lady Ngo Mandeng for "Lady Vous Ecoute," in Paris, France. Lady Ngo Mang being prepped for the program

Please join us for the New York book launch of De La Case A La Villa,  June 26, 2014 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Epee Ellong will present the book in French and in English. There will be wine... and free bookmarks! 529 West 20th Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10011 Tel. : (212) 352-8058 https://www.google.com/maps/ place/Skoto+Gallery/@40. 746539,-74.006785,17z/data=! 4m2!3m1!1s0x0: 0xb881f9d37b3cdff1

The book " De La Case A La Villa " is a reality... and will be presented at the Paris Salon du Livre on March 22, 2014, at 6pm, along with Samuel Mbajum's book:  “Les combattants africains, dits « Tirailleurs Sénégalais » au secours de la France. 1857-1945” about African soldiers pulled into not always voluntary service in European wars. Our publishing house is Riveneuve Editions . Samuel Mbajum is also originally from Cameroon, like Epee Ellong, and we look forward to meeting him!

Ab incredible variety of talented people contributed to the book, De La Case A La Villa . Many are not of African origin, although all share a certain vision of the world, I think. Book cover design by Pollyn C. Horvath Richard McMillan is an American registered architect, trained at the University of Tennessee, with an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business. Besides working full-time in the architectural field, Richard is also a publisher. His book, 101 Cool Buildings (The Best of New York City Architecture), is an ode to the plethora of interesting contemporary architecture in New York City. Beyond architectural themes, he also publishes choral music ( RM Choral Music ).

An overview of the book's themes. 

These are a few of the images that have been chosen for the book " De La Case A La Villa "  (From the Hut to the Modern Home).  (Description of the book in English available at: http://www.awayfromafrica.com/2013/05/from-hut-to-modern-home-book-campaign.html ) "Modern traditional" in West Cameroon/"Nostalgic Architecture" chapter.  Photo courtesy of Christine Jumaucourt North Cameroon Foulbé contemporary huts Square hut in poto-poto (West Cameroon) Bamiléké funerary masks

Update: The following campaign is now over--thank you to our contributors!   “From the Hut to the Modern Home” is a discussion and analysis of the evolution of housing in  A frican architectur e  from traditional dwellings to the modern home . Indiegogo campaign:   http://igg.me/at/delacasealavilla  This book attempts to answer the African architect’s constant professional dilemma of adherence to the concept of “modern African” architecture, while recognizing that Africans no longer wish to live in traditional-style dwellings as their life style and housing needs continue to evolve. The direction taken by Epée Ellong, and Diane Chehab, is to follow traditional African architecture through time to today’s African architecture, to show the contradictions in the social and technical transformations through various historical phases. To accomplish this work, Epée Ellong delves into his own experience and knowledge of Central Africa . He traveled exte...

W hen we were living in Cameroon, we often worked with people from the family circle and the neighborhood, but at other times, we also had the pleasure of collaborating with talented people we met by coincidence.  As architects, we worked on a variety of projects. One of them was the renovation of a university restaurant in West Cameroon, in the Grassland region.   The original building was from the Soviet-era, in a rather "squarish" architectural style. Epee Ellong, a Cameroonian architect, was able to "Africanize" it by adding mosaic panels on the exterior walls.  As for the inside, there were large empty walls, so we suggested that a modern artist come and decorate them with frescoes. We thought of  Koko Komegne , whom we had met a short time before; he assured us that large-scale frescoes would not pose a problem. As it turned out--we didn't know this before Koko won the bid--Koko is from the same area the building was located in, so he was espe...