Week 15 - Compare and contrast two exemples of contemporary architecture

In this blog I'm going to analyse two examples of contemporary architecture designs. The first one is the 6 Sovial Housing Units made by Atelier 56S in 2019 and the second one is the Gando Primary School by Francis Kere in 2001. In order to analyse and discuss these two examples, I will be using the compare and contrast method.

Compare / Contrast

Image 1 - Atelier 56S (2019), 6 Social Housing Units

Image 2 - Francis Kere (2001), Gando Primary School

• Location: The primary school is located in Gando, a poor village in Burkina Faso. (Kere Architecture, n.d) in comparison to the 6 Social Housing Units that is in an residential area, in Rennes, a town in France (Paula Pintos. nd).
  

• Function: The Social Housing Units has the function of a social housing (Paula Pintos, nd) to integrate communities in residences as it is located in a residential area contrary to the second example that is a school (ArchDaily, 2016). They both have a social function but for different purposes. One as a solution to housing problems and the other one in solution to educational problems.
  

• Sustainability: The social housing is sustainable by avoiding high energy efficiency (Paula Pintos. nd) as the primary school that uses eco-friendly materials that are available locally (India Block, 2017). However, they all tried to apply a low-cost budget system.
  

• Materials: Applying a low cost system, these two examples are made with simple materials. The first one is made with concrete and wood while the second one is made with clay and cement.
  

• Structure and colour: While the second example that only has a ground level and on top of it, has a suspended roof that helps for the ventilation and the light without any artifice needed to work. (ArchDaily, 2016), The first example is a building with 3 floors and nothing on the roof top (Paula Pintos, nd). With regards to the shape they both have the same rectangular shape.
  

• Colour: The social housing present the grey colour of the concrete and the brown colour of the wood. Meanwhile, the primary school has a mix of orange and brown colour because of the clay and the windows of the school are painted in yellow, blue and red. (see image 3)
  

• Design: The design of the Primary School is quite simple with the pilotis that are part of the design and represent one of the characteristics of classicism architecture. In contrast, the Social Housing have a simple geometrical design that remind of the De Stijl architecture style that reduced everything to simple horizontal and vertical geometrical shapes with the structure in front of the building that serves as a shelter.

Image 3 - Francis Kere (2001), Gando Primary School

Biography context

• Atelier 56S is an agency founded by two architects Fanny Landeau and Jose Prieto. They had their degrees respectively from Brittany and Chili and their works are focusing on the city with an european style. (Atelier 56S, n.d). In contrast to Francis Kere, he is an african architect that graduated to the Technical University of Berlin before being the main architect of Kere Architecture. (Serpentine Pavilion, n.d)
  

• Unlike Atelier 56S, Francis Kere mostly implant his works in Africa while using sustainable materials, applying african designs and linking African culture to most of his projects. Also he always try to response to the climate and environment of the supposed project. (see image 4 and 5) (Maria-Cristina Florian, 2023)
  

Image 4 - Francis Kere (2019), Startup Lions Campus

Image 5 - Francis Kere (2010), National Park of Mali

• Atelier 56s is a firm that focuses on the French European style and that only work in France. (see image 6 and 7) They prioritize the evolution of the environment of a city and the city itself by paying attention to the context of the creation of the project and the users of it. (Atelier 56S, n.d)

Image 6 - Atelier 56S (2021), House U

Image 7 - Atelier 56S (2018), Farmhouse Renovation

By looking at the Startup Lions Campus that have been made in 2019, so before the House U in 2021 we can see that the only similarities that they have is the glasses that represent the windows but apart from that, they don't have anything in common.

• By comparing two secondary examples: House U and the Mali Park, I can feel that they all can be refered to Mies Van Der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalery (see image 8) with the suspended roof for the Mali Park example and the glasses for the House U.

Image 8 - Mies Van Der Rohe (1968), Neue NationalGalery

Movement / Context

• Looking at the characteristics of the 6 Social Housing Units can remind of the minimalist and De Stijl art movement by its simple geometric rectangular shape.
  

• But if we compare the two examples, it also remind of the brutalism period due to the fact that the materials used are quite obvious when we look at it. They haven't been modified or altered and it is the same idea for the colours of the buildings that all represent the simple colours of the materials that have been used and give an illusion of strongness and severity (Beanland C. 2016)
  

• Sustainable architecture appeared during the modernism and become a trend in contemporary architecture. Also, with the evolution and technology different materials have been created, allowing the architects to make their buildings respond to the environment. (Murphy P. , n.d)
  

• Like Francis Kere did, In warm countries, it is important to focus on natural ventilation and sun lighting (Haddad E. G. , 2016)

Wider context

The wider context of the 6 Social Housing Units is social housing and environment context.

• After the world war, a lot of damages have occured and it was a necessity for people with low incomes to have accommodations that they could afford at low prices.
  

• To stay with the world war, social housings also refer to the Brutalism period because of the concrete as in this period, it was a quick and cheap material that would help to house people's neediest as houses were always destroyed. (Karp M. M. , 2015)
  

• Karakusevic P. (2017) attest that another reason of the creation of these social housing were national socio-economics reasons with local authorities as clients to fund and supply these houses.

In comparison to it, the Gando primary school, focusing more on sustainability have an environmental and financial concerns context.

• Africa, as India is a country that is challenged by a lot of climate variation and pollution (UN Environment Program, 2023)
  

• For instance, The Gando Primary School reminds of the ModSkool in India that have the same configuration and made for sustainable purposes too. (see image 9)
  

• As it is in a village, the building was meant to not be costly. That's why the materials chosen were cheap and available localy and the construction of the building has been funded by Kere Foundation e.V. (Francis Kere, n.d)

Image 9 - Social Design Collaborative (2019), ModSkool

Image list

Image 1 - Atelier 56S (2019), 6 Social Housing Units

Image 2 - Francis Kere (2001), Gando Primary School

Image 3 - Francis Kere (2001), Gando Primary School

Image 4 - Francis Kere (2019), Startup Lions Campus

Image 5 - Francis Kere (2010), National Park of Mali

Image 6 - Atelier 56S (2021), House U

Image 7 - Atelier 56S (2018), Farmhouse Renovation

Image 8 - Mies Van Der Rohe (1968), Neue NationalGalery

Image 9 - Social Design Collaborative (2019), ModSkool

Reference list

1. Atelier 56S (2019), 6 Social Housing Units [Housing] Rennes, France

2. Francis Kere (2001), Gando Primary School [School] Gando, Burkina Faso

3. Paula Pintos (n.d) 6 Social Housing units/ Atelier56S [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.archdaily.com/932638/6-social-housing-units-atelier-56s [Accessed 20 February 2024]

4. ArchDaily (2016) Gando Primary School / Kéré Architecture. [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.archdaily.com/785955/primary-school-in-gando-kere-architecture [Accessed 20 February 2024]

5. India Block (2017) Diebedo Francis Kere says school that launched his Caeer is "not a traditional African Building" [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/17/movie-diebedo-francis-kere-gando-school-burkina-faso-interview-video/ [Accessed 20 February 2024]

6. Atelier 56S (n.d) Agence [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.atelier56s.com/agence [Accessed 20 February 2024]

7. Serpentine Pavilion (n.d) SERPENTINE PAVILION 2017 DESIGNED BY FRANCIS KÉRÉ [Press Pack] Kensington Gardens, London https://d37zoqglehb9o7.cloudfront.net/uploads/2020/06/pavilion_2017_press_pack_final.pdf [Accessed 20 February 2024]

8. Maria-Cristina Florian (2023) Diebedo Francis Kere Selected as 2023 Premium Imperial Laureate For Architecture [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.archdaily.com/1006746/diebedo-francis-kere-selected-as-2023-praemium-imperiale-laureate-for-architecture?ad_source=search&ad_medium=projects_tab&ad_source=search&ad_medium=search_result_all [Accessed 20 February 2023]

9. Francis Kere (2019), Startup Lions Campus [Campus] Turkana County, Kenya

10. Francis Kere (2010), National Park of Mali [Park] Bamako, Mali

11. Atelier 56S (2021), House U [House] Laval, France

12. Atelier 56S (2018), Farmhouse Renovation [House] Bruz, France

13. Beanland D. (2016) Concrete Concept: Brutalist buildings around the world . Frances Lincoln Limited : London

14. Murphy P. (n.d) The Rise Of Sustainable Design In Architecture [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.maket.ai/post/the-rise-of-sustainable-design-in-architecture [Accessed 21 February 2024]

15. Haddad E. G., Rifkind D. (2016), A critical History of Contemporary Architecture 1960 - 2010 [Online Book] London : Routledge Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ntuuk/reader.action?docID=1610003 [Accessed 21 February 2024]

16. Karp M. M. (2015), Ethic lost: Brutalism And The Regeneration of Social Housing Estates In Great Britain [Thesis] Retrieved from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36693234.pdf [Accessed 21 February 2024]

17. Karakusevic P. , Batchelor A. (2017) Social Housing [Online Book] Newcastle Upon Tyne : RIBA Publishing Retrieved from: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/social-housing/9781000701432/xhtml/cover.xhtml [Accessed 21 February 2024]

18. UN Environment Program (2023) Africa's Green Business Opportunities are abundant, UNEP study shows [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/africas-green-business-opportunities-are-abundant-unep-study-shows#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAfrica%20faces%20not%20just%20incredible,ESG)%20framework%20for%20sustainability%20in [Accesed 21 February 2024]

19. Social Design Collaborative (2019) ModSkool [School] Delhi, India

20. India Block (2017) Diebedo Francis Kere says school that launched his Career is "not a traditional African Building" [Online] Retrieved from: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/17/movie-diebedo-francis-kere-gando-school-burkina-faso-interview-video/ [Accessed 20 February 2024]