As they say, requirement is the mother of creation. Now that Globalisation is in this article with us, Africans will have to have to up their video game in design methodology to meet the latest need. Difficulties this sort of as populace explosion, urbanisation, confined offer of products, expense of labour and so forth must be addressed.
For the duration of the early instances, labour was not a big hindrance because individuals could use slaves to create buildings these types of as Fort Jesus. At present, in the course of action of designing buildings, the value of labour has to be included so as to empower the venture to be practical.
STANDARDISATION
Africans should really embrace new approaches of construction utilised somewhere else in the earth. The Making Code in Kenya should be open to enable other standards these types of as American criteria which are highly developed when it comes to the use of Pre-Engineered Steel buildings. Its also substantial time another person arrived up with the African Regular no subject how significantly-fetched this may seem. When investigate is completed on African building strategies these as Adobe,timber buildings, a normal can originate which will assist the rest of the earth in making their choices.
ADOBE WALLING
Property grown answers to building that have been made use of in this article in Kenya for generations can be revived to simplicity shortage of housing.
Adobe has been used in Kenya for hundreds of years.Study should be performed to commercialise the use of Adobe in construction. At present, the Indian and Chinese are exporting cement-fibre boards for use as wall panels. If the Adobe technology is investigated additional, am absolutely sure an individual enterprising enough will before long occur up with a version very similar to the cement-fibre boards and simplicity the price tag of construction.
Earth-leading Global multinationals in cement this sort of as La Farge also commenced from the very first move so its under no circumstances far too late.
CERAMICS
China and India are earning excellent enterprise exporting ceramic tiles to Kenya. Ceramic tiles are fundamentally built from clay soil which we have in a good deal here in Kenya.
Our ancestors have been generating clay pots for a number of generations now using Clay. Output of ceramic tiles is very similar to the conventional technique of baking clay pots. As a result, if an enterprising Kenyan can appear up with a technique of professional creation of ceramics, we will not will need to import this “Asian Soil” to Kenya.
THATCH ROOF
The most costly roofing product in the industry is the stone-coated metal tile-thatch roof-profile. This is bought in Kenya by providers these as South African Harvey Roofing Items, Australian Decra House and Style, and Dura Roofing Tiles.
These roofing tile imitates thatch roof which we have been applying for centuries here in Kenya. This is mainly because thatch roof has the very best aesthetic search and insulation. This is also a different avenue that Africans can work on to increase on the provide of design elements.
TEXTURED PAINT
The most expensive paint in the sector at the second is the Tough textured paint these kinds of as ‘Crown Ruff n Tuff’. Yet again this paint is expensive simply because it tries to capture the great looks of Adobe mud wall and also the exceptional insulation characteristics of the Adobe mud partitions.
The Adobe mud partitions have been in use in Africa for Generations. If we can do the job on bettering this and producing it for the World-wide market place, then we will preserve a ton of foreign exchange and build employment.
Some factories in South Africa are production plastic imitations of thatch which is exported to the rest of the globe. If we can place in some study, we can absolutely arrive up with a alternative that is better than the current imitations.
HARDWOOD Doors & Home furniture
The most pricey doorways in the marketplace at the moment are hand-curved hardwood doors. In Kenya, we have the superb Swahili doorways. Yet again, it these are created for export to the world wide current market, then this will result in development of employment and revenues in this article in Africa.
In Kenya, we have quite imaginative adhere and picket home furniture that is traditional. This can be made commercially for export. A superior illustration is the Bamboo furnishings offered at Ramboo, Mombasa Highway, made in South Africa and exported to Kenya.
Flooring TILES
Imported slate-stone counter tops and flooring tiles are really highly-priced. In Kenya we have Mazeras stone flooring finishes which if perfectly lower and polished, can be a significant export for the Nation. As a result, its critical to take note that Africa has the likely to source the environment with distinctive development material. All we have to have to do is to assume outside the box and source the entire world with one of a kind development products and solutions at a small expense.
This is a sleeping giant ready to be awoken in this sector. Allows hope that the new constitution will awaken this giant.
Architect Frank Gichuhi
A4ARCHITECT