HEAVENLY
MUD
A documentary
about traditional architecture in West Africa
by Anthony
M. van der Lee
( project
in progress; half of this film has now been shot and edited, in cooperation
with filmmaker and Africa expert Jan Dries Groenendijk. The film will be completed
in 2002)
Logline
This documentary celebrates traditional West African architecture, which uses
mud (adobe) as its main material. The film will place it in the context of
modern Western architecture and link it to the present movement towards our
architectural roots embodied by organic architecture.
In a wider context this film is a reflection on the myth of western technology
and western man's relation to his origins in a world where people feel increasingly
alienated from their surroundings. In West African society, as expressed by
its architecture, this relation with our roots is still intact. Its architecture
is the living and triumphant proof. In this sense, the film is also an affirmation
of the strength and vibrancy of African people and their culture.
The mosque of Nando, Mali
'We shape our buildings, but afterwards they shape us' ( motto of Ton Alberts,
organic architect)
'Traditional materials in general imply the past rather than the present and
must be avoided' (Modernist architecture critic Henry Russell Hitchcock, 1929)
'The authentic work of art instructs us in our inauthenticity and adjures
us to overcome it' (Lionel Trilling)
INTRODUCTION
'After a difficult journey of many months through the Sahara, disguised as
an Arab traveller, I finally reached the fabled city of Timbuktu, with its roofs
of gold. My greatest reward was the first sight of its famous mosque, its spires
of heavenly mud pointing to the sky, its fabulous architecture a true wonder
of the world'
(Diary of Renee Caillie,
first western traveller to return from Timbuktu, 1828)
The mosque of Djenne
The mosque of Timbuctu remains
a miracle to this very day. Its sister at Djenne, another west African city
of great antiquity, (above) is even more spectacular. Both are centres of West
African tradition and Muslim learning, both examples of an architecural style
which evolved over nine centuries and has only recently been 'discovered' by
the world at large. This traditional West African architecture, constructed
out of mud (adobe), effortlessly combines natural forms, practical functionality,
and surprising beauty. It has always been a well preserved secret. Until the
twentieth century, the traveller had to find his way through endless deserts,
swamps, forest full of wild animals, and the territory of hostile tribes before
he could admire the wonders of the great mosques of Timbuctu and Djenne. They
are not the only jewels this architecture has produced. Throughout modern Mali,
Niger and Burkina Faso, mostly along the Niger river, its products can be found.
It is a style that is very much alive today, its secrets passed on over the
centuries through architectural 'brotherhoods'.
The region where these beautiful buildings can be found remains remote and hard
to reach to this very day. Yet, their influence reaches far. Great architects
like Antonio Gaudi and Ton Alberts were directly inspired by them. Modern day
architecture is now reacting against the cold, distant building style of the
last decades, the legacy of Modernism. It is responding to the new urge for
natural shapes and materials, the return to our roots, which is embodied by
organic architecture, a movement which is gaining momentum all over the western
world.
This documentary is a celebration of West African traditional architecture.
The film will place traditional West African architecture in the context of
modern Western art and architecture and link it to the present movement towards
our architectural roots embodied by organic architecture. But in a wider context,
this film is a reflection on the myth of western technology and manšs relation
to his origins in a world where people feel increasingly alienated from their
surroundings, and our contact with the earth seems lost. In West Africa, with
its traditional patterns of living, its strong relation of individuals and groups
to the earth and the past, this link is till intact. Its architecture is the
living and triumphant proof. In this sense, the film is also an affirmation
of the strength and vibrancy of African people and their culture.
STORYLINES
The film will consist
of several storylines which will be interwoven in a complex parallel montage.
We will travel along the Niger river, starting at Timbuktu, and ending at
Djenne, at the moment the grand Djenne Festival takes place. A panorama of
important buildings unfolds on our travels along the Niger river, mainly in
Mali. As we travel, we get to know more about the technicalities of mud architecture,
its advantages, its efficiency, and its problems. Some fascinating personal
stories are told. We become acquainted with an African family living in an
ancient mud residence of great beauty. We are introduced to a brotherhood
of architects, and get to know the old Bere Yono, an old builder, who never
draws a plan, but has designed and constructed many great buildings. We will
visit the crumbling palace of the ancient sultans of Djenne, where their last
descendant lives in poverty, and an old house of animist initiation.
The Askia Tomb at Gao
As we travel from Timbuctu to Djenne, the film places West African architecture
in the context of western architecture, concentrating on the opposition of
modernist building, which dominates all present day cities, and the new movement
of organic architecture. Several important architects give their opinion,
and we are introduced to modern organic builders, from Ton Alberts to the
American Frank Gehry.
On the roof of the Kotaka Mosque
The mysterious story of
the three mosques of Djenne is told. How did they develop, how old are they
really, and who built them? We will try to unravel the many, often contradictory
myths surrounding these masterpieces, of which only one remains. Throughout
the development of these themes, the film will search for clues to the strength
of this traditional architecture, the way it embodies an age old contact with
the earth, with human roots, and the reasons why this contact seems lost in
the modern, western environment, where man often feels dwarfed and alienated
by his own structures. Below, these story lines are described in more detail.
SACRED
AND PROFANE BUILDINGS
A panorama of the main types of buildings, a cinematographic celebration of
their beauty is a recurring strand in this story. First of all, there are the
mosques. The famous mosques of Djenne and Timbuctu are the beginning and the
end point of the film. The story of the two most important mosques of West African
traditional architecture stretches back more than nine hundred years, in fact
to the eleventh century. Djenne is the oldest known city in sub Saharan Africa.
It was established in the 3rd century BC. In the eleventh century it was already
known as a centre of trade and learning. The people of Djenne originally settled
Timbuctu as a trading outpost where the desert caravans arrived. In both cities,
a mosque was constructed in the 11th century, when Islam came to the region.
The Sankore mosque in Timbuctu stands to this day, an ancient structure which
remains impressive. The Great Mosque of Djenne is certainly West Africa's most
important piece of architecture and will play a major part in the film.
The Sankore Mosque of Timbuktu
But
all over the region, many other jewels of this sacred architecture can be found.
It is not uncommon to find mosques of great beauty and age in small villages,
and the villages and towns of northern Mali compete with eachother in the size
and elaboration of the local mosque. Some of them are important places of pilgrimage.
Each has its own design and its own style.
A mosque in a remote village
In addition to these sacred buildings, there are the residences. These vary
from the houses of merchants and those of extended families to old palaces,
like that of the Sultan of Zinder. His power has long since been broken, but
his descendants still dwell in its crumbling halls and arcades, well aware of
their heritage, and do what they can to keep it from falling apart. Then there
are the ritual houses, often constructed by one village or brotherhood over
a period of centuries. Here, rites of initiation, harvest rituals, and witchcraft
take place, dating back to the animist tradition which is still very much alive
in West Africa under the skin of Islam. These three classes of buildings are
characterised by complicated symbolism expressed in the adornments, the lay
out of the building, the arches, portals, and courtyards.
The buildings of West African architecture are typically a product of group
work. They are a reflection of the way this society functions, with its strong
group instincts and its solidarity. The individual is far less important than
in the west. We may say that the 'organic' power of the building is in part
derived from the strong connection these people continue to have with earth
and nature. This will be reflected in the portrait of a few builders working
in the remote countryside on a small village mosque. These are not 'architects',
yet together they create something of outstanding beauty.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In the early twentieth century, the Modernist movement produced a number of
important architects who laid the foundation for modern western architecture,.
They reacted against the neoclassical style, and created buildings of austere
and simple beauty. They liked to use the new materials which became available
at the time, such as concrete, steel and glass. This movement reacted against
the use of traditional materials. As one of its theoreticians, the critic Henry
Russell Hitchcock, put it:
'Traditional materials in general imply the past rather than the present and
must be avoided'
Modernism's skeletal steel, and the thinness and tautness of glass, technologically
and 'morally' rebuked mud's earthy mass, in the words of J. Bourgeois. Throughout
the western world, great cities were constructed using these materials, and
the type of architecture Modernist theorists called unplanned and haphazard,
was almost forgotten. A lone wolf like Antonio Gaudi, who continued to be inspired
by it, was laughed at, not taken seriously. He died penniless and unacknowledged.
In this section we will give an impression of the products of Modernist architecture
and its legacy, concentrating on the contrasts with 'mud' architecture, and
speak to several architects who continue to build in the Modernist way to the
very present. It will be offset by the rise of 'organic architecture'.
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE IN
THE WEST
Nowadays, many people intuitively wish to return to a more 'natural' way of
living but the demands of the technological society make this impossible. Therefore,
people search for inspiration from the past, for human heritage that can give
us new strength. A strong reaction against modernism is underway. 'Interest
in the broad spectrum of vernacular springs in part from the current demythologizing
of progress and technology', as J. Bourgeois puts it.
In the 1960s the first reminder of the importance of vernacular architecture
came from Bernard Rudofsky. His book 'Architecture Without Architects' celebrated
what he called 'non-pedigreed architecture'. At the moment, important architects
leading the movement of 'organic architecture' such as Frank Ghery in the US
and Ton Alberts in Europe, search beneath the conventions of the moment for
the original, the simple, the return to our roots.
Bilbao Guggenheim by Frank
Gehry
Now, vernacular
architecture is celebrated as a touchstone of purity, in practical, spiritual
harmony with its site and society, and organic architecture has the same ideals.
It seeks warmth, it seeks to reestablish the link to buildings that celebrate
the threatened vitality of an alienated race. These can be found supremely in
West African architecture. In the film, we will give an overview of the 'organic
architecture' movement, speak with Max van Huut, the partner of the recently
deceased Ton Alberts, and other key figures, and show some important 'organic'
buildings, such as the famous ING building in Amsterdam.
ING Bank by Ton Alberts &
Max van Huut
CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
During the film, the technical aspects of mud building will become clear. The
material, locally called 'banco', 'adobe' in America, is in fact a mixture of
mud, straw, clay and animal dung. Several types of mixture and hardness are
used depending on constructional requirements. Wooden posts are used to enable
maintenance workers to climb up along the walls. Mud walls are highly efficient
in the hot African climate. They give coolness in the hot season, and warmth
and isolation in the rainy season. After the rainy season, the outer layer of
mud is often washed away in part. Therefore, maintenance, replastering of the
outer walls is necessary every two or three years. We will picture the great
Festival of Djenne. It will be the end point of our voyage, and the end of the
film. Every year, the entire population comes together to replaster the Great
Mosque. Everyone has his task. Women collect straw, men get mud from the river,
children get water. Young men stir the mixture in great troughs, and young daredevils
climb up along the outer walls of the great towers to apply the plaster.
The whole festival is in fact one big festivity, where everyone meets once every
three years. It is presided over by the old architects, and of course by the
religious leaders.
The music of the film will be composed especially by Ali Farka Toure, the Mali
musician who became famous with his CD 'Talking Timbuktu' (recorded with Ry
Cooder) and the Grammy Award he got for it.
copyright
2000 by Anthony M. van der Lee
For more information, contact producer Tyo Vuik at jokestar@worldonline.nl