Butabu
Subtitle: Adobe Architecture of West Africa
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Published: September 26, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9781568984131
Subjects: Architectural structure & design; Cultural studies; General; Architecture; West Africa; International Architecture - African; Criticism; Architecture / General; Africa, West; Building, Adobe
Description: "Many of the most noble buildings in Africa are made of the most humble of materials - mud. This adobe architecture shows sublime sculptural beauty, variety, ingenuity, and originality. Its plastic forms - from simple stairways, to rounded arches, to vaulted ceilings - are complemented by striking details such as the protruding timbers that play wonderfully with the strong sunlight while providing structures for annual repairs. In the Sahal region of West Africa - Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso - people have been constructing earthen buildings for centuries. But they remain little known to most of the Western world."

"James Morris has extensively photographed this architecture, from the Friday Mosque at Djenne - the largest mud building in the world - to small houses in remote animist communities. Butabu shows these works as both aesthetic treasures and as structures with contemporary relevance. These are no museum pieces but buildings that continue to be constructed and maintained. Text by Suzanne Preston Blier covers the history, technology, and symbolism of earthen architecture. Together with Morris's photographs, it shows the powerful influence of material and imagination in creating built form."--Jacket.