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F I N A L W O R K O F M A S T E R RECORD OF THE MASTER F I NA L EXAM E L L A S Meeting the Qualifying Court on the day of the date, the student: A Mr/Mrs. L presented his Master’s Final Project in Integrated Architecture Project, which dealt about the following topic: E R U T Finished the presentation and answered by the student the objections made by the members of the Court, the named Work was assessed with a qualification of: C E T I H C R A Barcelona VOCAL VOCAL F O PRESIDENT OF THE COURT L O O H STUDENT: UTHMAN HANNAFI BAMALLI SPEAKING TEACHER: C S C H O O L O F A R C H I T E C T U R E L A S A L L E S RETHINKING & RESUSCITATING HAUSA-LAND DOMESTIC VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE - KANO, A CITY STATE (GIDAJEN HAUSA NA KANO) UTHMAN HANNAFI BAMALLI | MASTER THESIS | 03-07-2020 LA SALLE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE RAMON LLULL UNIVERSITY , BARCELONA 2020 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents Alh. Nu’umanu Hannafi Bamalli & Khadijah Hannafi Bamalli Thank you For all Your Sacrifices & The Starving/Dying African and Hausaman, Your History Is Too Complex And Rigid For Some Critics. Keep Surviving Against All Odds. In The Name of Allah, The Most Beneficient, The Most Merciful. Rise and Prosper Once Again. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 3.5 PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF A KANO HOUSE 1.1 AIM OF STUDY 3.5.1 CONSTRUCTION TYPES AND MATERIALS 1.2 GEOGRAPHY & BACKGROUND OF THE HAUSA-LAND 3.5.2 MOTIF DECORATIONS AND AESTHETIC ELEMENTS 1.3 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN AFRICA 4. CONCLUSION 1.4 THESIS FORMAT 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 2. CONNOTATIONS IN HAUSALAND 2.1. CULTURAL REPRESENTATION IN ARCHITECTURE 2.2. HAUSA ART AND SYMBOLISM 2.3. THE TRIPLE HERITAGE CONCEPT 2.4. COLOR REPRESENTATION 3. CASE STUDY - KANO, A CITY STATE (Garin kano) 3.1. KANO-A CITY STATE IN THE HAUSA-LAND 3.2 SOCIO-CULTURAL LIFE OF A HAUSA SOCIETY 3.3 KANO URBAN FORMATION (GROWTH OF A CITY) 3.3.1 THE NORTHERN SECTOR 3.3.2 THE EASTERN SECTOR 3.3.3 THE SOUTHERN SECTOR 3.3.4 THE WESTERN SECTOR 3.4 A TYPICAL DOMESTIC KANO HOUSE ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGMENT The continent of Africa flourishes with numerous native architecture that do more or I have to first give thanks to the almighty Allah who made writing this piece possible. less have some similarities been built out of mud. The traditional Hausa architecture The lengthy researches, endless phone calls and sleepless nights. Writing this could not stands out unique amongst them all due to it’s detailed characteristics of construction be achieved without his wisdom bestowed upon me to. techniques, decorations, colors and structural configuration. I Would like to give thanks to my academic father and tutor for letting me pursue this Although there have been some researches about the Hausa architecture, mostly were research and guiding me on how to document all that i have gathered and putting to- focused on monumental buildings, such as the royal palaces and mosques. But this gether bits and pieces of a topic that barely had the attention it deserves. This is for you study aims at focusing on the domestic architecture of Kano, a city state. The city of Prof. Marc Manzano. Kano, is the biggest city of Kasar Hausa (Hausaland). Kano being the capital of the Hausa kingdom, until the merger of northern Nigeria and finally the amalgamation of the I would also like to thank Malam Abdullahi of Gidan Makama Museum as well for taking eastern, western and southern hemispheres to what we know today as Nigeria, is rich his precious time to school me about the building techniques and the history of Kano, in history and culture. the city state and all the data he shared with me from the archives of the museum. Na- gode (Thank You) malam Abdullahi. This study will be highlighting how the socio-cultural way of life of the Hausa’s had a great influence in their domestic architecture and all the influences it has had over the To my dearest uncle, Baba Sammani, Thank you for taking me around the city of Kano, past centuries. gathering data in the peak heat time of the year. To my brother Mubarak, my cousin Usman, Thank you for helping me in capturing images i needed during this research. I The Hausa architecture has predominantly been influenced by external cultures which appreciate all the help i have received from these people as this research has made be are highly represented on the decorations, usage of colors and materiality. But due to become a very proud Hausa native man and a citizen of Nigeria. westernization and colonialism, it has lost some of it’s identity in today’s architecture in the Hausaland. 6 7 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 AIM OF STUDY And the final chapter will be talking about the impact and of the Hausa architecture due to the invent of colonialism took and how it lead to the downturn of the cherished ver- To understand the purpose of this study, one has to understand that mankind learned to nacular architecture of the hausaland. live and survive with any available material present to build, shelter and reflect it’s local tradition in the best way possible. This in architecture, is called domestic architecture. This study is focusing on the neglected traditional Hausa land architecture to not only And the era mankind lived with the way of using what it had for building and construct- the western world but to Africans as well whom are finding it hard to believe such archi- ing a shelter for him and his family in is what is termed today as Vernacular Architecture. tecture came from the dark continent and with the advent of modern materials, people do stay away from it and rather go with the modern ways. But that aside, by studying The loss of the African architecture came into play during the colonial era as much other the traditional architecture of the hausaland, a rebirth into the 21st century could be aspects which have all been influenced by Euro-centric standards of way of life.1 The achieved and with the usage of modern materials, some ideas from the creative builders continent of Africa is brimful with unknown indigenous architecture which the western of the past could be implemented in the lost domestic architecture of the hausaland and world knows little about or basically just refers to it as vernacular Architecture. As Su- give a neglected heritage a well deserved appreciation in the 21st century hausaland san Denyer stated in her book: (kasar Hausa) “The myth of darkest Africa is persistent and there are still many peo- 1.2 GEOGRAPHY & BACKGROUND OF THE HAUSA-LAND ple who find it difficult to accept that the traditional buildings of the Situated on the gulf of guinea, bottom west of Africa, Nigeria spans a total area of continent merit more than passing consideration . One only has to 923,768 km2 (356,669 sq mi), stretching 1,064 km (661 mi) from North to South and consider for a moment the vocabulary used to refer to them to realize 1,127 km (700 mi) from East to west2 A very well diverse nation with a population of that even for those who know and respect other aspects of African estimate 200 million people, with over 400 ethnic groups speaking over 300 languages. culture, it is hard to avoid being down into a web of selective and dis- However, the most dominant ethnic groups are the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo4. A country torted perception”.1 with mainly two religions, into the north with mainly Muslims and to the south constitut- ing Christians. This quote by Susan Denyer in her book, African traditional architecture, lives on within the western world in the 21st century and this is what this research will be addressing Kasar Hausa (Hausaland) covers a considerate part of northern Nigeria, southern re- in lieu to domestic architecture of the Hausaland (kasar Hausa). public of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Ghana. The Hausawa (the speakers of the Hausa language), are arguably the most important cultural group in Africa, south of the Sahara The first chapter of this research will give a preview on domestic architecture in west and certainly the most populous3. The Hausa language, as the language of commerce Africa, and how the architecture of the Hausaland came into existence and all it’s influ- and enterprise, is the most widely spoken language in the whole of Africa other than Ar- ences from other cultures in respect to structural configuration, ornamental design and abic and English. More importantly the Hausa have been famous for their architectural spatial segregation which reflects into the domestic architecture. The second chapter forms; their construction techniques and their wall structure and decorations. Building will be focusing on the connotations of the Hausaland architecture in terms of building mainly with molded clay. The Hausa builders are the only ones in the entire West African style, art representation,and color usage and what they do represent to the culture . The Savannah to fully develop the art of construction with adobe. Not only that, they, excel third chapter will be examining one major Hausa city, Kano, the city state. Being the in the use of sculptural relief for both the interior and exterior of faces of buildings. Early capital of the Hausa kingdom is the reason why Kano was chosen as the case study for Hausa social and political organization was centered mainly around the bimi (walled it’s characteristics.

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