DESIGN.INTELLIGENCE. January ­ February 2013 ISSUE #3

a sneak peek at some ideas+more

N500, R25.00, $3.00, €2.50, £2.00 www.designpages.biz

Fabienne Hodzel shares insights

by Heinrich Böll Stiftung

on Shaping Sao Paolo (page6)

-Kunle Adeyemi(page3)

=

Bukky Oyedeji does a post-mortemon the workshop

open space workshopspecial issue on the

resilient strategies for environmental design

on

“What we're doing is a simple solution that manages to look elegant, just through basic problem solving.”

presented at the workshop (page17)

ISSN 2006-5671

NL sets sailÉwith Makoko floating school project

CONTENTS

DesignPages rides on a mandate to provide a rallying point for the widely dispersed design

practitioners within Nigeria, the African continent and in the diaspora, engaging their works in a

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About

All correspondence should be addressed to:

The Editor, Design Pagesst1 Floor, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere,

Lagos, Nigeria.

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the team

scenes from the Makoko floating school project, circa 2012

Makoko is a slum neighborhood located in Lagos, Nigeria. At present its population is considered to be 85,840; however, the area was not officially counted as part of the 2007 census and the population today is considered to be much higher. Established in the 18th century primarily as a fishing village, much of Makoko rests in structures constructed on stilts above Lagos Lagoon. Today the area is essentially self-governing with a very limited government presence in the community and local security being provided by area boys. In July 2012, Nigerian government officials destroyed dozens of residences after giving residents 72 hours' notice of eviction. One resident was killed in the action. Lagos may continue the destruction of this historic community in order to redevelop what is now seen as prime waterfront. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoko

on the prowl

DESIGN.INTELLIGENCE.

January ­ February 2013ISSUE #3

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Kunle Adeyemi of NLE on the Lagos Water Communities project

Ayodele Arigbabu gives an overview of the Open Space Workshop on flood resilient design and planning

Fabienne Hodzel on shaping Sao Paolo

Mazi Nwonwu on the hbs workshop proceedings

NLE’s floating school project

Ideas presented by different participants

Post-mortem on the workshop outcome by Bukky Oyedeji

Picture Gallery

pg.3

pg.5

pg.6

pg.8

pg.10

pg.11-16

pg.17

pg.18

Lagos Water Communities Project Visualization courtesy NLÉ www.nleworks.comCover:

After several visits to Makoko, enthralled by the resourceful energy with which Makoko residents engaged with their environment in running their community on water, Kunle Adeyemi embarked on the Makoko floating school project as an exploratory intervention which seeks to learn as much as it provides a solution to the community. The photos above from NLE show the early stages of construction of the floating school. Our interview with Kunle Adeyemi is overleaf.

Managing Editor- Ayodele Arigbabu

Deputy Managing Editor- Mazi Nwonwu

Contributing Editor- Yohana Bako

Contributing Writer- Gbemi Abiola

Consulting Editor- Jumoke Verissimo

Design Direction- DADA Studos

Circulation and Distribution- Teniola Aderemi

Adverts & Subscriptions-Adenike Arigbabu

*hbs workshop photo and video documentation courtesy Victor Okhai. Other images credited accordingly.

photo / image credits

Images courtesy of NLE.

bid to control development in the area,

a move many see as an attempt to

seize the water front area and convert

it to upscale real estate while

d i sp lac ing the 100,000 odd

inhabitants of the area. Adeyemi

speaks with DP on the origins,

philosophies and aspirations of NLE's

floating school project.

DP: Wi th the Lagos Water

Commun i t i e s p ro j e c t you ' r e

proposing, are we not just going to

end up spreading the Lagos slum

situation the city is so notorious for

across the lagoon as well?

KA: There's definitely a risk that

there'd be a spread of bad

development, but I don't think that

risk is part of our work. Our work is an

improved and responsible solution

that takes that risk into cognizance.

We have very little capacity as individuals. NLE is

initiating an idea we have not invented. We're

only identifying and cultivating it and if it works, it

will be adopted by a large number of people via a

process of evolution.

DP: Wouldn't extensive 'formal' design

incursions into Makoko lead to gentrification of

the area and what safeguards would you suggest

to prevent that?

KA: What we're doing is a simple solution that

manages to look elegant, just through basic

problem solving. How do you achieve maximum

effects with minimum resources? The

gentrification effect is not what we're working

towards, but I do understand how real that risk is.

We are aiming at improve conditions by having a

public intervention which could give Makoko

legitimacy. This, for me, is the most important gift

you can give to them. By being able to improve

their social infrastructure, the state might be able

to legitimize their presence there because they're

Kunle Adeyemi studied

architecture at the University of Lagos before

joining the office for Metropolitan

Architecture in 2001, where he went on to

lead the design, development and execution

of numerous high profile projects in Europe,

Asia, Africa and the Middle East such as the

Samsung Museum of Art, the Seoul National

University Museum, Shenzhen Stock Ex-

change tower in China, Prada Transformer in

South Korea, , the Central Library and

Headquarters for Qatar Foundation in Doha

and the 4th Mainland Bridge and master plan

in Lagos. Many of these projects were

handled in close collaboration with OMA

founder Rem Koolhaas. Adeyemi has since

gone on to set up NLE, his Rotterdam based

practice focused on city development,

research and strategy, conceptualization and

creative structuring, architecture and

products design, infrastructure design, arts

and cultural urban interventions.

In a recent chat with Ayodele

Arigbabu, Kunle Adeyemi suggested that

on his new trajectory with NLE, he is not

really looking out for large projects at the

moment, but is “…more interested in quick,

short interventions with potentials for

scalability where you can learn and develop

before moving on to the big stuff.” NLE's

current 'flagship project' in Lagos, the

Makoko floating school project which belies a

larger and more daring proposal for an

extensive water based community

development has presented him with a

perfect opportunity to 'build' from the bottom

– up. The Makoko floating school is an

intervention from NLE to build social

infrastructure for the water based Makoko

community in Lagos, which derives in design

and technology from the extant techniques

used by Makoko residents themselves.

Makoko is…….. and has recently come under

the spotlight due to recent demolition

exercises by the Lagos State government in a

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Kunle Adeyemi: at home in the ‘heart of Lagos’

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Image courtesy of NLE.

an organized community and this can lead to improved

livelihood there. So if a yuppie comes and wants to buy any of

them out and they agree, then it's not a bad thing as it's a free

market economy and that's how prosperity and development

can change a community. This sort of organic growth is a

better option than government clearing them out. Makoko

supports a large economy for Lagos- fishing, agriculture,

sawmill, sand mining, it's a community that's already

resourceful and displacing them will disrupt the economy in

that regard. We are in a position to say that we have developed

a typology for them that government can adopt rather than

move them out. If Ganvie works (a similar water based

community in neighbouring Benin Republic), then why can't

we do that for Lagos?

DP: Given your overall vision for expanding Lagos into a

floating city via the 'Heart of Lagos' notion you've developed in

justifying a move to the lagoon, wouldn't densification of that

lagoon area kill the last expansive green / blue ecosystem the

city can boast of?

KA: It's about activating the lungs, the lagoon is not doing

anything at the moment, it's just an empty heart. However, the

way people just deal with it when Lagos floods, the way they

engage with the water shows we're ready for this. I can go as

far as saying Awolowo Road (a major high street in Ikoyi)

should be excavated and turned into a water-way for the

'heart' to be more connected. The lagoon does not have

enough drain channels and yet we're clogging it up with more

land (reference to different sand fill / land reclamation projects

along the shoreline). Makoko's footprint is very small, yet they

have over 100,000 inhabitants, so definitely you can house

over a million people along the coastline of Lagos. The

connectivity comes over water and not through land. Once

you've done that, you've activated the water-ways. Pollution

becomes a great problem though, but that can be managed

with cultural orientation.

DP: What best practices from other coastal cities do you think

Lagos can adopt given its own history of general aloofness

towards the water?

KA: The first 'best practice' we're taking is from Makoko, and

for me, that was the charm, that was the inspiration. How can

they be doing this with so little, achieving maximum

organization with minimum means? Yes we understand the

importance of the social aspects alongside the technological

demands for environmentally sound, sustainable and

innovative solutions. So, as professionals, we're doing our

calculations, engineering and materials testing at a high

professional level for water management and boat building

expertise; but we are going to spend more time in Makoko,

learning from the community, as that is our start and end point.

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The Floating School, under construction, December 2012

The Floating School, under construction, December 2012

The Floating School, visualization / design analysis

Typical Makoko ‘street’, photo courtesy of NLE.

*Photos and visualizations courtesy of NLE.

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Tproblem solving, Heinrich Böll

Stiftung took a significant step

beyond sustained advocacy for policy

shifts in the built environment by

colaborating with the Department of

Architecture, University of Lagos and the

Dream Arts & Design Agency to organize

an “Open Space Workshop” to identify

practical low cost solutions for flood

resilient buildings and sustainable urban

design in low income areas and informal

settlements, often regarded as

'undesirable slums' centred in low-lying

flood prone areas. The workshop which

held from the 29th of November till 1st of

December was preceded by a call for

ideas from the public a month earlier. A

selection of the proposals submitted,

aimed at reducing displacement and

other negative effects of flooding, were

discussed and refined by participants of

the workshop, which included students,

architects, town planners, urbanists and

urban designers, social workers, staff of

relevant government agencies and

residents of affected communities. The

workshop which held at the Seminar

Room of the Department of Architecture

of the University of Lagos, emphasized

not only technical design and solutions

but was also tailored to address the

significance of low cost housing areas

and informal settlements within the

urban context and to stress the need for

a participatory consultation and

implementation process.

Heinrich Böll Stiftung is active world-

wide with 29 regional and country

offices. It has been active in Nigeria

since 1994 and established a Nigeria

Country Office in Lagos in May 2002.

Since April 2011, the Foundation has

worked from its Abuja office and

programs on sustainability, women's

rights and good governance form the

core of the Foundation's work in

Nigeria. The Heinrich Böll Foundation

is part of the Green political movement

that has developed worldwide as a

response to the traditional politics of

s o c i a l i s m , l i b e r a l i s m , a n d

conservatism. The foundation's main

tenets are ecology and sustainability,

democracy and human rights, self-

determination and justice. These

tenets have been demonstrated most

recently in the Foundation's analysis

and criticism of the ongoing work on

the Lagos State Government's

foremost mega-city project- The Eko

Atlantic City project where nine square

kilometers of real estate has been

reclaimed from the surging shoreline

of the Atlantic Ocean at Bar Beach. The

Foundation and its partners criticized

the government for carrying out the

project with limited community

engagement, proceeding without

carrying out and being guided by a

detailed environmental impact

assessment and for failing to make

provisions for low income citizens of

the state who would eventually have to

service the highbrow developments

planned for the new city. The open

space workshop on flood resilient

strategies for environmental design

therefore provided an alternative

model for approaching the sort of

multi-pronged solution the state

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Prof John Godwin in attendance at the workshop

Participants at the workshop

Participants at the workshop

-by Ayodele Arigbabu

A scene from Makoko, courtesy of NLE.

abienne Hodzel, a Swiss architect and

Ftown planner, has spent the last three years working as the Urban Design

and Planning Coordinator with SEHAP Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is responsible for slum upgrades in Sao Paulo. On her first visit to Nigeria she delivered the lead presentation at the hbs open space workshop on flood resilient strategies for environmental design and spoke with MAZI NWONWU afterwards in an exclusive interview.

Fabienne Hodzel: My name is Fabienne. I am Swiss. I have been working now for three years in the local city government of Sao Paulo, Brazil. I work at the Housing Authority and Agency for Urban Development. I lead a team of between ten to fifteen architects and planners. We are the urban planning and urban design group within SEHAP, which is a housing agency responsible for local slum upgrading programme. What my team tries to do is bring an urban planning view or take to slum upgrade. Slum upgrade is really like ending up in an alley, because each house is different, so you need to get in and see what needs to be done. Slum upgrade tends to lose itself, a little bit, in itself. So you need see each neighbourhood within the context of the city and this is very important.

DP: How much success have you had with slum upgrading in Brazil?

Hodzel: I cannot speak for the whole of Brazil, but the programme in Sao Paulo is very successful. We were able to upgrade few hundred settlements, some of them small, some of them large. With large settlements we talk about 50 to 100 thousand people. The project is still ongoing, but we already have covered about 60 percent. There is still a long way to go, but we are doing a lot. We are not only upgrading the slums, we are building schools, public buildings, any kind of community centres. The residents themselves also contribute. They are opening up businesses.

DP: Was it easy to get the residents to sign up for the upgrade? In other words, to leave the life they were used to?

Hodzel: It was difficult because the practice in Brazil is to give the title to the houses after the upgrade. My personal opinion is that if people get the title before, it would

put them in a better position to trust the government. Because if you live in a Favela or in a slum, the only thing you have is your house. So if the municipality comes in, even with best intentions, you are always anxious about what would happen to your house, whether your house would still be there. This is because anytime you move in to upgrade a slum, you have to resettle people because of the work—you have to bring in the machines you need to do the work. In Brazil, people are resettled, then brought back to new apartments, but still there remains that issue of attachment. I think this has to do with human nature. So, to get back to your question, something we say, “This is a principal street, we really need to make it a nice street. So we need to resettle a few houses,” sometimes people go, “I am not going to move out!”. There is an instance in San Francisco when we were working on a principal road and some people refused to move, so we had to build in a way that accommodated their houses.

DP: That is actually a very nice thing to do; accommodating the wish of the people. As someone who has worked with urban planning for some time, what has your

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shapingcontinued from page 5

government had tried to achieve in stopping

the ocean surge at Bar Beach with the Eko

Atlantic City project by creating a platform for

creative exchange and ideas generation with

ample community involvement and technical

input from government and academia.

Seven ideas proposals were presented at the

workshop after which workshop participants

signed up with the proponents of the

different ideas in groups for break-out

sessions where the ideas were further

refined. This process was buttressed with

lead presentations from resource persons

invited to set the tone for the deliberations:

Fabienne Hoelzel, Program Director Urban

Design and Planning, Sao Paulo Housing

Authority, Brasil made a presentation on

slum upgrade projects in Sao Paolo; Dr.

Immaculata Nwokoro, Head, Department of

Urban Planning and Regional Development,

University of Lagos juxtaposed the highlights

of Fabienne Hoelzel's presentation against

the Lagos situation; Kunlé Adeyemi, founder

of NLÉ, an architecture and urbanism

practice established in The Netherlands

presented his related ongoing work

designing and building a floating school for

the Makoko community as a template for

water based accomodations; and Dr. Michael

Adebamowo, Head, Department of

Architecture, University of Lagos, reiterated

the urgent need for initiatives such as those

the workshop sought to deliver to intervene

in the urban situation in cities like Lagos

facing tangible effects of climate change.

Inhabitants of the city are constantly

threatened by evictions and demolition

especially in areas vulnerable to flooding.

Meanwhile, about 6000 people arrive Lagos

every day looking for jobs and shelter; the

numbers might swell with increasing climate

change effects in other parts of Nigeria.

In this special edition of Design Pages, we

bring you impressions from the workshop

and of course, the ideas presented of which

three were acknowledged for particular

mention by a panel of jurors selected for the

process.

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DP

experience been like so far?

Hodzel: Working together with people—communities—has been one of my best experiences. In Europe we do not have that kind of participation. I have found it extremely rewarding. It is also intense and sometimes it can be very annoying, because you think 'I got the solution, and this is really good' but then they go 'no, no, no, no, we don't want that'. That can be very annoying at times but I think it is healthy because this is really something very beautiful, to really work together with the community. Again, this is not like the worst experience, but we cannot work with let's say fifty thousand people, so there is always a few people who lead, who are representing the community. And the process of electing these people are not always transparent—this is also an issue in Europe actually—and the community party have no control over that process. There we at times ask, 'to whom are we actually talking?' At some point I got, not angry, more like impatient, because we were always seeing the same people and they were always saying the same thing. So, I say I want to see different people and we

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started walking the streets talking to people and asking them what they think. I think it is important to talk to people this way, go into the street and interact with people, understand what they want. For example, in a place like Makoko, the people know how to live with their environment they have good instincts, so we should take that very seriously.

DP: So what is your general view of Lagos?

Hodzel: I think it is a fantastic place. I am getting a bit anxious being here because I

see the potential. I just think 'oh my God there is so much you can do here', it has such a huge potential. My perception of the people is that they are super ambitious, they really want to get somewhere, and if they have ideas they speak up. I just hope the government, the urban planning agencies, hook up to this potential because I feel the street of Lagos has a lot of energy. Things are happening in the streets. I had a few meeting with some official planning offices and saw that things are not happening there but in the street. So, I wish that those things can come together and the vibrancy of the streets can be transferred to the planning offices, that they would adopt a more amiable blue tape. This is a four-day impression, but I think planning here is quite top down, and it is quite an exclusive group. It is hard to get access, it is hard to get information and I think this is not healthy for a city like Lagos because the people have natural intelligence and there is so much energy and you should really hook up and benefit.

Working together with people-

communities- has been one of my best

experiences. In Europe, we do not have that kind of

participation. I have found it extremely

rewarding.Ja

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Fabienne Hodzel making her presentation

Fabienne Hodzel making her presentation

A sample sector in Sao Paolo before the upgrade

A sample sector in Sao Paolo after the upgrade

*Images courtesy Sehab Urban Design and Planning Team

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akoko presents a scenic view,

Mespecially when viewed from West Africa's longest bridge, the Third

Mainland Bridge. Some called it the “Venice of West Africa”, a name evocative of the famed Italian city's aquatic splendour. However, if Makoko echoes Venice, it does so via their shared affinity for water. The stilt houses of Makoko, made of bamboo, wood and corrugated iron sheets are far removed from the idyllic structures of Venice, but the inhabitants, just like those of Venice, have learnt to live in harmony with their environment.

Its charm notwithstanding, Makoko is first and foremost a slum settlement that is home to fishermen and other low income earners. And despite its renown and draw for tourists and photographers, the government sees it as a blot on the Lagos city scape, one that would have to go if Lagos is to attain its modern mega city status.

On July 16 2012, government agents moved in to demolish portions of the sprawling lagoon slum. The resistance from the inhabitants over the demolition of areas the government said were under the high-tension electric wires supplying power to the highbrow Lagos Island, led to the death, by stray police bullet, of one person, a Makoko chieftain.

With the action being predicated on a notice, which according to press reports was dated July 12 2012, many Lagosians and international NGOs felt the government reaction was high handed and a push for government to stop the demolitions began on 16 July 2012. The NGO Social and Economic Rights Center (SERAC) was at the forefront of efforts to get the government to show a more humane outlook to the issue of Makoko. The demolition stopped, but it is common knowledge that it is only a matter of time before government returns, perhaps with more determination to remove the settlement.

With this inevitability in mind, Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) organised an open space workshop on climate resilient strategies for environmental design. While the open space workshop centred on climate resilient

strategies for environmental design, the plight of the people of Makoko and how it could be best addressed featured significantly. Kunle Adeyemi, whose floating school project was funded through the research stage by HBS, as a social design intervention in Makoko, was on hand to show how interacting with the people in their environment led to the development of his pet project. From a single flood resilient school now under construction, Mr. Adeyemi is looking at a significant upgrade of the entire community from stilt buildings to aesthetically pleasing and architecturally conceptualised floating buildings.

Listening to Kunle Adeyemi talk about his vision for Makoko and viewing the slides of the concept, the awe of the audience was not misplaced. What Adeyemi, who was a resource person at the open space workshop, proposed is innovative and would not just transform Makoko from a slum settlement into a modern settlement, but would make it a standard for the rest of the world. His slides showed a different Makoko, one with uniformity and the sort of organised layouts that are not readily evident in Nigerian cities. As incredible as it may seem for Makoko to be upgraded from a slum to something to be emulated, Kunle Adeyemi is not alone in his world. While his proposal had benefited from the input of marine experts and some of the best minds in the housing and boat building industry and is already being test run with the floating school prototype being built in Makoko; other architects and designers appeared to have similar projects in mind. They presented various water resilient building designs and strategies to the workshop participants.

Aside from the designs for water resilient buildings, HBS also received proposals for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, especially of the type that could be implemented on short notice without having to tear down the urban-scape in developing nations. Just as they did with the floating building concept, the designers and architects came up with various innovative means of flood control in urban areas. The proposals were also developed with cost in mind and utilisation of items sourced from the immediate environment was key.

HBS had called for entries from architects, designers and anyone interested in providing solutions to the specified problem. Of the proposals submitted, nine respondents were invited to be present their proposals at the open space workshop.

Community participation was a critical criteria at the open space workshop. After the first day when the various proposals were introduced to the workshop participants, teams, drawn from the participants, were built around the various proposals and the race to make them better began. Well before representatives of various communities in Lagos, who were among the invited participants, added their input to the designs, it was already clear that the designers had them in mind as they mostly worked in tandem with what was already obtainable in the community—to keep down the cost of their interventions.

By the time the open space workshop rounded up on the third day, all the proposals had undergone extensive improvements. Of the flood resilient building designs presented and improved upon, Alafuro Sikoki and Ademusin Kanyisade's design was found quite remarkable. Their initial design was simple and unique, perhaps because it came from the collaboration between an industrial designer and an architect. However, what was more striking is the passion with which they approached the project, a passion that, we must add here, every other team appeared to embody.

That level of passion was heightened in a partnership that evolved during the course of the workshop when two presenters who had similar ideas proposals chose to collaborate and work together during the breakout sessions. Eventually, Oyekemi Oyelola and Michael Johnson Temidayo - the SUDS team as they were called - got commendation for their simple and concise proposal. Oyekemi Oyelola is a researcher for Coventry University in the United Kingdom, while Michael Johnson Temidayo is an architect and designer. Their presentation for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems were focussed on utilizing rainwater harvesting, use of natural vegetation and other passive interventions to reduce the volume and velocity of storm

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Flood Resilience & Slum Upgrading The HBS way

-Mazi Nwonwu

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water run-off which leads to flooding.

The workshop organisers also sought tenable proposals that could define a roadmap for community engagement to ensure the sustainability of proposed ideas. Omoayena Yadua's proposal fit the bill perfectly for stakeholders involvement. She is an Urban Planner and a lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional planning in the University of Lagos.

“My presentation was on the stakeholders approach and talked about an integrated approach to solving climate change problems like flooding. We identified every private citizen, government, corporate and professional angle. We identified that the government alone cannot tackle it, citizens alone cannot embark on solutions and the professionals too cannot provide solutions that would not be adopted by both the government and the citizens. So we adopted a holistic approach, which was created in a triangle showing arrows connecting the professionals, the people and the policy makers. We proposed that that is going to give us a sustainable solution because the people will agree to what they were involved in. The government is going to be in agreement with a policy they jointly formulated and the professionals—we the planners, architects and others—will be able to learn from the lessons from the people and the past lessons from the government in trying to implement such solutions,” says Yadua.

Monika Umunna of HBS agrees with Yadua on the need to involve the local communities in formulating any intervention meant for them. But she is also looking at the future, at further interventions from HBS. “We are working in the area of climate change and we noticed that there is increased flooding, especially in informal settlements in low-lying coastal areas. So we wanted to find solutions for the poor people so they don't have to be evicted by government, by showing government that there are architectural and urban planning solutions. Makoko is one area we are looking at, but there are other areas. We have people here from Amuwo Odofin, from Yaba and Ajegunle where there is flooding as well. We try to find solutions for all of them, especially as the problem is different for each area. There are also possibilities, Like amphibious houses. For instance, where you have fishermen along the shores and when there is flooding their amphibious houses rise with the flood, ensuring their safety.

We don't want this to end here. We would have a look at the proposals again—a closer look—and

those ones that fit into our program objective will receive a small grant for community liaison. They will go into the communities, present their ideas and discuss with them whether it will be feasible or not. We are looking at inculcating this participatory approach which is missing at the moment in the type of architecture and urban planning available,” she says.

This interest in the input of the communities is one aspect of the HBS approach that differentiates it from similar interventions. The architects, designer and town planners involved in the open space workshop were driven by a passion to uplift the society, while working together with the target community and having their welfare in mind.

Why was this open space workshop necessary?

Besides the already stated fate of Makoko, flooding has become a worldwide phenomenon and places that have never known heavy rainfall are getting overwhelmed. With the increasing cost to life and property associated with flooding, a workshop of this nature is timely. The issue of flood resilient buildings is one that Architects world over are talking about and working on. In the UK, at about the same time the HBS workshop was ongoing, the design of a flood resilient building that rises and falls with the groundwater level was unveiled and touted as the new standard for Britain. Similar research is currently ongoing in the US and Australia, mostly sponsored by the governments of those countries or the agency in charge of housing or the environment as the case may be.

In Nigeria, where urban planning and environmental issues are not on the front burner, HBS stepped in to respond to an urgent issue. It is hoped that the government and its agencies in Nigeria will collaborate with forward looking initiatives like HBS's to give due attention to environmental issues that affect communities. A good step in this direction was exhibited at the workshop as relevant agencies of the Lagos State government were represented at the three-day workshop.

Bukky Oyedeji, an architect, who moderated the three-day open space workshop sums the experience up this way: “The level of participation from the people

that were available for the workshop was very good. The participants were very diverse, we had professors, we had students—secondary school, university, post graduate--, we had practitioners; people who run offices and knew the A-Z of running a firm. And we also had planners; different professions, people from the government ministries—Environment, Physical Planning a n d s e v e r a l o t h e r g o v e r n m e n t ministries—and there were others from NGOs, and representative of the local communities. This was very good. I think this is why we've had a very well-rounded outcome. I feel HBS did the right thing, rather than think up a solution and impose it on the community, they sourced for ideas from within the community and brought it all out for analysis and investigation and we were able to draw up a couple that may really get implemented. I think that is the right way of doing it.”

Oyedeji continues: “I think the SUDS solutions were very good. I can see how they can be implemented next year if you wanted to and you have government backing. I think the Planning Stakeholder Involvement proposal was also very practical and will definitely bring the kind of result that we need. Finally, the WAFT house: all the houses had similar ideas, but I particularly liked that one because it paid particular attention to the existing culture and use of material within the area which they incorporated into their ideas. I really think it is very possible for them to build that house with minimal cost. I know it still requires a lot of investigation and analysis, by other experts such as oceanographers and structural engineers, but I can totally see it being relevant to that community.”

It can be argued then that with careful application of sustainable design and planning interventions, Makoko and other communities existing hitherto under the threat of flooding could truly become that standard through which flood resilient building and planning interventions would be measured in the future. However, for that to be achieved, the results of workshops such as HBS's Open Space Workshop on Climate Resilient Strategies for Environmental Design would have to be implemented with requisite courage, passion and innovation.

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s a lead presenter at the HBS workshop

Aon flood resilient design and planning, Kunle Adeyemi, architect and

founder of NLÉ, (an architecture and urbanism practice established in The Netherlands) presented his ongoing work designing and building a floating school for the Makoko community as a template for water based accommodation. His prototype, which has input from marine engineers and other experts is in an advanced stage of completion, though the expanded scope he has for the initiative will encompass the whole of Makoko, with the prototype adapted for residential and other purposes. Mazi Nwonwu interacted with him at the HBS Open Space workshop.

DP: It is quite intriguing hearing about your project for Makoko. How will the floating building be anchored?

Adeyemi: Well there are different anchoring methods, could be chains or anything that allows stability. The most popular these days is the one where you have the house fixed to a post in the ground which allows it to move up and down as the water rises and falls. These anchoring methods are proven, some have been in use for hundreds of years. DP: I noticed that your floating building prototype utilises local materials. Is this going to impact on the cost and how much do you think one unit would amount to?

Adeyemi: We are using local materials for that reason, to ensure that the people we are building it for are able to afford it and also do it themselves, so it is easy to maintain and sustainable in that regard. Our design is not very different from what is existing in Makoko in terms of materials and technology, but in terms of the overall result we've brought

many ideas together to create something new and unique. In terms of cost, we are still working on the prototype so we don't have a fixed cost at the moment, what we can say for sure is that it is definitely going to be cheaper than building on land. And that was the point, to find a sort of middle ground between what is existing in Makoko and what is happening on land. It is not going to be cheaper than the buildings in Makoko because that is as cheap as it gets.

DP: Would it be possible to adapt your prototype for building on land?

Adeyemi: Yeah. The building is potentially amphibious. And since flooding is not only about water, it is also about land. Yes, the proposal can be adapted to respond to flood prone areas. In this case, when it floods the buildings rise above water and fall when it subsides.

DP: Your prototype is very beautiful in the visualisation. However, when you consider the waters around Makoko, you will agree that pollution is an issue.

Adeyemi: Makoko is polluted not just because the residents of Makoko throw garbage into the lagoon. Makoko itself is a receptacle of the sewer system from land. It is within a drainage channel, but the drainage channel just empties into the lagoon around Makoko and this adds to the waste generated in Makoko. Now to the

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question, there are strategies for maintaining drainage channels even inside water. These infrastructural systems need to be addressed. On the communal level, like any other civilised society, it is about cultural orientation; that people should not just dump waste inside a body of water. They should dump waste in a bag. In Europe and any of the other so-called advanced societies, you put your waste out three times in a week and someone comes to pick it up. We can do the same thing here. Waste collection strategies should be implemented and cultural attitudes towards waste should be changed. You could gather your waste and someone comes with a boat and take it away. We can also look at waste management as an economic activity run by the community. We are also looking at strategies for managing organic waste, recycling

it, or using it as biogas or as compost, which could then be used to produce food. There is actually nothing new, it is about the support and putting all these ideas together to produce tangible results.

DP: What was your motivation for the Makoko floating village, is it something you feel very s t r o n g l y a b o u t o r a b u s i n e s s proposition—something you make money from.

Adeyemi: The Makoko upgrade project is one that I am passionate about. It started out with me wanting to provide solutions, but we scaled it up when we realised that this problem is beyond providing one little school, it is a bigger issue. This is not just a problem of Makoko , but something that impacts coastal cities in Nigeria and beyond. Of course, we are a business organisation, but we are a business organisation with a social and environmental consciousness, which means that even though we are not a non-profit organisation this is not about making money. Yes we have to be paid for our time and all, but everybody who is involved believes passionately that it is something that must be done. DP

NLE�s floating school project- A viable prototype for flood resilient architecture

Kunle Adeyemi

Visualization courtesy NLÉ

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is a drainage system that mimics nature. I am very happy about this forum, it allows for people with ideas that can be beneficial to Nigeria, not just Lagos, as it gives them a space to show these ideas and hopefully bring it to fruition. I applaud this and I hope more forums like this will be encouraged and sponsored.

DP: Do you think it would be possible to implement the interventions you've come up with here in Nigeria? Can we implement the intervention in the existing city scape?

Michael: They are very adaptable. You can implement them very well in existing cities and don't have to move to new sites at all. You also don't have to destroy anything. The essence of it is adaptability, that is the only way you can keep the cost low. If you can't adapt it, it can't be low cost.

DP: Please tell me about your project and the impact you expect it to have on Lagos and Nigeria in general.

Oyekemi: I am a researcher for Coventry University in the United Kingdom, I presented a research topic comparing conventional drainage system with sustainable drainage system and what options are available for Lagos as a mega city. I believe that this workshop is a very helpful one, especially as it brings together stakeholders such as town planners, government officials and researchers to brainstorm on the best way to apply sustainable urban drainage system to mitigate the effect of flooding and other problems arising from climate change.

Michael: I am an architect and designer. I presented a proposal for a low cost sustainable drainage system. What it means

n interesting collaboration evolved during the course of the workshop when

Atwo presenters who had similar ideas proposals chose to work together during the breakout sessions. Eventually, Oyekemi Oyelola and Michael

Johnson Temidayo - the SUDS team as they were called - got commendation for their simple and concise proposal. Oyekemi Oyelola is a researcher for Coventry University in the United Kingdom, while Michael Johnson Temidayo is an architect and designer. Their presentation for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) were focussed on utilizing rainwater harvesting, use of natural vegetation and other passive interventions to reduce the volume and velocity of storm water run-off which leads to flooding.

The pair spoke with Design Pages after their first presentation.

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Illustrations courtesy the SUDS group

Oyekemi Oyelola & Michael Temidayo Johnson

Oyekemi Oyelola & Michael Temidayo Johnson

With secondary school students during the breakout session

Michael Temidayo Johnson presenting SUDS

Michael Temidayo Johnson presenting SUDS

f the flood resilient building designs

Opresented and improved upon, Alafuro Sikoki and Ademuson

Kanyinsade's design was found quite remarkable. Their initial design was simple and unique, perhaps because it came from the collaboration between an industrial designer and an architect.

Design Pages: Great meeting you guys. Please tell us what motivated your participation in this workshop.

Sikoki: Our team is called WAFT and the reason we answered the call for proposal is purely social and also for technological advancement. I am an industrial designer, my colleague is an architect, and we are working to serve a community in need. At the same time we are taking into account cultural preservation because we really need—in this part of the world—to conserve and also to document our history and our traditions. Especial ly our home-grown African technology. I know it sounds funny using those two words together (laughter), it is almost like an oxymoron, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. I think it is about time we learn to respect indigenous cultures and the effort people have made in these parts to overcome their environment. Here we have local knowledge and scientific knowledge coming together to work for the greater good. So let's save lives, let's save loss of property and allow people to live with dignity.

DP: Great! Now let's hear from you sir. As an architect working with an industrial designer, two days ago you said your prototype is at a conceptual stage, now you've had the opportunity to work with a lot of people on this, how far have you come?

Kanyinsade: You could say we've come a long way. Starting with a conceptual design, it was really about the initial idea: this is the problem, how do we solve the problem. However, because we were two individuals, it was difficult for us to answer all the questions that might arise. Now, because we were able to work with other people, most especially people from the community, we've been able to identify their exact needs and adapt our designs with technology and other innovations that came from talking to other professionals in the field, people who have gone ahead of us. We are still not able to answer all the questions, because our design is still in an evolutionary stage. So it is still going to get better, it is still going to grow, to become an answer to the present situation in Makoko. And like she rightly said, we are not

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WAFT: SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

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DP: Now, looking at all the prototypes and proposals submitted for this open space workshop, which do you think is the most practicable.

Yadua: Every project shown today is workable. I believe so much in innovation. Twenty years or thirty years ago people did not know that a time will come when we will have the widespread use of mobile phones. I see all the plans proposed here are plans for the future, but we just have to bear in mind the views of the people we are planning for. We have to put the governing body, which will regulate them, into consideration. It is when we cover all angles that we can achieve sustainability. We should have in mind that sustainability is providing for the future generation while ensuring the present generation is not jeopardised.

DP: Ok, last question. Your group got a commendation, were you the only ones that submitted a stakeholder based proposal?

Yadua: No, we were not the only ones, but we are the only one that called for a holistic approach. We asked that the citizens be carried along at every stage, not just at the finishing stage. We also believe they should be involved at the stage of identifying the problem.

Omoayena Yadua's proposal met the workshop organisers’ requirement for tenable

proposals that could define a roadmap for community engagement to ensure the sustainability of proposed ideas. Her proposal fit the bill perfectly for stakeholders involvement. She is an Urban Planner and a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional planning of the University of Lagos.

Design Pages: Please can you tell us about your presentation and the impact you think it will have on the community.

Yadua: My presentation was on the stakeholders approach and talked about integrated approach to solving climate change problems like flooding. We identified every private citizen, government, corporate and professional angle. We identified that the government alone cannot tackle it, citizens alone cannot embark on solutions and the professional too cannot provide solutions that would not be adopted by both the government and the citizens. So we adopted a holistic approach, which was created in a triangle showing arrows connecting the professionals, the people and the

policy makers. We proposed that that is going to give us a sustainable solution because the people will agree to what they were involved in. The government is going to be in agreement with a policy they jointly formulated and the professionals—we the planners, architects and others—will be able to learn from the lessons from the people and the past lessons from the government in trying to implement such solutions.

DP: So we can understand your intervention to mean involving the end users and the government in whatever changes you intent to introduce and to ensure they are part of the planning.

Yadua: Yes, because if we design the floating cities and the government does not approve of it, even if the people do, that design is forfeit. But if the designers, planners and the government come together and the government gives their word that they would support the project, success would be achieved. However, if we work in isolation then we can never be sure of success and may end up with a stalemate.

Communityengagement

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Omoayena Yadua

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By reason of good governance and best management practices,

integrated participatory approach to adapting and

mitigating flooding is a sin-qua-non to building a resilient coastal

community in an urban area.

ProfessionalsPolicy makers

People

INTEGRATED PARTICIPATORY

APPROACH

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nitan Oloto is an architect and a lecturer

Eat the University of Lagos. She proposed a flood resilient building that

incorporates local building materials and is very keen on a marriage between modern building technologies and the traditional.

Design Pages: Your concept and the prototype you showed is unique, in that the approach is quite different from what we got from the others. However, I am interested in the practicability, how practicable is it in terms of cost and does the materials reflect what you already have in Makoko?

Oloto: I focussed my research on three major concepts: practicability, affordability and adaptability. Also every architect or project manager should be thinking of cost, because that is usually the major challenge in design. The material used for building plays a major role where cost is concerned. For floatation, we considered using the barrel—though some people where a bit sceptical about it. For the walls, we considered plywood and bamboo. For the windows, we considered louvers, which is quite affordable. According to UN habitat, by the year 2020 people should have adequate housing. Now they did not say luxurious homes. So we are looking at affordable and decent houses for the people of Makoko. You know Makoko is a close knit community and as such crime is at a minimum, so this cancels the need to reinforce the walls and all that. So I was looking at a design that if we are called to get to site and start building tomorrow we would have something to present. You know it would be good, with all the agitations about Makoko, to have something that the government can buy into, something that will not require manufacturing, something that is practical. So my design is anchored around things that can be procured on short notice. I am not looking at solar panels and all those extra technologies; I am looking at providing a house, a decent house first off.

DP: Seeing that your structure is something that is meant to float on water, I am looking at flooding as something that has become endemic all over the world and the fact that it might increase, what with all the El Nino and what not. My question is; can we build something like what you have on land?

Oloto: Definitely, but for land the technology is slightly different, and probably more technical. There is a conference I was supposed to attend in the UK, Urban

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Amphibious pre-fab homes

DP: in terms of mass housing, what is your take on moving away from concrete and using wood, plastic and brick to minimise cost?

Oloto: I am doing a PHD presently, in UNILAG, and my main competence is urban renewal and mass housing using prefabrication. So yes, there are many alternatives. Prefab takes our minds off the traditional method of construction and focusing on other innovative. I went to a conference in Sao Paulo recently and they were propagating things like modular units and container housing. These are things I am passionate about, the things that guided me to what I wanted to do in my PHD and what I should be doing as a researcher. So yes, we should start thinking of other alternatives and stop thinking that we can provide affordable houses with concrete. It is not practical. Mortgage banks are shying away because they know the masses can't afford it. Cement too is still very expensive.

Resilience Conference, I presented a paper there, but could not make it because of accreditation in my department here, it was talking about things like that. I narrowed my scope to floatation for this design because I was thinking about what we can take to site immediately, but they are actually houses and can be built anywhere. So, I think it can be done and it would require just slight alterations. So town planners, architects, everyone needs to upgrade their minds, laws have to change too, to accommodate these innovations. The word is resilience, which is the ability to bounce back. DP

Vizualizations courtesy of Enitan Oloto

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uti Ezebiro, an architect, together with

Khis colleague Paul Akpokodje represented a team led by Prof. David

Aradeon to present a proposal that explored the use of mechanized cesspools as a means of flood control and a floatation system for flood resilient building called Flotilla.

Design Pages: Please tell us about your prototype.

Kuti Ezebiro: My group worked on flood resilient building and urban adaptation to flooding. As architects and researchers, we are interested in responding to urban problems. And we consider whatever we can do in terms of achieving solutions or interventions to these problems as part of the social relevance of our profession and if we succeed in getting a solution we would be happy that we were able to contribute to the uplift of the society.

DP: Did you consider the cost while designing your prototype?

Ezebiro: Yes we did. We considered the cost without actually putting our finger on a figure. There is a rule of thumb in generating design with cost in mind. So we were using the rule of thumb, that is, rather than using this method which obviously looks like it is going to be expensive, we intend to use this other method which we know is comparatively cheaper based on the rule of thumb.

DP: I particularly liked what you came up with for the flood resilient building; using the monolithic plastic socket balls as float. But then considering the cost, especially where the people of Makoko are already using materials sourced from their environment, don't you think this will be an added cost to them, especially when they have to buy the floatation devices from a factory? Have you factored in the materials already in use in Makoko while designing your prototype.

Ezebiro: We know what they are using. What they have there are shanties. What you could call squatter settlements. That is not to say they would not prefer to have an upgrade. If you look at the scale of wood that has been used there, you will know that truly they are also a source of deforestation, as well as very susceptible to decay and fire. We are not saying don't use wood, wood as you know is a building material, but when an entire environment is strictly based on wood, somebody has to supply that wood. Our forests are depleting faster than we can replenish them. So if we upgrade the place such that the

Flotilla

use of wood is minimised and we still achieve buoyancy, we would have succeeded. The Makoko people are not averse to living a better life. DP

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epresenting the Department of

RArchitecture, University of Lagos, Oluokun Adeola Titilope presented on

bio-engineering solutions for climate change induced flooding, drawing from research she had carried out as a post graduate student of the University, supervised by Dr. Adejumo. The break out session that deliberated on the issues raised from her first presentation was led by Prof. Fadamiro and focused on flood mitigation using the following bio-engineering measures:

* Revetment

* Flood wall and Embankment

* Retention Pond

* Afforestation

The presentation, which picked Ajegunle community in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos as a subject area, went beyond the bare technologies a term like bio-engineering might suggest, to address the impact and extended value derivable from the adoption of nature itself as bulwark against climate change.

In that regard, Adeola’s presentation also concerned itself with educating participants on the extended benefits of the proposed solutions to the inhabitants of the target community; some of which include:

* Utilization of canal right of way for agricultural purposes, this can engage middle-aged women with an alternative source of livelihood.

* Retention ponds can be used for aquaculture to boost fish farming activities.

* The retained water can be treated for domestic purposes.

* Flood walls which serve as flood barriers also present an aesthetic value.

* The areas earmarked for afforestation could also be used as natural parks for recreation.

Issues of displacement, resettlement and land use were also discussed in trying to develop a holistic strategy for ensuring the interventions proposed do not create new problems for the host community.

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bio-engineeringsolutions for climate change induced flooding

DPDP

Oluokun Adeola Titilope

Visualizations courtesy Oluokun Adeola Titilope

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ukky Oyedeji, an architect specialized in

Bthe design of educational facilities moderated the three-day open space

workshop organised by HBS. We caught up with her after all had been said and done.

Design Pages: You moderated this open space workshop for the duration, what are your views?

Oyedeji: I think it was an excellent workshop. The level of participation from the people that were available for the workshop was very good. The participants were very diverse, we had professors, we had students—secondary school, university, post graduate--, we had practitioners; people who run offices and knew the A-Z of running a firm. And we also had planners; different professions, people from the government ministries—Environment, physical planning and several other government ministries—and they were others from NGOs, and representative of the local communities. These was very good. I think this is why we have a very well-rounded outcome. I feel HBS did the right thing, rather than think up a solution and impose it on the community, they sourced for ideas within the community and brought it out for analysis and investigation and we were able to draw up a couple that may really get implemented. I think that is the right way of doing it.

DP: I can safely say this is down your alley, especially since you are an architect. What is your personal view of the prototypes that people showcased here?

Oyedeji: I think the SUD solutions were very good. I can see how they can be implemented next year if you wanted to and you have government backing. I think the Planning

Stakeholder Involvement was also very practical and will definitely bring the kind of result that we need. Finally, the WAFT house: all the houses had similar ideas, but I particularly liked that one because it paid particular attention to the existing culture and use of material within the area which they incorporated that into their ideas. I really think it is very possible for them to build that house with minimal cost. I know it still requires a lot of investigations and analysis, by other experts such as oceanographers and structural engineers, but I can totally see it being relevant to that community.

DP: Do you see the government playing a part in this?

Oyedeji: Definitely, I think we challenged a lot of their thinking and they challenged ours too. For example I never thought of the Lagos Lagoon as the drainage system for the much of western Nigeria, I just taught of it as a lagoon. Now I know that if you are slowing it down by building on it you are creating problem for others inland. This

place is not going to exist in a vacuum, what you do here affects other places. This is a more holistic approach of looking at it, but then that doesn't give them (the government) the right to force evictions, to force people to move. I am sure the government representatives had the opportunity to listen to some of the things that were said here and may incorporate some of these ideas into the ways they do things.

DP: You know Lagos, I am sure very well, and that one of the major problems here is population, which keeps expanding. What is your take on using the materials intended for the projects showcased and those used in Makoko, which are usually sourced locally for mass housing? Is this viable?

Oyedeji: This is actually my passion, I have been trying to identify what I would call the contemporary Nigerian architecture, and I think it is not about form or programming alone, it is also in terms of building construction, the building technology that we use. I honestly believe that concrete blocks are completely inappropriate for our climate. The type of building that is appropriate for our climate is the type that breaths and this is what bamboo is. So I will like to investigate professional how we can bring this materials into contemporary terms so they are more long lasting, they are more aesthetically pleasing and then we can begin to use these material to build rather than continue with the concrete blocks. Concrete blocks are also so hard to maintain, and we need to take into cognisance the fact that we don't really have a good maintenance culture. So we should really strive to design and build using materials that require minimal maintenance. I think there are a lot of opportunities to investigate in this particular issue.

We are just a political education organisation. So we want to create ideas,

that is our main objective, but of course we don't want this to end here. We would have a

look at the proposals again�a closer look�and those ones that fit into our

program objective will receive a small grant for community liaison. They will go into the

communities, present their ideas and discuss with them whether it will be feasible

or not. We are looking at inculcating this participatory approach which is missing at the moment in the type of architecture and

urban planning available.

Monika Umunna, HBS Lagos Liaison Officer and convener of the workshop.

Moderating an open space for ideas

Bukky Oyedeji

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t h e e v e n t i n p i c t u r e s . . .

Dr. Michael Adebamowo. Head, Department of Architecture

Monika Umunna hbs, Lagos

Oyedeji with Christine K.the Director hbs

Bukola OyedejiTunde AkingbadeEnvironmental Journalist

Arc. Kuti Ezebiro

Deliberating on the proposals presented

Prof. John Godwin

Christine K. hbs Director

Enitan Oloto presenting

WAFT team presenting

Fabienne Hodzel

Dr. Michael Adebamowo

Oluokun Adeola Titilope

Kunle Adeyemi & Bukola Oyedeji

Students in attendance

Dr. Adejumo

Dr. UmukoroHead, Dept of Urban & Regional Planning

Workshop attendees

Engr. Adeyemi, Director of Planning, Ministry of Environmentaddressing participants

Mrs. Kahosara Adebayo, Market Leader Asejere market,

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