By DIXON BWALYA –

IT may be said that indigenous architecture is that architecture which moulded to respond to the local environment which environment may include climatic factors, social and cultural considerations as well as energy demands.

If one was to, somehow, construct an igloo in Zambia it would be alien to the Zambian context just as the Main Post office building on Cairo in Lusaka is imported or colonial architecture in that the building was not designed to respond to Zambian climatic conditions going by the orientation of the large expanse of glazed window openings in this building.

Technology is a tool or a means of resolving construction challenges in the realization of architectural styles but the final architectural product must have a particular context it would be responding to because a building which is successfully responding to its functions on one side of the road may not respond that well if the same building is reproduced across the same road because the impacting factors change.

The continued manifestation of colonial or imported architecture in Zambia could, partly be attributed to the history of Zambia where buildings were designed and constructed without taking into account Zambia’s unique circumstances in terms of social and cultural patterns as well as its climatic conditions.

The continued appearance of colonial or imported architecture in the post independence era could be attributed to the lack of architectural freedom after a long period of colonisation coupled with probably the continued architectural education based on a colonial syllabus.

Even though generally speaking the functions that, for instance, a bedroom is supposed to accommodate are the same all over the world the psychological expectations of how a bedroom should be perceived differ significantly depending on a particular culture of society and this may affect the layout of functional spaces within a building.

However the architectural design elements available for manipulation are the same in the architectural world and comprise basically of form and space which space can be either enclosed space or open space.

There are limited platonic solids where all shapes may be derived from and these solids may include cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders and pyramids. It is the ingenuity in the manipulation of these platonic solids that leads to the transformation of these solids into subtractive or additive forms which can be linear, centralised or indeed clustered forms.

The platonic solids can also be cleverly combined or rotated to create further options of architectural solution possibilities depending on what form determinants are prioritized in the design process.

The form of a building is much more than just the shape of a particular building. The properties of the form of a building also include the chromatic treatment of a building.

•THE Lusaka Post office building on cairo Road design is not indigenous

Different textures of buildings will create different architectural forms just as different positions and orientations of buildings on a particular site may, combined with other factors, result in different forms. The degree of concentration and stability of form will affect its visual perception.

All these design tools are available in the design process but the success of an architectural product will in reality depend on the surrounding and enclosed space as well the context within which the architectural product is set.

Energy considerations as well as the impact on climate of a building and its building process have recently become significant design considerations. Possibilities of design options available to address these recent considerations vary depending on location or building site.

Technology has significantly advanced and has an obvious impact on architectural products but the same technology may be abused in search for architectural styles and sleek building forms.

This abuse may include design solutions which deliberately tend to maximise the greenhouse effect but justified through the use of air condition systems instead of using this technology to supplement an inherent solution to mitigate such negative environmental factors.

In cold climates where natural heat is desirable design of bay windows which project beyond an exterior wall is acceptable as this location in a building coupled with orientation relative to the solar path increases the amount of direct or indirect solar heat intake which could help raise the indoor temperatures to desirable levels.

The same or similar location of windows in a building fabric located in tropical Zambia will increase the already high indoor temperatures and result in unacceptable environment.

In order to successfully respond to the Zambian design requirements as far as solar heat gain is concerned as well as to minimize on dependence on technology and thereby save on energy consumption there are a number of design tools that may be used.

These design tools may include solar orientation of glazed window openings in a building in order to minimise or avoid altogether the adverse impact of solar heat load.

Generally speaking, the best orientation of windows in Zambia is the southern direction followed by the northern direction with the worst directions being east and west, Mukuba Pension building opposite the Inter-City bus station is a good example of this design solution.

There are of course other design solutions used to address solar control including recessed windows and solar shades.

The life and social patterns in Zambia if taken into consideration at the design stage may equally produce architectural forms that are unique to the Zambia context.

Outdoor living in Zambia which is encouraged by virtue of the climate would be a design consideration which would lead to a deliberate incorporation of outdoor living spaces especially in domestic architecture.

There is adequate solar hours in every month in a year to facilitate drying of laundry relying on natural heat rather than electrical laundry dryers again this consideration needs to be adequately addressed in the design process rather than to be treated like an afterthought.

Even the process of determining the size of residential plots requires a space use analysis which would assess the functions expected to take place at a residential plot and how much space each function would require including such functions as gardening or car parking, recently demarcated plots are proving to be too tight for functions that take place in houses.

While design tools and design elements may be universal architectural solutions ought to respond to their particular context.

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