Architectures in Motion

Abstract

Ethiopia is both one of the fastest-growing economies and one of the poorest countries in the world. As its population grows exorbitantly, waves of migrants are flowing endlessly into the capital city. Such a fast pace of development brings about a hallucinated future constituted by processes driven by economic and political forces pursuing efficient outcomes. Addis Ababa wants to deliver quickly, in great quantities and as cheap as possible: there is little time for thinking! Against this background, it seems a matter of great urgency to provide the city with alternative visions. This is particularly relevant if we consider that being a federal city, Addis Ababa is geographically limited, and, therefore, it cannot expand outside of its boundaries. As a result, such a self-destructive spiral tends to move forward while erasing its traces, threatening the most consolidated neighbourhoods that struggle to coexist with the explosive growth of the city. The inner city represents, indeed, a land of high value and the inhabitants who have been living there for more than a hundred years are now under threat of eviction. It appears that the old city and its style of life could be swept away at any moment by a masterplan that does not take into consideration its value. Alongside such a tangible heritage comprised of streets, alleyways and historical architecture composing material narratives, there are human ones moulded through the structures of the longue durée. The question the intervention poses is how can we densify and reconfigure delipidated historical districts without erasing their traces, interpret their styles of life while providing a dynamic structure that can cater for the dreams of their inhabitants? Is it possible to decode decentralized morphogenetic processes and learn from self-organizing systems to design modern cities? Can architecture be something other than the imposition of a demiurge that shapes inert matter, in such a way that it turns into the acceptance of every event of life, constantly balancing freedom and control like a funambulist, not pursuing chaos but rather by being open and not reacting to it. In short, paraphrasing Charles Correa, how can we open new doors to new aspirations while drawing on existing values? Through the exploration of the current situation, complemented with oral fragments of memories and historical footages, I began to familiarize with the processes of becoming of the patterns of everyday life in the neighbourhood. The aim of the project is twofold: on the one hand, it intends to draw on the existing values and collective memory to reconfigure the narratives of historical districts; on the other hand, the ambition is to provide a structure that can adapt through time and be open to change. If the model is neither entirely taken from the current configuration nor imposed as an external solution, but rather one derived from the internal morphogenetic capabilities, a new one, then, could bridge the apparent opposition between local and universal.