Many African countries are home to extraordinary architecture that is virtually unknown. There are interpretations of Art Deco, International Style, Brutalism as well as of African vernacular architecture. Climate-responsive buildings with a fluidity of interior and exterior spaces play a large role. While many of these 20th century architects were of European origin, they were deeply influenced by their surroundings and found original, site-specific expressions, often in collaboration with African architects. A focus of the construction activities were educational buildings which played an important role for these young nations that mostly gained their independence in the 1960s. While some of the documented buildings have been restored, others are still awaiting reconstruction.

Dealing with heritage requires that the restoration architect makes well-considered and definable choices. It should not only be about conservation, but attention must and may also be paid to making heritage future-proof. When it comes to making heritage future-proof, we still stand at the start of a major (sustainability) transition, in which making interventions will be indispensable. Such interventions are made possible by recognizing and utilizing the opportunities that heritage offers, but they should always be made from a view that places the preservation of the core values of the heritage centrally.

This book is part of a series of books produced in cooperation with and financed by the Stichting Rondeltappe-Bernoster-Kemmers. All books of the series have been reviewed and edited by Silvia Naldini, Section of Heritage & Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Heritage—natural and cultural, material and immaterial—plays a key role in the development of sustainable cities and communities. Goal 11, target 4, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasizes the relation between heritage and sustainability. The International LDE Heritage conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development Goals, which took place from 26 to 28 November 2019 at TU Delft in the Netherlands, examined the theories, methodologies, and practices of heritage and SDGs. It asked: How is heritage produced and defined? By whom and in what contexts? What are the conceptions of sustainability, and in what ways are these situational and contextual? How can theoretical findings on heritage and SDGs engage with heritage practice?

The Bauhaus had a pioneering influence on design worldwide which still endures today. Through education, experimentation and materialization, a revolution took place in the use of space, combining clarity, fluidity, functionality and beauty. The Weimar/Dessau school is remembered – from Gropius’ Weimar office to the Dessau masters’ houses, interiors and furniture – for its avant-garde approach to architecture, urbanism, and design for mass production and commercialization. While the objects it produced are its material legacy, the human body (or Oskar Schlemer’s “Human being”) was definitively at the centre of this experimental work. The unity between spirit and body spurred a quest into health, movement, hygiene, comfort, and rationality. The aim here is to demonstrate how this concept was achieved within a new use of space through innovative interior design. Materials and forms, as well as reinvigorated bodily awareness contributed to this transformation. The question is, how did Bauhaus’ “bodies” and “minds” challenge traditional ideas about daily life shaping the connection between physical and mental harmony. Using Gideon’s writings, namely “Mechanization takes command” and interior design case studies acquired in Japan, the goal of this paper is a threefold analysis: to explore the way the Bauhaus has inspired modern movement architecture up to the present day, to transform firstly space, and secondly, its use. Finally, the concept of the body: how Bauhaus ideas have migrated around the world to simultaneously promote a clear and hygienic aesthetic, connecting function and abstraction; to demonstrate, beyond das neue sachlichkeit, how one may realize the truth of Novalis’ metaphor: “the more poetic, the more truthful.”