Footprint 32 looks into the many ways the digital turn has impacted the architecture of dwelling. The issue originates from a simple observation: After the digital turn, the house as a paradigm for the discipline seemed to have gone missing from architecture debates. Recent theorisations of the digital in architecture have almost exclusively focused on new methods of production and notions of materiality alongside profound changes to the urban and social dimensions of the built environment. The question of dwelling after the digital turn leads to scrutiny of the history of the digitisation of the house and the shifting nature of domesticity, and to an exploration of involved motivations and values, oscillating between a techno-utopianism to a techno-capitalism. While the boundaries between real and virtual realms are blurred, the house and dwelling find a reconceptualisation in ecological and relational terms, thereby dissolving the house as a discrete object or entity. Privacy, autonomy, and physicality are in need of a rebalancing.

Global Housing: Dwelling in Addis Ababa brings together essays and architectural projects that discuss housing as a key component in the social and urban development of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Over the last two decades the urban landscape of Addis Ababa has been changing at a fast pace, with disruptive consequences for the physical and social fabric of the city. Housing has been one of the key factors for this transformation, affecting job creation, craftsmanship, social and spatial equity, and dwelling practices, to name but a few.

The edited volume brings together twelve architectural projects developed by graduation students from TU Delft’s Global Housing educational program that explore alternative approaches to housing design, dwelling on the challenges brought about by Africa’s urban revolution.

Divided into two sections, this richly illustrated book offers reflections on the city of Addis Ababa, its different types of traditional and contemporary housing and its recent evolution in Part 1; and portfolios of the projects designed by the students enrolled in the program in Part 2. Each portfolio is structured around a theme or issue encountered by the participants in the studio, which is developed upon in a short study. A final essay based on interviews conducted with local actors and examining the challenges set by the city’s rapid urbanization concludes this fascinating contribution to innovative architectural thought in an increasingly urbanized world.