| Whenever one sees a picture of a hut, one thinks of | | | | the full-time job of protecting the tribe from lions and |
| Africa. Indeed, huts have been the defining architectural | | | | other dangers lurking in the savannah. |
| hallmark of Africa, and throughout the continent, they | | | | A very satisfying effect of this yearly renewal was |
| have been the preferred building style. | | | | the psychological effect. There was an atmosphere of |
| Huts are a form of living space. Huts are usually round, | | | | renewal every year; of new life, of a fresh start, of |
| with a peaked roof. They are usually made of mud or | | | | soul cleansing and a doing away with the past. Every |
| clay, with a wooden structure to support the building, | | | | year. This is a very healthy psychological perspective. |
| and a single wooden pole in the centre, which supports | | | | Festivals featuring dancing and feasting also |
| the grass-thatched roof. | | | | accompanied this period. |
| Many critics of Africa claim that Africa can boast no | | | | In today's world, acquiring a home has such a finality to |
| great cultures south of Egypt. By that, they often | | | | it. A sense of being rooted and captured by one |
| mean that there is no architectural evidence of | | | | building for one's lifetime. |
| greatness south of the Pyramids. Indeed, architecture | | | | Because they were low-cost, huts were also very |
| or architectural remains are the accepted calling card | | | | flexible. One could build a homestead of huts: one for |
| of the so-called 'great cultures'. | | | | cooking, another for sleeping, another for receiving |
| While most of Africa can boast no such fossil | | | | visitors, and so on. Every time one needed a new hut, |
| evidence, there is reason to believe that the | | | | one simply built one. Adolescent boys were given a |
| architectural choices made by the Africans thus far | | | | piece of land where they could build their own huts, a |
| are neither as accidental nor as simplistic as they may | | | | distance away from the rest of the family. Their |
| seem. | | | | privacy was assured, and their activities within their |
| For one, most of Africa is warm to hot throughout the | | | | huts were nobody's concern. A lot of adolescents |
| year, without an extended winter period. The most | | | | today would appreciate the idea of having one's own |
| uncomfortable climatic period is the long rains, during | | | | hut. |
| which it rains a lot, mostly every day. However, in most | | | | Huts are very comfortable and exactly right for many |
| of Africa, it showers, rather than rains. That means a | | | | parts of Africa. This is mainly because of the building |
| quick and voluminous period of precipitation, unlike rain | | | | materials used. Both clay and grass are good |
| in Europe for example, which may be a slight but | | | | insulators, but are porous, and so allow a free flow of |
| continuous precipitation. In addition, most of Africa, | | | | air. It is often very hot during the afternoons in Africa. |
| which lies at the equator, experiences almost equal | | | | The hut remains cool and is a welcome resting place. |
| twelve-hour periods each for night and day. This is in | | | | At night, when temperatures fall, the hut retains its |
| contrast to for example Europe, where in winter, | | | | daytime temperature, keeping the inhabitants warm. |
| darkness may be up eighteen hours long. | | | | Huts are also very low-maintenance. A well-renovated |
| As such, most of life in Africa is lived outside. A shelter | | | | hut only needs to be swept once a day with a straw |
| is needed only for the night, against the cold and as | | | | broom. There was no need to wipe, polish or dust. |
| shelter from wild animals. There has never been a | | | | Accidents with liquids were undramatic because the |
| need to invest as heavily in shelter as has been done | | | | liquid was simply absorbed into the earth. The only real |
| in Europe for example. Strictly speaking, there was | | | | danger was fire, since the thatched roofs could burn |
| rarely a situation in Africa where lack of shelter would | | | | very quickly, trapping the people inside. |
| have been life-threatening. In many African cultures, | | | | Recently, an architectural team in Switzerland has |
| nomads, hunters, warriors and messengers were often | | | | 'discovered' the virtues of clay as a building material. |
| away from home for long periods without having | | | | Clay is a strong, durable material that is easy to work |
| shelter. | | | | with. Applied correctly, it can be used to build |
| Huts are often small, and made of the readily available | | | | structures that are stable, durable and aesthetic |
| mud or river clay, plastered over a skeleton of | | | | without necessitating the use of paint and cement. |
| branches. They were completely inexpensive in both | | | | Most important of all, clay is healthy. It has now been |
| materials and labour. In many cultures, the women did | | | | proven that clay filters out toxins from the |
| the plastering, while the men did the thatching of the | | | | environment. Modern building materials like cements, |
| roof. Among the Maasai of East Africa, the woman | | | | paint, fillers and metals release toxins that compromise |
| builds the whole structure, which is referred to as a | | | | human health and well-being. A building made of clay |
| manyatta. | | | | or mud is completely eco-friendly, provided the initial |
| Because of this relaxed philosophy to shelter, the | | | | source was safe. |
| Africans were not enslaved by the acquisition of | | | | The Africans knew that a long time ago. Huts, made |
| shelter as is often the case in the modern world. In | | | | of natural 'earth' materials, fitted in with their basic |
| today's globalised world, buying one's home is a lifetime | | | | philosophy of drawing on nature for all their needs, and |
| liability that forces one to live chained to a mortgage, | | | | only in the amounts that were needed. For example, |
| under the Damocles sword of a foreclosure. The | | | | calabashes and gourds were used as containers for |
| exploitation of this fear in the U.S.A. contributed to the | | | | milk, water, local beer, porridge, honey or any other |
| current worldwide financial crisis. | | | | liquid. Cooking pots were made of clay, as were water |
| It is also worthy of note that almost all the famous | | | | pots. Cooking sticks were made of wood. |
| architectural monuments of the great cultures were | | | | Water stored in a clay pot has a pleasant, natural |
| built by employing slave labour, forced and semi-forced | | | | coolness, and smells of earth. Drunk out of a calabash, |
| labour. That has never been necessary in Africa south | | | | it has an additional woody flavour. Food cooked in a |
| of the pyramids. In fact, shelter was so inexpensive | | | | clay pot over a wood fire retains an inimitable earthy |
| that the nomads could walk away from their huts at a | | | | aroma, especially fresh beans or meat dishes. |
| moment's notice and walk off into the savannah - the | | | | Sleeping mats or sitting mats were woven out of |
| epitome of freedom. | | | | rushes or made of animal skin, as was clothing. Some |
| It also meant that no family was ever without shelter | | | | people constructed a raised clay platform covered |
| because shelter was unaffordable, unlike in today's | | | | with animal skins or rush mats to act as a seat or a |
| world where many families become homeless if they | | | | bed. Stools were made of wood or woven from |
| experience a financial upset midway through their | | | | rushes. Women wore jewelry made from bone, horn, |
| mortgage. | | | | wood, stone, clay, beads or woven rushes. Foodstuffs |
| In many parts of Africa, the huts were renovated and | | | | were carried or stored in woven rush baskets or clay |
| renewed once a year, after the harvest season and | | | | pots. |
| before the next rains. This was the period with the | | | | This philosophy of living in harmony with the bounty of |
| least work and was like a holiday. The harvest was in, | | | | nature led to zero garbage, since everything was |
| and next agricultural season had not yet begun. The | | | | biodegradable. Indeed, until the advent of modernity |
| women renovated the walls of the huts by plastering | | | | and urbanisation, Africa was a continent of natural |
| with a new layer of mud or clay. White or | | | | beauty preserved in its entirety. |
| ochre-coloured river clay was used as a cosmetic | | | | Sadly, present-day Africans are jumping wholesale |
| finish inside and outside the hut, as well as on the floor. | | | | onto the bandwagon of expensive homes built of |
| Communities that had no access to river clay used a | | | | derived materials, which require a lifetime to pay for |
| mixture of cow-dung and mud, or ash. | | | | and a fortune to repair and maintain. The materials |
| A good African housewife took this duty as seriously | | | | used in modern buildings trap heat, smells and moisture |
| as caring for her own body. A capable wife could be | | | | and are often derived using procedures that harm the |
| identified by her impeccably-kept hut(s). The regular | | | | environment. The houses lack the wellness effect of |
| renovation also served an important hygienic function: | | | | sitting in a hut built entirely out of the earth. They are in |
| river clay is a very clean and wholesome material that | | | | keeping with the modern day trends of inflated |
| discourages the breeding of insects and other pests. | | | | consumerism, self-definition through possession and a |
| Both clay and dried cow dung are similar to ash in this | | | | careless disregard for the planet. |
| respect. Cooking-fire ash from non-poisonous burnt | | | | Happily, some are rediscovering the enchantment of |
| wood is pure enough to be used as an alternative for | | | | huts. They have been re-designed in some cases to |
| toothpaste. | | | | be much larger, with large windows, or combined in |
| Renovation also gave the woman a creative outlet: | | | | intersecting or interconnecting structures. A famous |
| she could paint whatever motifs on her walls that she | | | | hotel in Nairobi, Kenya is built using this concept, with |
| wished. The men re-thatched the hut(s), using grass, | | | | treated straw used for thatching. |
| such as elephant grass which was mostly cut by the | | | | Indeed, more and more people are re-discovering why |
| women. Among the Masaai, the women did the | | | | Africans lived in huts. |
| renovation work as the men were often occupied with | | | | |