Projects

KEUR FÀTTALIKU — The House of Recollection

An elevation view of a large library building with a large, sloping roof and perforated walls. Large trees surround the structure.

by Mariama Muhammadou Modou Kah (MArch II ’24)

The Western canon valorizes its ability to define, critique, and comprehend itself through the lens of its recorded histories. Credence and legitimacy are assigned to the documents produced, with alters constructed to their study and exploration. For societies whose histories are retained in orality, a dynamic methodology of social memory transmittance and cultural production, such paradigms are limited and reductive.  

Orality calls out to the architect for a space to be housed and edified. But how must this amorphous memory-keeping practice and the act of its recollection dwell?

Taking on the themes of memory and repair to envision the architecture of oral history, this thesis aims to challenge the notions around memory institutions, shed their status as static repositories, and conceive an architecture that establishes the intimacy of understanding the past and is the site for conceiving the why of the future, in the capital city of Banjul, The Gambia.

A series of maps showing locations in Banjul, the capital of the Gambia. The image also includes diagrams showing people gathering beneath a tree or in homes to share stories.
Left to Right] (1) Map of Banjul, The Gambia. (2) Location of National Library. (3) Matrix of Memory: A Catalog of Orality; A measured exercise of Oral Tradition and Memory Practices at work in Gambian Society.
A digital rendering of a circular courtyard surrounded by two-storey structures. A tree is in the center of the courtyard and it rises into a rooflike shade structure resembling an inverted cone. People sit in the courtyard and some are wearing long gowns and robes.
The community gathers in the Outdoor Aural Theatre under the acoustic installation. Peeking out of the roof, visible from the front façade, and clad in ceramic tiles that aid in the sound projection of the oral performances that occur under it, this portion of the project forms the heart of the project.
A model of a large library and cultural center with different buildings arranged around open walkways and courtyards.
Model Image, detailed view into the courtyard.
A digital rendering of a courtyard area surrounded by two-storey structures. A sunken garden in the center of the courtyard has grass and trees. People in traditional African dress wall through the space or sit in the courtyard.
Courtyards form outdoor rooms that frame and animate the project and can take the appearance of planted spaces that provide shade and comfort or sunken amphitheaters for performances or gatherings.
A model of a large library and cultural center, viewed from overhead.
Model Image, top view.
A rendering of a large open space with book shelves. Clerestory windows open to the outside and a series of doors lets in more light. A child and an adult sit reading on a mat on the floor.
Interior View of Children’s Library
A model of a large library and cultural center.
Model Image, front view.
A floor plan of a large library building and cultural institution.
Complex-Compound Ground Floor Plan