Issa Diabaté founded in Abidjan, with Guillaume Koffi, one of the largest architectural firms on the continent. He is successfully one of the new leaders in the creation and improvement of African urbanism. His approach is enriched by his determination to confuse the symbolic, social and historical dimensions specific to each Africa with the pressing needs of sustainable development. It is for his many assets that his friend Lesley Lokko invited Issa Diabaté to the 18th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale. The Scottish Ghanaian Commissioner is causing a stir with proposals refocused on African cultures and their diasporas around the theme “Decolonization and decarbonization”. A dialogue full of wealth, light and promise for the development of the continent through exhibitors from Ghana, South Africa, Tunisia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Niger, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire. Issa Diabaté hosted Le Point Afrique to tell the story of the Venetian laboratory.
Le Point Afrique: the 18? Venice Architecture Biennale has chosen to put Africa in the spotlight. What does this spotlight mean to you?
Issa Diabaté: Highlighting Africa at this biennale represents for me a form of awareness of the fact that the world is multipolar. An under-industrialized Africa presents an opportunity to do something different. A form of laboratory that would be able to show humanity the path to virtuous development.
Have you defined the criteria for the success of this biennale with Lesley Lokko?
The criteria put forward by Lesley are in fact born of discussions that have been going on between architects on the continent for more than ten years already. We are facing unprecedented challenges to which only we, African architects, can provide lasting answers. Highlighting them in a biennale provides us with academic and conceptual solutions to these challenges.
What are these challenges?
The challenges we face are, among others, population growth, in 40 years, Abidjan has grown from 1 to 6 million inhabitants; inappropriate governance of public space, rulers are more often in reaction rather than prospecting; but also the adoption and integration of new systems such as sustainability and digital. Indeed, mobile money, for example, has a much higher penetration rate than banking, like the mobile phone.
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Yourself, what are you going to offer?
As Koffi and Diabaté, we propose a manifesto that would define a new contract between the city, its citizens and modes of governance. Building the city from its original element, i.e. the village, would make it possible to adopt local modes of governance. We opt for a contained agglomeration, where it is possible to carry out all daily activities without using motorized objects. This has a huge impact on mobility, and in turn on pollution and energy needs. In this urban model, energy and a good part of food needs would be produced on site.
I invite you to see our proposal for the biennale called Ebrah Village.
So you have to conceive of urban planning, architecture as an artistic act in its own right?
If architecture is an art, so is town planning. But both are somewhat special arts that rely on heterogeneous disciplines to create a homogeneous work. There can be no relevant town planning without sociology, without engineering, without aesthetics. Today, other criteria such as sustainability and impact are added to these criteria.
How has your vision for the planning of West African cities evolved?
West African cities present similar challenges to other cities on the continent: being able to reinvent themselves according to their own criteria. They have their own challenges, such as the population explosion. The current modes of governance of cities do not allow the necessary proximity between chief and villager, as we see in our local modes of governance. For African cities to be sustainable, they must build on models that are intrinsic to them.
Space ? Sustainable development ? Cultural integration? What are the concepts that guide your work?
Our work is above all guided by the context. We work in an environment where the challenges are multiple. It is important, in a structured way, to imagine tangible responses to the challenges that surround us. Being an architect-developer allows us to touch on a set of issues at the same time and to answer sociological, economic, technical, environmental, urban, cultural and above all aesthetic questions.
You have many sites in Cotonou, whose ambition is exemplary. What are these projects and are these the concepts that you apply?
We are living an exceptional adventure in Cotonou. Beyond the projects themselves, it is the global vision of governance and the application methodology that impress us. The Vodun museum, the Cotonou contemporary art museum, or the future cultural and creative district are part of our future projects. The architectural principles implemented use passive means of insulation such as rammed earth, or cross-ventilation.
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What are your projects ?
Our next big project is the transmission. The responsibility of passing the torch to future generations and, at the same time, exercising a wise role in the back office. At the time of the digital revolution, their challenges but also their tools will be different, on the other hand the philosophy which pushes us to the development of our fellow citizens must remain virtuous.