Nairobi is a city on the move. Nowhere is this progress more evident than in new skyscrapers outdoing each other in height. Every new structure is hyped as the next tallest building in East and Central Africa.
Yet, in competing to touch the clouds, majority of the new buildings have adopted the Western outlook of glass-clad surfaces that turn them into furnaces during the hot, tropical climate.
Local environmental design experts point to a time when Kenya was a leader in erecting green buildings that responded well to local climate. Majority of the buildings erected during the early part of the last century had sustainable designs. This trend continued way into the 1980s before losing the plot shortly thereafter.
When Europeans came to East Africa, their permanent buildings were of the classical architecture style. Some are still among the most iconic structures in the city. These include Kipande House in Nairobi that was recently renovated by the Kenya Commercial Bank. Then there is Kenya Railways headquarters and City Hall.
By mid 20th century, the Europeans imported into East Africa modern architecture that still spotted green design. City Market, Norwich Union Building, the first phase of Parliament Building - all in Nairobi - belong to this period.
Climate-responsive buildings of post-colonial era include the second phase of Parliament Building, the Office of President and the University of Nairobi’s Great Court buildings. Then things went south.
Most of the structures that came up after the 1980s copied the West where conserving the heat through glass-clad walls was the norm. One just needs to take a quick peek across the street from Nairobi University’s Great Court to confirm this.
However, this need not be the case as Kenya is touted as having the largest number of architects in Africa with specialised post graduate training in environmental design architecture, most of whom graduated from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and other top-notch institutions. We have even exported experts in this field to other African countries.
“We have many Kenyan professionals in the built environment who work in countries like Botswana and Rwanda. We now need to focus on specialised training at masters and PhD levels in environmental design in architecture if we are to reverse the unsustainable trend,” said Musau Kimeu, one of the country’s leading environmental design experts.
