GIA president
GIA
CA: Who are you?
JH: My name is Joseph E. Hayford i m an architect, i have been practice in Multicad consulting architects, planners and engineers since in 1994. I’m also President of the Ghana institute of architects. I have been practice in this country for almost ten years.
CA: What kind of job do you do in this association?
JH: Does a lot of work in retail commercial and officies, we do available residences and retail and in a officies. We done a lot of industrial work and some very unique industrial projects. This is a core. This is what we do. Recently we done a great city design and urban design for a town, a country, which is a support of Accra called Apolonia. Which is a mixed use for a city: a residencial, commercial, public spaces and so on. That space that what you do.
CA: Which are the activities of the GIA?
JH: The Ghana of institute of architects is suppose to bring together all architects in order to show standards and etichs and show a costitution to follow and to make show that the knowledge and the profession increases retail. To practice in Ghana you must be a member of the Ghana of institute of architects, you can not call so an architects, if you don t have been a member of the Ghana of institute of architects, after that, then you can be given a certificate by the Registration Council.
CA: How an architects can registered?
JH: An architects first must follow an approved course of study, for istance, if you studied in Politecnico di Milano o anywhere you must confermed with the Registration Council and the Ghana of Institute of architects whether the course of study is accettable. If it is accettable for those who studied in Ghana what you do is apply to be a professional which means then follow an internship, you have to be in a firm or a practice on a individual who will take you to a professional trying period. Typically you have a minimal two years it is prefer to have three years in the professional practice. You must have a lock record all the projects and this is meted to the Ghana of Institute of Architects and the Architects Registration Council, then there are some seminars that you take after you take an exam and then when you pass you are accepted into the institute and then you can register in the Registration Council.
CA: Can you talk about the idea of architecture in Ghana?
JH: Is difficult to talk about ghanian architects because we working in a environment world international influences are dissolved the impact of culture on a work. There are a few individuals of architects try to substain works can be call ghananian architects, there are very few. And try to import elements of form, planimetric form and motives and also try to embody material, organic material, mud, earthy, material base for the fabrical of the building and then to import some plan forms that reflectes the culture and the common living of ghanians but this is giving way to more International intends of work we do because have an organization sometimes mix these concepts difficult to confirm. There is an estetic influence, which is more to do with the visual and that you can find in a minority of architects and this estetic is diverse from motives such as the sculpture of the country, the symbolism. Which come from symbols that happened, developed what time in Akan culture and so on. These are elements that can be find ghananian architects.
CA: Do you have an idea for the future?
JH: We have to work at bringing the thinking of architects back and it is not to be easy to produce an identity because the external forces are so strong. The external forces are strong in very will terms means a lot of the investments in building environment now, is fonded expecially in the commercial sectors by founding from external sources. This is a private commercial forms that have only interest and therefore the attend to be able to control the agents intends of the architects of the comes down. These are a big challenge to provide an identity if an architect here then first of all it is difficult to be able to satisfy a develop up works from the outside and then introduce in your idea about ghanian architect is a hard task. I don t say it possible but for the future the Ghana institute of architects is looking at CPP courses (continuous professional program corse) that art based, plastic art based which architects will use to form the mind and then thinking about the product that gives ghanian identity so that is will the future. Its going a very long task. But i hope in the very far future because as the country becames more independent determ that it is founding sources we can t express a culture and architecture much better and That is when it will be approved and then it will reach back, bringing the forms in the arch style, will be find identity of ghanian architecture.
CA: Which are the building system and material used?
JH: There is, what you call, the tradition of reforce concrete design so it s know under that you have decided to study concrete, because concrete is gradually became the tradition of every building that we do, that forms, perhaps maybe 90% of the building that we do here. This is a develop on the time, before then there was a large propotional building that we made from alternative material like mud, bricks and so on. Almost all they done, even in the rural areas in the villages in so I wll probably just gradually taking over with concrete block masonry and so on. The only other system that is left which is probably dying is in the architecture of the north where there are a lot of mud building and Adobe kind of roofs with Nubian involves which defines themselves very different from the architecture of the south. it is a very limiting technology it is difficult to achieve scale and it’s very useful for housing in the north it is very appropriate for the climate it is also very appropriate for the economy I mean, the material is available everywhere, the knowledge is very basic and the architects have to results it s very immediate it is define the character of the people of their lifestyles and I’m so, iut is fun to see how it plays out but it has a limited role in the future because of the limiting nature of the technology and one needs to do more lately the Ghana Institute of Architects has engaged with the French non-governmental organisation to promote the knowledge in the new Nubian vault system, you know the new Nubian vault system when you use mud to form domes and span spaces. Because we believe that there is something that we can sustain the knowledge and perhaps help Architects to think within that technology and its limitations you produce buildings with that so we are trying to sustain that without support of the new Nubian vault.
CA: Why use the concrete now?
JH: Because we have a lot of granites in this country, this country is feel a lot of granites, very abundant material we use for road, unfortunately granites is difficult to build, we can not cut it, we don t know how to work it, take a lot of energy to transform into building material and the best way is get it crashed and mix into concrete. The other reason is also that alternative materials have all die away. Timber is dead because a forest all gone. The other material do not have the adaptability and the capability to span spaces, to do what we require now in terms of space we need a better technology, so gradually concrete as crowded as every form, very reasonable functional region.
It is very challenging medium to express architecture in expecially for public buildings, for residential accommodation in suburban living not in highest living but in suburban, this country have a rising rapidly and so that tecnology can not afford solution for the special needs of the society. Concrete is smallest taking of eyes, i don t like this material but i don t know the choice i mean if i have to do a retail more where need light spans, and then i have developed how use looking at mentioned costs adobe system stand to have a mentioned costs. Then i don t have a choice for doing office building, the steel is another choice because open plan system, over span, thinks like that. So, it is important for us to keep the adobe system going to substain them and develop them. Which is why the Ghana Institute of Architects setting up a competition for using the Nubian vault to built school of any ages and so on, and that will keep the knowledge going until we can have a resources to tentative something else but for now the concrete is the way that we have taken.
CA: What are the influence of design in Ghana?
JH: I think that, the Modern Movement in the 1910-1920, overarching in too much impact on thinking a work and into these days we have not move done, we have not really go beyond the International style, Le Corbusian thinking, Frank Lloyd Wright thinking, the De Stijl movement, i give you an example, i went to give a letter in the school of architect and the University of science of technology in Kumasi, when i’m giving the letter i saw a painting on the wall on the back and it was a painting of a building by Frank Lloyd Wright and there was a writing that talking about Frank Lloyd Wright be the best architect or something. I told them, you guys have a mood, when i was in our school, maybe century ago, there was the same Frank Lloyd Wright, but ever since the weather move do not true Frank to Frank Gehry to whoever, but i thinking to stay with that. The ghanian architect influences is a very static, they need to be approve on intellectual discussion to move forward and i say that European infuences that come from the modern movement that continuous to persist. There’s very little influence in current trends, current thinking, you won’t see things to do in new construction and hitech, the thinking is more measure in terms of the concepts step one tries in building one needs to do a bit more and to get those to be given more adventurous, that Adventure can only come when you have clients who are ready to get adventure, you don t really have those clients yet, maybe in the residential sector.
CA: GIA collaborate with foreign architects?
JH: I know Mario Cucinella very well, he set there you and me here, when the airport project started, we were chosen to partner him and i went to Bologna to speak with him, we will sign the agreement and then we came in and we started the work and something happen, the whole time i don t know the architects was working on it so I stepped aside for him. But Mario ‘s time here couldn t be better spends, there was many follow up, if i had worked with him then perhaps to be easy for a follow-up to see how the influences of italian architects can affect a thinking. But there is a collaboration, a lot of collaborations with italian knowledge and the Ghana Institute of Architects and architects in general. The last year too, there was a very important tour, it is accurated the museum room of 20th century. The maxi museum became and did beautiful tour of the country give lecters i was there myself when he went to the university, and he was very excited about the thinking of the students he knew that the future it is a good mind in architectural, i think the italian was doing a lot cultural exchanges. The ambassador, who s a lady, very nice lady, she is very awful, on the italian side there is a collaboration to see more and see how the influences works and choses in the work, there are also a lot of influences comes in from South Africa because a lot of investiments comes in from South Africa, we have a lot of influences from the architects who build a lot of works. This office take a lot of work in a joint inventure with South African architects. They doing several offices retail and then people from this office go in South Africa for internships on this practice. The thinking si becaming in a collaboration to South Africa thinking and Ghanian architectural thinking. These are two influences that one consedered here principally. Nothing much American.
CA: Do you have a energetic certificates to subscribe the sustainability of material and building?
JH: For now, we do not, we are in a process of developing a rating tour, a rating system. We have a green building Council in Ghana, The Ghana building Council, this body which is non-commercial which is affiliated to the Green Building Council’s around and said Americans system, those process in a rating system. Recently it has been invited to collaborate in a new tour that will became an International financial corporation, which is simpler, shipper and method, three step rating, a few meetings and conferences, the GIA is looking on that, to see whether implementing the system through that will be better for us. Of course, a number of buildings are still waited using the LEED certification, expecially the big public buildings and then we are increasing and getting the green star rating which is South Africa and Australia coming in a number of buildings where were working on going to be rated by the green star. Which is the South African tour. These are the system play.
