African architecture is prolific and diverse, and a new seven-volume series showcases it in all its glory. ‘The Sub-Saharan Africa Architectural Guide’ covers an enormous amount of ground thanks to the contributions of over 350 authors profiling some 850 buildings across the area’s 49 countries. The huge scope of the work is apparent in the series’ scale, for Meuser and Dalbai cover everything from traditional vernacular architecture through to colonial interventions, diplomatic ventures, indigenous modernism and the various manifestations of religious architecture in all its forms, from massive Catholic cathedrals to mosques. While recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in, say, the modernist architecture of Ethiopia (an import from the nation’s days as an Italian colony), or the art deco and Bauhaus-style architecture in Burundi, these books contain countless other examples.
SOURCE: WALLPAPER
