[artinfo] Call For Participation (AiR Program): DESIGN-AND-BUILD EARTH ARchiTecture RESIDENCY

[AfriCOAE]

Greetings!

Attached to your attention is an announcement about our
DESIGN-AND-BUILD EARTH ARchiTecture RESIDENCY project. Please,
post/distribute to others in your circle of contacts who may be (or
know someone who may be) interested.

Specifically, project seeks (1) the Project Co-Manger who knows about
fundraising, at this time would be as volunteers, (2) project
participants, and (3) Agencies/ NGOs/ academic institutions to be a
part of our International Development Partner (IDP) Program (detail,
upon request).

We ask that you consider this an invitation to pitch in! What do you say?

Thank you in anticipation of your response,
Barthosa Nkurumeh, AfriCOAE General Secretary
Project Web Sites: http://afropoets.tripod.com/eta,
http://www.focusonthearts.org






ARchiTecture Residency: DESIGN-BUILD-AND-LIVE IN PROJECT

Target Group: International
Discipline: All the arts (visual, performing, literary and new
genres), Architecture, and Engineering
Duration: 3 to 24 months according to project scope and nature of funding.
Organizing Institution: FOTA Foundation, a registered NGO in Ghana
(FOTA is an acronym for “focus on the arts”)


DESCRIPTION
This is a project-based residency opportunity for creative persons in
earth architecture, earth art/ land art/ earthworks, engineering, and
others who can design-and-build dwellings or non-dwellings out of
earth and other materials from the environment.

Working individually or in teams, the participant in the ARchiTecture
(art+architecture) Residency Project will live in the village next to
our 800-acre Artist Village in development at Maabang in the Ashanti
Region of Ghana until the participant completes the project on the 800
acreage and can move in. Project is open to traditional and modern
construction methods, and experimental approaches that are known to
work. Submissions in methods such as adobe, cob, compressed earth,
rammed earth, ceramic house, poured/cast earth, papercrete, earthbag,
straw-bale, stackwall, earth-shelter, earthship, and other best
practices may therefore be in order. Integration of rainwater
harvesting, solar and wind energy generation system are indispensable
but not obligatory. The lot size and shape are open; you could build
it on 120x120 ft plot, an acre, or more. The only criteria that should
be met are: (1) Using earth/ other materials from the environment in
part or in whole; (2) Creating a durable non-dwelling or a dwelling of
at least three-bed rooms ready to move in; and (3) production budget
of between €1,000 to €5,000 Euros. Priority may be given to those who
have funding or can secure part-funding to complete their conceived
project.

For Architecture, in the framework of Fathy (2000), the contemporary
participant specialist will be assigned a local master builder and two
assistants, or as relative to the proposed process and structure. In
sum, we will collaborate with the international participant to procure
her/him the per diem and accommodation, and assistance from local
specialists and interns in constructing the structures in anticipation
that cross-cultural interchange and growth in knowledge and skills
will be commonplace. International participants will be responsible
for sourcing own return air ticket, insurance, and other personal
costs. One of our supporting area institutions is the School of Fine
Art, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST) at Kumasi; so, use of KNUST's
facilities, academic presentations and your relevant others are
possible.

Individuals or teams wishing to participate in the project should
submit formal application to the Artistic Committee; the application
should include your work plan, CV/resume, and a sample of completed
works or web site to: africoae at gmail.com. The work plan should include
at least 3 sketches of the floor plan/ sections/ elevations, budget,
and a description of the method/materials, participants, time
estimates, etc required to complete your proposed project.


CONCEPTUAL BASIS
The art+architecture project takes in the theoretical frame of the
book, Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt by a
known Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy. In it, he puts forward that an
informed person can, in fact, self-build durable, aesthetic and highly
functional buildings without using expensive materials. Along these
lines, we are developing a model artist village on some 800 acres in
Maabang in the Ahafo Ano North District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana
for replication in other parts of Africa. For the locals, it will mean
a resolution to the age-old problem for people of artistry- painters,
sculptors, actors, dancers, musicians, designers, and others who
require low-cost and expanse of space in which to live and work; and
for persons in the arts from around the world, it will be a contact
point for artist-in-residence for community-based arts projects,
cross-cultural conferences and environmental retreats. Thus, we will
next add studios, and a multipurpose complex for conferences and
community-based arts mission to these residential cottages, as would
be road construction to link parts of the village.

We are equally open to some alternative Housing Development Models
that work. One example is the condominium program by which
International NGOs with similar goals as ours, can design-and-build
their structure at own costs and pay development due of €100 per
room/per year, as the grounds are owned by FOTA Foundation. If the
local artist/ architect group footed all cost, the group would need to
pay development due of 50 GH¢ per room/per year, as the grounds belong
to our Foundation. However, we are strict that the completed structure
be used solely for the purpose proposed.

LOCATION
Maabang is a rural community in the Ahafo-Ano North District in the
north-western part of Ashanti Region. The area is located between
latitude 6˚ 47’N and 7 02’N and longitude 2˚ 26’W and 2˚ 04’W. The
District Hospital at Tepa is the major health facility around the
Maabang Traditional Area; there are four smaller health service
stations. Like much of Ghana, few of the roads are tarred. The project
acreage is along the main road, Tepa-Goaso Road. About 85% of the
working population entails farmers in cassava, yam, maize, and
plantain but chiefly in cocoa. There, in the town, is a cocoa research
center. Timber is one of the many traditional commodities, as the
region is mostly of tropical rainforest. Maabang is in the deciduous
savannah transition zone. The mean monthly temperature ranges from
26°C (in August) to 30°C (in March). Relative humidity is generally
high, ranging between 75-80 percent in the Rainy season and 70-72
percent in the dry season. The mean annual rainfall is between 125 cm
and 180cm. Nationwide, there are two main seasons, the raining season
and dry season. The raining season is from approximately April to
October followed by the dry season, which starts in December with the
Hamattan wind blowing from the Saharan Desert and ends in March each
year.


ARRIVAL:
Board flight from a major international airport to Kokota
International Airport (ACC), and then to Sunyani Airport; Maabang is
45 minutes drive from Sunyani.

DEADLINE: Ongoing but apply at least two months in advance

TO APPLY: Candidates should send the following materials to
africoae at gmail.com /
(1) Formal Proposal (includes budget and work plan)
(3) Bio/resume;
(3) Other relevant materials (includes work sample or web site)

For additional information go to: http://afropoets.tripod.com/eta and
www.focusonthearts.org