ARCHI ARCHIVE
ANKARA OKE
DURING MY FOUR YEARS STUDYING ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, MY DRAWING PROCESS BECAME MORE REFINED AND PRECISE. I LEARNED HOW TO PITCH AND PRESENT DESIGNS IN CRITS, BALANCING ARTISTIC EXPRESSION WITH THE STRICT DEMANDS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. A CHALLENGE I HADN’T FULLY ANTICIPATED BUT ONE THAT PUSHED ME TO GROW. ALTHOUGH I CHOSE NOT TO CONTINUE TO POSTGRADUATE STUDY, THIS PERIOD WAS HUGELY FORMATIVE: IT SHARPENED MY CREATIVE PROCESS AND INGRAINED IN ME A LASTING SENSITIVITY TO MATERIAL, ENVIRONMENT, PEOPLE, AND PLACE.
ANKARA OKE WAS MY FINAL-YEAR DESIGN PROJECT, CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH ATINUKE ADETOLA, IN RESPONSE TO A BRIEF TO DESIGN AN ARCHITECTURAL INSTALLATION FOR THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL. THE CHALLENGE WAS TO DEVISE AND JUSTIFY SUSTAINABLE BUILDING TECHNIQUES THROUGH BOTH DRAWINGS AND PHYSICAL MODELS.
DRAWING ON OUR SHARED NIGERIAN HERITAGE, WE DESIGNED A SERIES OF SHELTERED SEATING AREAS POSITIONED ALONG KEY WALKWAYS THROUGH THE CITY DURING FESTIVAL SEASON. THE STRUCTURES WERE FORMED FROM BAMBOO SHOOTS FIXED INTO THE GROUND, WITH RECYCLED ANKARA FABRIC WOVEN BETWEEN THEM. TO PROVIDE ROOFING, WE SOAKED ANKARA IN BIO-RESIN FOR WATERPROOFING AND FOLDED IT LIKE ORIGAMI INTO TILES, EXPERIMENTING WITH MULTIPLE ITERATIONS BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE FINAL CONSTRUCTION. BELOW: IMAGES OF THE 1:1 MODEL, DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, AND FINAL DRAWINGS.
THIS PROJECT WAS DEEPLY REWARDING AND, OUTSIDE OF MY ARCHITECTURAL THEORY COURSES, STOOD OUT AS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY STUDIES. IT ALLOWED ME TO MERGE CULTURAL HERITAGE, SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE, AND DESIGN INNOVATION INTO ONE PIECE OF WORK THAT STILL RESONATES WITH ME.