[IN] Between: legitimizing the place on the homogenizing Kenya-Ethiopia border

Abstract

This project begun with a crisis; today, as a planet we are in a climate emergency state and Africa will suffer most. Regions along the equator are becoming increasingly unhabitable as the temperatures rise. Development in African countries has always been focused in the urban centers leaving the margins to become self-sufficient and adaptive to the failed or lack of design systems. The Kenya-Ethiopia border is an example of a forgotten margin and it is here, on the transboundary waters of Lake Turkana, where first-hand effects of our changing climate can be witnessed. This research locates itself in the abandoned market center of Todonyang along the Kenya-Ethiopia border and shores of Lake Turkana. It is a troubled region where indigenous pastoral groups have historically clashed over colonial and post-colonial policies, cultural differences, water scarcity, and limited resources. It is a region where humanitarian aid thrives. However, this aid offers short term solutions and in its built form is often copy-pasted without adequate adaptation to the context and people inhabiting the area. Amidst the complexity of conflicts on the proposed site, this project defines new means to generate architecture as a peacebuilding tool in areas of conflict and scarcity that will be of profit to the community rather than the benefactors. The indigenous tribes derive their meaning, livelihood, and identity from the landscape, it is more than a scenery but a tool to connect people and space. The proposed intervention is a relief center that hopes to be as adaptable as the nomadic people highlighting themes of permanence, migration, drought, and curiosity.