Togo presents concentric village project at Expo

28 ottobre 2015

2 min di lettura

(AGI) Milan, Oct 28 - Togo's Ecole Africane des Metiers del'Architecture et de l'Urbanisme (Emau) of Lome' presented aconcentric village project at the Expo on Wednesday as part ofthe "Energy, Art, and Sustainability in Africa" week sponsoredby Eni and Expo. The project envisions a sustainable use ofresources by the entire village, and converges and radiatesfrom a centre to maximise common resource usage. Komlan DelaGake, who headed the project, said the idea was born from asimple slogan: "Africa finds itself - Return to the village."He added, "It's a new concept proposing new agriculturalmethods and, most of all, emphasises the improvement oftraditional and familial agrigultural techniques." With Africastill struggling to overcome subsistence farming, he noted,improving farming methods becomes a key force towardssustainable development. "Our project is illustrated through asimulation of situations on which African populations basetheir daily lives, especially in West and Central Africa. It'sa village comprising 14 habitation units gathered around acentral structure and connected to each other through commonspaces," Gake said. The central area is the heart of thevillage, where food and water is stored and where solar panelsproduce energy, he explained. "The village's organisation isbased on radial and fractal geometry. Radial geometry allows usto have logical shapes and a symbolism which to us Africansrepresents unity and the group. Fractal geometry illustratesthe extensive and repetitive dimension of the project." Withthese factors, the village designed by the EMAU in Lome'mirrors the traditional notion of an African village and can beexported throughout the continent. "Every unit is an image ofthe whole and vice-versa, or all for one and one for all," Gakesaid. "It's a structure conceived as sufficiently autonomousand, at the same time, having the resources to provide for thepossible needs of other units of the whole". .