The Addis Ababa House: A Typological Analysis of Urban Heritage in Ethiopia 1886–1936

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Piet Nieder

The Addis Ababa House

A Typological Analysis of Urban Heritage in Ethiopia 1886–1936

Piet Nieder

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English

DOM Publishers
28 August 2024

Residential buildings, domestic buildings; City & town planning - architectural aspects; Urban & municipal planning

In its early decades, the Ethiopian capital, founded in 1886, witnessed a very specific form of architecture.

At the beginning of the East African country’s first urbanization process, a mixture of vernacular knowledge and a new cosmopolitan mindset led to an architectural type that local professionals refer to as the ‘Addis Ababa Style’: Pavilion-like buildings of different sizes, made of stone, earth, and wood, characterized by expressive pinched roofs, generous verandas with curtain walls, and a high degree of detailing.

Today, those graceful, appropriate, and nature-based buildings are under threat of being swallowed up due to shortsighted economic interests. In cooperation with the Institute for Architecture in Addis Ababa (EiABC), architects of Berlin’s Technical University studied this typology with regard to its embeddedness in local resources, climatic conditions, and craftsmanship. As such, they employed the ‘Addis Ababa House’ as a case study to discuss the possibility of a non-industrial building type that reflects the desire for a cosmopolitan urban life.

Edited by: Piet Nieder
Imprint: DOM Publishers
Country of Publication: Germany
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 210mm,
ISBN: 9783869228679
ISBN 10: 3869228679
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 28 August 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Piet Nieder, born 1980, is a practicing architect and researcher at Technical University Berlin. His doctoral thesis looks at the potential of traditional building techniques for architectural solutions in transforming urban territories in Ethiopia. He holds a Master of Science in Architecture from ETH Zurich. Between 2012 and 2013, he taught architectural design at the Ethiopian Institute for Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development (EiABC) of Addis Ababa University.