Currently, Addis Ababa is experiencing a building boom. While constructing for the future it is worth looking back and studying the buildings constructed in Addis in the 1960s. From April 8-12, 2012 a team of recent graduates from the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) and former Visiting Professor Nikolaus Knebel (now at the German University of Technology in Oman) joined for a workshop and continued their research on the exceptional architecture of this period. They are planning to share their findings in a book on 'ADDIS SIXTIES - Rediscovering the Modern Architecture of Africa's Capital', which will be published within the EiABC research series soon.

Mulu Solomon, Chairholder of the Chair of Entrepreneurship at EiABC, has been elected President of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations by the General Assembly of the Chamber. EiABC is proud having a key staff member in such a strategic position fostering the booming economy of Ethiopia. The election of Mulu Solomon will help opening the gateway to intensify EiABC's cooperation with the Ethiopian industry and to align EiABC's activities further to the needs of the industrial and economic development of the country. One of Mulu Solomon's major projects is establishing the EiABC Center of Entrepreneurship and linking it to existing entrepreneurial, innovation and consultancy initiatives on EiABC campus as well as outside EiABC.

In collaboration with the Bauhaus University in Weimar, and the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, ETHZ, the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) is offering a one-week workshop to launch the construction of a full-scale double-story building out of straw panels at its urban laboratory sites at the campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Hundreds of new settlements are emerging in Ethiopia every year, growing fast into urban conglomerates. Ethiopia today is one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the world with an annual urbanization rate of 4.3%. One of the biggest problems in emerging cities is next to infrastructure measurements also available typologies and techniques shelters, which migrants can afford and handle. In this light, the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) launched a research project on innovative and low-weight construction materials and techniques for emerging cities in Ethiopia. SECU (Sustainable Emerging City Unit) will be an experimental project, testing and researching a low-cost and lightweight modular housing unit at EiABC Urban Laboratory site, addressing the high demand for housing in the country.

The Workshop will be held in Addis Ababa between April 21 and April 29, 2012.

EiABC:

Prof. Dr. Dirk Donath

Helawi Sewnent

Ingo Oexmann

Belay Getachew

Sami Tsegu

Jacob

Students - Aknaw Yohannes, Estifanos Kiflu, Fruta Haddis, Henok Teshome, Habtamu Regassa, Mohammed Jemal, Mintesinot Kifle, Nejat Hassen, Nejmia Ali, Peniel Tekle, Regebe Hagos, Samia Ibrahim, Samrawit Tazezew, Seife Abdulsemed, Seyoum Weldeyesus

ETH/FCL:

Ass. Prof. Dirk Hebel

Felix Heisel

Marta Wisniewska

Bauhaus University Weimar:

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rudolph, Dean Bauhaus University

For more information please visit: http://eiabc.edu.et/secu-project.html

The Arthur Waser Foundation, based in Lucerne Switzerland recently agreed to sponsor a continuous research project called SRDU (Sustainable Rural Dwelling Unit) in Ethiopia to the tune of 460,000 Swiss Francs over the next three years. The project builds on academic research cooperation between the Housing Chair of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) in Ethiopia and the Professorship of Dirk E. Hebel of Architecture and Construction at the Singapore - ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability and the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) in Singapore.

Dr. Elias Yitbarek initiated the project 2010 as part of his work at the Chair of Housing at the EiABC and has secured funding from the Arthur Waser Foundation for a pilot project in 2011, with support of the North-South Centre of ETH Zurich, Barbara Becker and the ETH Foundation, Nathalie Fontana. The pilot project was registerd as a great success.It involved building two housing units located approximately 175km south of the capital Addis Ababa and experimentaion with local building materials combined with new building techniques and autonomous operating energy supply units. This succes convinced the Arthur Waser Foundation to continue the engagement with the two universities and enlarge the scope of the work to included questions of capacity building, academic exchange with local schools and industry and the transfer of knowledge to a wide academic and non-academic audience in Africa.

For the location of Tetecha in Sidama, a site where African Bamboo will conduct experimental designs and construction, EiABC has been asked to execute a competition to get architectural designs, considering the materials properties of bamboo as a construction material. The competition is subdivided into three areas, to get exemplary building solutions for the site of Tetecha, but considering the fact that these design typologies can be built in different locations in Sidama:

1. Guest Houses / Lodge
2. Bamboo Collection Centre
3. Office Building

The design competition will be carried out by the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) in cooperation with and funded by African Bamboo PLC.

The Idea Competition is open to EiABC students of all programmes!
Nine prizes will be awarded for the three competition categories with a total value of ETB 40,000!