Zimbabwe's architectural landscape is a rich tapestry woven from traditional practices, colonial influences, and modern innovations. From the ancient stone structures of Great Zimbabwe to contemporary mansions, the country's architecture reflects its history, culture, and aspirations. Architects play a crucial role in shaping this landscape, designing buildings and spaces that influence social behavior and meet the evolving needs of clients.
Conical Tower at Great Zimbabwe
Traditional Zimbabwean Architecture
Traditional houses, especially in rural areas, still have thatched roofs with mud walls, similar to structures dating back to the stone-walled huts of Great Zimbabwe. Even earlier village huts and settlements were usually constructed from clay and sticks with conical thatched roofs. Homesteads in Zimbabwe have remained largely unchanged since the time of Great Zimbabwe. A village in Chapungu Sculpture Park uses tall grass as a natural fence, similar to the Hill Complexes of that time. The structure of the wall combines natural and artificial elements to provide a safe space for residents.
In modern times, the walls of houses are usually built of coursed, sun-dried bricks, with rectangular doorways and brush roofs. As a result of European influence, there are now rectangular buildings with concrete walls and corrugated iron roofs. Walls are occasionally decorated with geometric designs that carry religious and symbolic meaning. For both security and decoration, iron fences are increasingly popular.
The traditional practice of constructing high sleeping platforms, cooking benches, and seats continues today. During the farming season, people move from their village residences to their farmhouses. Farmhouse huts are located near the fields and consist of lean-tos made with wooden sticks, resting on stilts up to nine feet tall and accessed via ladders. Residential areas generally consist of circular huts arranged around an open space, which serves as a courtyard for fire-making and revealing the presence of wild animals or other intruders. For the ruling classes, stone walls surround the family areas.
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Kitchens are always built in the center of each family area, with a well-decorated and painted sleeping hut nearby.
Traditional Zimbabwean Home
Stone Architecture of Great Zimbabwe and Khami
During the second millennium BCE, two conventional styles of stone architecture dominated the architecture of Zimbabwe. The first style was Great Zimbabwe period architecture, which was an extension of natural elements. The well-coursed and thick stone walls were constructed on earth foundations. The second style is exemplified by Khami’s retaining walls that transform natural elements into built environments.
Although structures of this period share some similarities with those of earlier periods at Great Zimbabwe, it is important to note the introduction of the retaining walls. The wall's top supported residential platforms with a profusion of herringbone, chevron, and checkered decor.
Khami Ruins
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Post-Modern Architecture in Zimbabwe
Post-modernism is considered an attempt to rebuild a relationship to the past. It can also be seen as a re-creation of the community using vernacular forms; it tries to highlight the concepts of identity associated with local cultures that were marginalized by modernism. Since 1990, several monuments and buildings constructed in Zimbabwe exhibit features of pre-colonial architecture. The Kingdom Hotel complex was constructed near the Victoria Falls world heritage site.
It provides entertainment facilities within a traditional Africa architectural context. The foyer, lobby, casino, and entrance courtyard have a rounded design, with a domed roof that incorporates grass. The design of the roof significantly evokes the traditional architecture of Zimbabwe. Adjacent to the casino, guest rooms are arranged in twelve complexes on a curvilinear plan. Alongside these buildings, there is an artificial lake on which the structures seem to float, suggesting a moat at times.
There are seven giant columns around the foyer, with carved Zimbabwe birds on each of them. Well-shaped stones were accurately coursed between each column, which evokes the free-standing walls at Great Zimbabwe. Around the waterfall, walls are painted with horizontal chord patterns from top to bottom. Aslant timber beams are part of the roof. The exterior of the entire hotel is surrounded by iron stakes, with spearheads and chevron patterns on them.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) was opened on 31 May 1996 by Robert Mugabe. It represents the financial nerve center of Zimbabwe, and is regarded as the most technologically advanced building of Zimbabwe's post-modern era. The building was the most expensive ever constructed in Harare city. The design of the RBZ complex was modeled on the conical tower of Great Zimbabwe.
Inside the complex tower, there are five podium levels and 23 office levels; immediately below is the basement - and an annex, behind the building, is the car parking area. The walls are polished granite, etched with images of rural Zimbabwe. The design was influenced by the symbolism of Shona rulers, which references agricultural production and the need of surplus food reserves to be well maintained against prolonged periods of drought. These food reserves are stored in specially made grain silos that have a broad base and that taper toward the top. The silo's conical roof was meant to prevent the whole structure from rain.
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The Harare International Airport's new terminal is different from the airport's other terminals. It was built during the postmodernist era, inspired by the decorative designs found in Great Zimbabwe. The air bridges that serve as passageways for passengers' airplane boarding, protrude from the main terminal and, their exteriors appropriately decorated, are reminders of the passages leading to the Conical Tower inside the Great Enclosure.
In contrast, the passageways' interior design is modern and lacking the traditional Zimbabwean architectural style. The only exception is a snack bar that is surrounded by four conical towers.
The National Heroes' Acre is located 11 kilometres (7 miles) from Harare. Its construction was initiated in September 1981-one year after Zimbabwe officially gained independence and can therefore be considered a structure of the post-independence period-with the assistance of architects from North Korea, where a pre-colonial architectural style had also found favor. It includes a well-paved open space where the leader of the state can host a gathering, which sits between two terraced hills.
There are two trapezoidal structures, made of slate, to the north and south of the open space. The history of the emancipation struggle is recorded in the forms of plaques on wall panels. At the top of each trapezoidal structure, there are two moldings of the Zimbabwe Bird (bateleur eagle), which are enameled in bronze. From the open space towards the east of the hill, numbers of low circular steps connect to an octahedral dais. Three huge statues of liberation war heroes were built on the dais with one of them holding the national flag of Zimbabwe.
During the annual Heroes' Day ceremony, flowers are placed on the foot of the dais, which is the most sacred portion of the entire shrine, and it serves as a boundary between the two parts of the site. There are four mostly undecorated curvilinear granite-walled terraces on each side, with the topmost wall having a series of chevron patterns as decoration. These patterns were inspired by those found on the wall inside the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe. Burial tombs are beneath the terraces' surfaces, and these terraces are reminiscent of the Khami and symbolize human impact on the natural environment. Stairs lead to the landing at the north and lower south ends, adjacent to the tomb of the unknown soldier.
National Heroes Acre
Modern Residential Architecture in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's urban landscape is changing rapidly and new houses, flats, and cluster developments are springing up all over. Since building your own home is deemed a human right in Zimbabwe, and if under 400m2 anyone can submit residential house plans for approval. Many developers in the market building cluster developments, and stand-alone villas provide a variety of architectural styles.
A currently popular architectural style for houses in Harare that draws heavy inspiration from South African and Australian houses. It is recognizable by the hip and valley roof and sometimes the dutch gable meaning the louvred side openings in the roof for ventilation and light. The windows are large, often with plastered surrounds. The living areas usually have a high volume with exposed timber roof trusses and a tongue and groove ceiling painted in white. A covered veranda can be present branching off from the living room.
Inspired by the old Afrikaner architecture of the Western Cape in South Africa, it used to be associated with the early Dutch settlers. The presence of large ornately decorated gable walls ( wall at the end of the roof), thatch roofs, external timber shutters, cottage pane windows, white walls, and elements of green is characteristic. The style has been modernized and some of the features have been reduced or lost, but the gable walls continue to be the salient feature. Exposed trusses can be present inside as well as suspended ceilings and the original longitudinal layout has been modified to current arrangements for smaller plots.
Also a very popular house style, it is characterized by straight lines and boxy shapes. Wide beams and columns are emphasized and exaggerated in the space around the house for aesthetic purposes too. The roofs are usually flat concrete slabs or hidden low pitch hipped roofs. Large vertical and horizontal windows dominate the facades together with glass balustrading. Usually, they are two-story high. A double-height entrance links to the living areas and upstairs bedrooms. While usually impressive in size these house designs tend to have little consideration for sun penetration and the large windows allow abundant direct sunlight to overheat the internal spaces.
An import from the south of Europe, the Mediterranean, and especially Tuscan architecture is widely recognizable and loved. Rhythm in windows and doors, proportions, and a sense of scale are always present in this architectural style. Plastered window surrounds, quoins ( cornerstones), external wooden shutters, wrought iron, and stone details are common features. Tiled hipped roofs and gutters are usually tinted in terracotta and peach colours like the external walls. The windows are typically smaller and the internal spaces with lower ceilings creating cool, intimate rooms.
Evolving from the traditional hut architecture, the thatched roof houses are steadily losing popularity in Zimbabwe. Associated with curved walls and organic forms, the houses feel more natural than their counterparts. The steep thatched roof usually has decorations implemented in the roof and dormer windows help bring in light to the higher spaces. The pitch of the roof has to be 45 degrees leading to high roofs that are therefore large and dominating in respect to the walls. Internally the triple height of the thatch roofs creates a cool, large space that can be slightly dark and musky. The interiors feel organic and the contact with nature is overwhelming.
Similar to the modern Zimbabwean houses they are usually rectangular in shape and look. There is a distinct lack of detail in the facade and elements in space, and the forms are clean and precise. The roofs are flat concrete slabs and the gutters are hidden, minimizing the details present. The presence of structural challenges is common too, like cantilevered balconies, roofs seemingly magically floating, etc. The interior spaces are characterized by open-plan configurations leading to wide, luxurious spaces usually of increased internal height.
Remnants of past times and material availability, these houses are seldom built but are present within Zimbabweans urban landscape. Well adapted to our local climate the architectural features are mostly functional aiming to control the ever-present beating sun and rain. A wrap-around lean-to veranda usually surrounds the house, providing shade to the internal spaces, and an external place to spend the day without being exposed to the scorching sun. The steeply pitched tin roof over the main house with a lower pitch over the veranda are interrupted with dormer openings with louvres that provide natural ventilation into the roof space, cooling it. Wrought-iron columns with intricate decorations usually carry the lean-to roof over the veranda.
Outside cities, traditional round huts made out of wooden poles filled with clay and conical thatched roofs were the norm. They were arranged in a circle around a central courtyard with the kitchen and sleeping zone in different huts. The mud walls were occasionally decorated with geometric shapes, and have now been replaced with sun-dried bricks, tin roofs, rectangular floor plans and more windows. However, the traditional hut cannot be viewed outside its social sense of the village and interaction with the other participants of the community. Thus the hut is only a part of the whole that should be viewed holistically.
To redesign a colonial manor house in Zimbabwe is like reviving a piece of art where every detail must be preserved but at the same time can be improved with transitions that will bring it to the contemporary level of comfort. The manor has a long history and unique architectural features; thus, our process starts with the meticulous examination of the space to underline the approach that enriches the local atmosphere while adding modern conveniences to the space.
In an effort to find a middle ground between these two concepts, we strive to incorporate some traditional features like staircases, cornices, and fireplaces, yet also use today’s comforts and quality of materials.
Great Zimbabwe & The First Cities of Southern Africa // History Documentary
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