Liturgy & Architecture

THE GRAND MOSQUE OF DJENNÉ

The idea of public service and sacral structures is present in many faiths and cultures. Every year, the Great Mosque of Djenné in Central Mali is replastered with adobe drawn out of the Bani river during the rainy season. Djenné youth procure the clay and plaster the 13th-century structure as an act of piety. The 13th century building is maintained every year by the towns people. The youth of Djenné procure fresh clay from the beds of the River Bani, the adobe is then fermented and used to replaster the exterior and interiors of the mosque. This custom reflects a relationship between nature the river, worshippers and architecture.

CONCENTRIC ZONES IN YORUBA URBANISM

Ambrogio's Lorenzetti's 'Allegory of Good Governance'

'Utopia' by St. Thomas More

This format was essentially used in major cities in pre-colonial Yorubaland.

This format promotes permaculture and forest conservation whilst also containing urban sprawl from encroaching onto the sacred forest at the peripheries of the city.

Reconceptualising how communal ritual and duty toward nature and how these rituals shape our daily lives.

Carolyn Steel 'Sitopia' around relating food systems with urbanism.

Revisiting this urban planning technique has the potential to provide an ecological response to the expanding cities in modern Nigeria.

"Nature to asserting its original covering" - Hugh Wilson, Botanist.