Analysis and a Vision
On Tuesday we had a relatively slower day compared to the rest of the week. We woke up a little later, closer to 8am, and had our first breakfast at the school restaurant. Baguette with butter and jam, along with hot milk (either white or chocolate) and hot water for tea or instant coffee. Ah continental breakfasts. Even when I had them for 10 weeks in Italy last year I could never get used to them. At least they were a time to take our anti-malarial pills!
Students hard at work tracing base maps
Most of the day was full of creating base maps for the next day’s design game. Site analysis maps for which departments inhabited which buildings, what areas of campus were most likely to flood, figure-grounds of buildings and streets, the like. Some of these underlays were eventually combined into the developable area map, which very simply showed the areas on campus it was allowed/not allowed to build upon for the design game.
More students working on shading in building conditions
After lunch, everyone regrouped and talked about some of the early analysis of the SWOT results from Monday and just what they meant for the students’ vision of the future of UOB. There were visions of cleanliness, of a remove from the hectic nature of Libreville, of having enough classroom space so that each department could have their own spaces and not have to juggle classes between different rooms. But for some reason the point that stuck with me the most was about the desire for a Modern African Architecture. Likely because it echoed something a friend of mine who lives in Honolulu said about trying to make a modern architecture for the tropics that takes lessons from the vernacular, but isn’t gimmicky like copying roof shapes or making buildings in the shape of waves, etc.
In the taxibus to Quartier Louis
Tuesday’s dinner was the fanciest of the week. Yet another place in Quartier Louis, this time a private room in a little French restaurant that must’ve been converted from someone’s house, hidden behind a gate and a treed garden. The fifteen or so of us were a large enough group that we were sat in our own private room with a bar; there was plenty of need both translation from Megan and explanation of just what the dishes were from Barry. A good number of us ended up getting duck, though they had enough to fill all the orders but for one person, who wasn’t very happy (the substitute dish wasn’t that great).
Mango carpaccio at the fancy French restaurant on Tuesday night
This was many people’s latest night as we didn’t have to get up quite so early Wednesday morning; first we headed out to a nice clean patesserie for deserts and struck up conversations with some of the staff, and then a lot of us continued on to the surrounding nightlife. Some even stayed out until 4 or 5 in the morning! I never did understand how they didn’t fall asleep dancing first!