🏛 AASTU ARCH CLUB 🏛

አሁናዊ የከተማ ምስሎች። ባህርዳር ከተማ ምንጭ። ማህበራዊ ሚድያ @ethiopianarchitectureandurbanism

The modernist ideas and ideology shaping the development of Bahir Dar through urban planning have been traced and need to be discussed. The material presented here reveals that today’s city location was chosen on the basis of strategic international interests in its water-related potential, to which Ethiopia eventually made its own claim. By establishing a textile factory in Bahir Dar, the production was changed to overcome colonialist agricultural exploitation. Instead, an attempt was made to create a value chain and establish Bahir Dar as a site of industrial manufacturing. A link to the cotton plantations that were planned by the Italians but never materialised to the extent intended, can clearly be established. However, the manufacturing industry, from fashion design to final production and market demand, did not have the equivalent features as the Italian set-up on which the colonial cotton production was modelled. The further expansion of the city was in fact the result of a developmental view of the country that the Emperor had adopted. The city plan he received from Guther followed a modernist approach, claiming universality for the standards it supplied. The positive side of this is the attempt to lift the living standards of the population. However, the focus on technical aspects and neglect of social, economic and cultural conditions, as well as the exclusion of the population from the planning procedure also prevented the rise of an urbanisation practice more rooted in the local culture. In this respect Bahir Dar is not a representative case for Ethiopian cites, being the centre of an international power discourse and designated site for a new capital. However, it shows the ideas to which the Emperor was open and the modernist mindset of the time. Unlike the colonialist Italian urban planning approach, Ethiopia’s imperial modernism made no differentiation of development standards according to racial zoning. The basic attitude towards the project, however, was an assumed developmental gap between the Ethiopians and the Europeans. The point lies in the fact that there was no racial division but also no acknowledgement of ethnic and religious diversity within the city in Guther’s master plan. Based on the construction of this developmental gap, the Europeans are, therefore, legitimised to come in as experts on behalf of the Emperor and subject the local Ethiopian population to the plans of settlement improvements, disregarding the existing settlement structures. A democratic ideal was not exercised in devising the master plan; a paternalistic planning approach was followed, instead, while the content serves to spatially support the royal power structures. The planning process was neither participatory nor considerate of local settlement culture, as described by Genet Alem (2011) in her book on traditional northern Ethiopian highland towns. The population was completely left out of the planning process on decisions concerning their own habitat. Bahir Dar’s population was hence not conceptualised as responsible individuals to be considered in the planning process. Yet, the multi-directionality of flows needs to be addressed: What Guther interprets as architecture not suited to standards can also be viewed as an appropriation of the structures with locally available means. The plan was, therefore, flexible enough to allow filling-in and the street layouts practical enough to withstand being overwritten by other patterns. Credit: Urban Planning in Bahirdar @ethiopianarchitectureandurbanism

The idea of establishing a new city on the site on the southern shore of Lake Tana was eventually put into practice. The estimated annual growth rates for the period from 1966 to 1979 and the period from 1970 to 1978 are given as 10.0% and 11.3% respectively (Habtemariam Tesfaghiorghis 1984: 163). From the start of implementation, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications was responsible for working on putting the master plan into practice on the part of the Ethiopians. This ministry sought municipal administration expertise from Germany, and at their request Hans Boden arrived in Ethiopia in March 1962 to function as an advisor to the Ethiopian government (Boden 1962: 3). Boden claims to have had a strong influence on keeping the order of the plan during his presence in Bahir Dar. He assumes his presence to have prevented building activities on sites not designated for construction as well as pointing out suited locations within the urban plan for building requests by a Shell petrol station, a large motel built by the oil company AGIP, a building for the State Bank of Ethiopia, student housing for the technical college and a commercial building for the Besse import-export company (Boden 1962: 10). Initially the progress of implementation is described as good. Backed up by foreign development aid, a concrete bridge across the Nile (funded by the USA), a technical college (funded by the USSR), a hospital (funded by the Federal Republic of Germany), water provision (funded by the USA) and a school (also funded by the USA) had already been constructed or were due for completion in 1962 (Boden 1962: 4c). Thereby construction seems to have started ahead of the master plan, as the final draft was only completed and presented that same year. In addition, the Italians had agreed to pay reparations in form of a textile factory on the bank of the Nile, which was in realisation, while the Ethiopian Electrical Association had built a hydro-power station at the Blue Nile Falls (Boden 1962: 4c). Boden heard of further plans, including the construction of an airport at a designated location for which the technical equipment had already been ordered. Meanwhile the improvement of the road from Addis to Gondar was due to reach Bahir Dar from both directions within one year. (Boden 1962: 10) However, after the initial period of progress, financial difficulties arose, prohibiting further development (Boden 1962: 4d). Guther also expressed disappointment at the fact that the architecture filling his design did not sufficiently live up to his expected standard (Guther [around 1962]). The state budget of the year was E$ 280 million (one E$ being equivalent to DM 1,50 at the time), while the Governor only had E$ 500 and the municipality no more than E$ 30,000 to spend, overall (Boden 1962: 4d). According to Boden, who was present in Bahir Dar attempting to give advice on administrative issues, neither the state budget for the coming year (1963) nor the second five-year plan for the years 1962–67 included a budget for the further development of Bahir Dar (ibid). This lack of financial means for the project is a possible explanation why substantial elements of the plan, such as the sewerage system, were never executed. There also seem to have been issues concerning the project being ordered from the highest instance of power in Addis Ababa. Boden describes how, on a return visit to Addis, he discovered that the responsible Minister had left his post and with him the knowledge of the experts present for the city project and possibly even the project itself (Boden 1962: 4b). He, further, describes an unwillingness on the part of the Governor and the Mayor to support the implementation of the plan. Boden speculates that they might have felt threatened by the plans and feared for their positions. As for the Governor, he assumes that a feud with the Emperor, resulting in degradation to this post from a former more responsible position, and personal resignation added to his suspicion towards the project (Boden 1962: 5-7).

የባህር ዳር ዘመናዊ የከተማ ቅርጽ መሰረት። ጽሁፉ አጼ ኃይለስላሴ በ1950ዎቹ እንዴት መናገሻ ከተማቸውን ከአዲስአበባ ወደባህርዳር ማዘዋወር እንዳሰቡ ለአዲሱ እቅዳቸውም ምዕራብ ጀርመን ከሚገኘው ዳርምሽታት ዩኒቨርስቲ ማክስ ጉንተር የተባለ ከተማ አቃጅ አግኝተው አዲስ እቅድ ለባህርዳር ከተማ እንዳሰሩ ይተርካል። ይህ እቅድ ማዕከላዊ ሀሳቡ ምንእንደሆነ እና እንዴት ሳይፈጸም እደተደናቀፈም ይተነትናል። ረጅም ጽሁፍ ቢሆንም ጥሩ መረጃ ይሰጣል። ሙሉ ምንጩ Urban Planning in Bahirdar የሚል ፒዲኤፍ ፋይል ሲሆን ለብቻው ተያይዟል። “Independent Ethiopia under theleadership of Haile Selassie gradually became, […] more and more bent on using the Nile for generating hydropower. So committed was the Emperor to this idea at the beginning of the 1950s, that he thought of moving the capital from Addis Ababa to the new town of Bahir Dar, planned as a center for hydropower and development, on the shores of Lake Tana. But most of all he wanted Eritrea to be part of Ethiopia, and he hoped to use the plans for the dam as a leverage to achieve this regional, imperial dream.” (Tvedt, 2004: 237) The Emperor received three different drafts from different European architects, before the plan finally executed was drafted by German architect Max Guther from Darmstadt and his team (Guther [around 1962], Boden 1962, Egli 1967).Although it cannot be established how serious the Emperor’s ambitions to relocate the capital were, various sources state that this was his plan and that the order Guther received was to design a capital city (Guther [around 1962], Egli 1967, Tvedt, 2004: 255). The contents of the plan were discussed between Guther’s team and Haile Selassie, who designated his Minister of Public Works and Transport to be responsible for the project (Guther [around 1962]: A1). The establishment of the new urban development project would drastically change the urban scenario in spite of its adverse implications for human habitation. The master plan Guther set up in 1962 was based on a concept of industrialisation and consisted of various elements, which were organised on an infrastructural grid structure. The newly devised zoning of the plan included both banks of the Nile, linking them by a concrete bridge. The zoning suggested cultural and business areas, industrial zones, small-scale industry, administration, services, military and a definition of sub- centres with commerce (see image of the plan). The final stage of the master planprojected up to 300,000 inhabitants (Egli 1967: 393). This meant a projected tenfold expansion of the figure of 25,000 inhabitants estimated in 1938 (see above). The plan included architectural designs for three model houses (Boden 1962: 1). When starting to devise the plan, certain building projects had already been decided on and had to be incorporated into the master plan. Among these projects was the tex-tile factory that was in construction due to a reparations agreement the Emperor had settled on with the Italians (Guther [around 1962]: A5 and J3). Guther himself drafted and executed the Felege Hiwot hospital project (Guther [around 1962]). Meanwhile, the master plan did not take into consideration the existing settle- ment nor did it look at social, cultural and economic structures in place. The tukuls were disregarded as not worthy of consideration in the progressing construction and were designated for removal (Guther [1962]: J1). Beyond that, no enquiries on local living were made, although Guther stated that he wanted the design to be of “Ethiopian-African nature” and model it on Gondar (Guther [around 1962]: A8). Guther, instead, applied the principles of universal modernisms in his plan, making references to Chandigarh and criticising the rigid formality of Brasilia’s urban layout. In terms of racial questions, Guther remained very neutral. The plan did not contain any kind of racial segregation, nor did it acknowledge the multi-ethnicity of Bahir Dar’s population (Guther [around 1962]). The abolition of traditional land rights in the urban location was not discussed and the Emperor’s landownership in Bahir Dar was not questioned. On the contrary, Guther expresses his relief that royal landownership meant easy implementation (Guther [around 1962]: E7).

Dear Readers, Welcome to a special edition of Ketema Journal, celebrating our 4th anniversary and 25th issue. Over the past four years, Ketema has showcased some of the most fascinating projects across diverse scales. In this milestone issue, we explore the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum, which vividly recounts a resurrected warrior’s journey through the historic site. The museum's intricate design, featuring grand staircases, memorial courtyards, and the striking Negarit centerpiece, honors the Battle of Adwa's legacy and Ethiopia's rich history, celebrating the sacrifices of its heroes Check it out! 👇 https://ketemajournal.com/v-25-flipbook/ MARCH • APRIL • 2024 Printed versions available at: Abrehot Library Tomoca Coffee (all branches) Gelani Coffee, Dumerso Coffee Kebena House, Zoma Museum And more destinations @ketema_journal

Buildings have their unique characters. Any addition of new elements to them should be well-thought-out. If not, this will be the result, clearly superimposed and blemish! Photos source: Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation #architecture #heritage #history #city #urbaninsight #feature #addisabeba #update 📌 Design for Humanity. @NArchomeArchitecture