Positioning Namibia’s first school of architecture theoretically within its post-colonial context.

Abstract

Architectural education has on several remarkable occasions been the locus of radical change, usually in the wake of deep social transformations. In post independence Namibia, decolonisation of space has not been the subject of much debate. The architectural profession remains elitist, skewed in race and gender and largely disjointed from the everyday realities of the majority of ordinary citizens who often lack the most basic aspects of a dignified living environment. With Namibia’s first undergraduate architecture programme established in 2010, the question arises how it situates itself theoretically within this postcolonial context, as well as within the wider debates on architectural education and how that might inform pedagogy. This paper reflects on how, through curriculum review, the school positions architecture as a critical response to prevailing socio-spatial challenges and the architect as co-producer of space within a complex field of social, technological, economic and political dynamics context, as well as within the wider debates on architectural education and how that might inform pedagogy. This paper reflects on how, through curriculum review, the school positions architecture as a critical response to prevailing socio-spatial challenges and the architect as co-producer of space within a complex field of social, technological, economic and political dynamics.