KICC marks anniversary amid calls to preserve heritage

Last week, the Kenyatta International Convention Centre marked 45 years albeit without any cultural fanfare – apart from a small group of workers that met at the helipad to cut a cake and pop champagne.

A chance was perhaps lost to tell its story – or the big story of the place of iconic buildings, architecture, and what we think about open spaces in our towns.

Two weeks back, I spoke to Nana Gechaga, the KICC supremo, and she told me on the phone she wants to use those open spaces within the grounds of KICC to showcase the country’s floriculture.

It is a brilliant idea – and I hope she does that as she struggles to turn around this facility – still embroiled in some procurement mess on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in 2015.

After 45 years, KICC is still one of the finest architectural pieces in the country – although it lost its place as the tallest building in 1997 to Times Tower, which held on to that title for 15 years before it was overtaken by the Sh7 billion Britam Tower in Upper Hill. But so far, no conference facility has outwitted KICC.

More on KICC, later; but happy birthday.

QUALITY

Some five years ago, a small group of architects and old heritage enthusiasts met at the Nairobi National Museums to brainstorm on the future of iconic buildings in Nairobi.

The team, of which I was a member, was composed of veteran architects David Mutiso, the first qualified African architect in the whole of East Africa, Emma Miloyo, first female president of the Architectural Association of Kenya, Tim Vaulkhard, Gathecha Waweru and Janfrans van der Eerden plus enthusiasts such as Aref Adamali (our chairman), Kariuki Kimaru and Katherine Fellens.

We also had Mutua Matheka, a photographer whose capture of open spaces and architectural beauty of Nairobi is epic.

Our conversations were deep – and we went by the name Architecture and Heritage Advisory Committee (Ahac), which is still crying to be heard.

While taking coffee, the stories I heard about the collapse of architectural quality, the grabbing of walkways, green areas and why urban planning in Nairobi is in a mess were shocking.

We spoke about the pioneer days of Herbert Baker who designed State House, Railways headquarters and the High Court building.

GARDEN CITY

At the back of our mind was the question: who takes care of this country’s heritage and have we lost the plot to have beautiful well-planned towns?

Is there something that can be done to appreciate our history, mark the heritage buildings and help preserve the visions of architects by respecting the original designs.

The next question was whether out town planners have any idea on what town planning is all about and how can we incorporate a discourse on the way forward.

Tim Vaulkard would talk about the pain of watching the collapse of Buru Buru Estate, which was one of Nairobi’s first version of a garden city project.

I was recently going through some of the emails and he remarked on how he worked on the Buru Buru project in his youthful days with Braz Menezes in 1971-73, doing the master plan and phase 1 north.

That was before he joined Triad Architects with the late David Bristow and Daniel Mutiso.

AMYAS CONNELL

Triad had been started in 1963 by Graham McCullough, regarded as the founder member of Architectural Association of Kenya and as the man who designed the first Safari lodges in Kenya – and Amyas Connell, the designer of Parliament Building.

Here they designed the KPCU building and the Norfolk Towers, a bit early in their careers, plus many other signature buildings across the landscape.

Before he died in 1980 at Highgate, London, Mr Connell had earned his name in Nairobi and anyone who looks at the design of Parliament Building, Sheria House and Aga Khan University Hospital will see his typical imprint.

It was passion that drove this man – and which still drives most of our architects let down by city planners.

A story is told how Mr Connell, young and eager to leave New Zealand to learn architecture and design in London, had sought employment as a stoker-trimmer aboard a coal-burning freighter.

Coal stockers were men who delivered coal from the bunkers in wheelbarrows to the stokers and were never allowed on the deck.

“I never knew what (the freighter) was carrying,” he would later admit to an industry magazine.

“For we were never on deck long enough to find out. But that 56-day voyage left me with hands so gnarled that I couldn’t draw a line for months afterwards.”

AGA KHAN

Mr Connell’s journey of passion would later bring him to Kenya after he was likened to a “rebel” in 1930s when he fought the Greater London Council - which had denied a developer a permit to put up one of the architect’s design.

Critics had termed his works as “unBritish”, “French-influenced”, and “German oriented” while London newspapers are said to have campaigned against the “desecration” of their neighbourhoods by such works.

Tired of restrictions in London, and with the suppression of modern architecture in Europe, Mr Connell arrived in Kenya in 1947 to design the Aga Khan Hospital – the wards and surgical rooms - which was opened in 1958. He won the RIBA bronze award for that.

That is the reason Mr Vaulkard would in later years lament about the collapse of Buru Buru Estate in Nairobi – thanks to corrupt city fathers who looked the other way as ugly extensions emerged.

Today, Buru Buru is a fine mess – and all that could go wrong after a descent planning went wrong here.

BAD DESIGNS

The same with the USAID-funded Umoja I and II projects. The rest is the story of how a slum mushroomed, thereafter – and Buru Buru is slowly losing its place.

“The concept is still valid but unfortunately the caveats on the public space were not enforced. I haven't had the courage to venture in recently – it would probably break my heart!” Mr Vaulkard, who would later design the Nairobi National Museum and Moi University library, wrote in one of the emails to our Ahac group.

Indeed. In an article published by the Buildesign magazine, Mr Vaulkard poured his disappointment on how institutions are falling prey to bad designs.

“I am disappointed just how badly architectural design services are procured in Kenya and the result is the poor quality of so many of our buildings. In many cases you find that reputation and quality doesn’t count in awarding a job.

He went on: “I always say, as an architect, your reputation is as good as your last project… but this doesn’t seem to count.”

And perhaps one needs to look at the emerging headquarters of county governments and you will realise why reputation no longer seems to count.

Apart from a few, which include new Wajir headquarters, what we have today are uninspiring and badly designed hovels masquerading as headquarters.

KIBERA

To his credit, Mr Vaulkard had inspired an army of local architects and one of the most notable was James Njuguna Gitoho, the man credited with designing Barclays Plaza, CFC Centre, and Communications Commission of Kenya headquarters.

He also worked with Daniel Mutiso to design Times Tower among others.

And that reminds me of a story I had heard during one of the meetings that Mr Menezes, regarded as a very creative and original architect, had in 1970s conceptualised a courtyard scheme for Kibera which was to cater for the mainly Sudanese Muslims.

Had this succeeded, we could have averted the slum development of Kibera – today an eyesore for Nairobi.

And that was just about the time that David Mutiso, first African Chief Architect in the Ministry of Public Works, a position he held from 1967 to 1974, would oversee the design of then Kenyatta Conference Centre, as it was known then.

TRUSTEES

It was Kanu secretary-general Tom Mboya who had approached Mr Mutiso to come up with a design for a new Kanu headquarters since the party wanted to move its headquarters from Mfangano Street’s Munishram Mansion (the owner Lekhraj Aggarwal later claimed Kanu disappeared with his 11-year rent!).

But some people credit Mr Mutiso’s junior at the ministry, a Norwegian architect Karl HenrikNostvik, who would later become a private consultant for the project.

Although the construction of KICC had cost the exchequer £3,987,350 under project account No. 530-801(A)-001" – and the building was registered as a government building No. NRB/ADM/38/1 – it was in 1989 grabbed by Kanu together with the adjacent plots with President Moi and Kanu Chairman Peter Oloo Aringo registered as trustees of plot no. LR 209/11157.

But that KICC was the battleground of various interests – British and Israeli – is the story of our politics. But finally it Israeli’s Solel Boneh – which would start the construction of the project thanks to Tom Mboya’s link to Histadrut, the workers movement which owned the company, then.

And like all iconic buildings in Nairobi, there is a story behind the construction and the men and women behind it.

KANU

Had the Mwai Kibaki government not issued an executive order to take over this building, chances are that it would still be under the control of Gideon Moi’s Kanu party.

The open spaces, what is known as Comesa Grounds, had been given a separate title and chances are that this would have been sold by now.

As we ponder about 45 years of KICC, the question we should ask is what we want to do with our heritage buildings.

The architects of yesteryears have left us with iconic buildings. Should we preserve them or watch as they are knocked down.

And that can only be answered by the third generation of Kenyan architects and enthusiasts.

[email protected]; @johnkamau1