Local Cultures – Global Spaces

Abstract

Western architecture and design have been defined by specific images proportioned by the human body, such as “Vitruvian Man” and LeCorbusier’s “Modular Man.” This paper focuses on the inclusion, re-conceptualization, and re-envisioning of a Black aesthetic by combining the “visual” forms of traditional African art and philosophy with the traditions and historiography of Black culture in the Americas and the Caribbean. This allows for a syncretism beyond historical narratives based solely on oppression and a dis-empowered past that victimizes— even contemporary—Black thought. Deconstructing the “Modular Man” of the past instead of continuing to accept that figure’s implicit exclusion of “other” bodies decolonize Western thought and allows for new, creative design languages. Black culture grew out of the Transatlantic African slave trade, overcoming adversity in the struggle for freedom, equality, and representation. Although some areas of black art, music, and literature have a validated global presence, most areas of architecture and design remain under-represented. This paper argues that juxtaposing these relatively related traditions, Continental Africa and Diaspora Africa can loosen the persistent grip of Western ideologies by using them as a tool, rather than the rule, to create new aesthetic languages. African Americans appropriated European musical instruments to create what is known worldwide as jazz and the current hip hop trends, thus, a new language of architecture and design is possible. The exploration and invention of a different Black aesthetic can be rooted in the historiography of the “Black Atlantic,” but defined by those of the African Diaspora.