Addis Ababa | Ethiopia: The architect who recycles houses

The record is audibly scratched, the sleeve already worn from frequent use. Ethiopian architect Ahadu Abayneh has placed a 1968 record by composer Ashenafi Kebede on the turntable; he is standing in one of the houses he designed. "We were inspired by the music when designing the piece," explains the architect. By "we," he means himself and the building's clients. Ahadu* invites you to listen, pointing out how the flute piece sometimes gets louder and sometimes quieter, and how the tempo also varies. "The sequence of rooms is the same," explains the builder. "Sometimes there's only one floor, then the building gets higher and then lower again. The musical pauses are the open spaces you see here and there and also over there."

As he speaks, Ahadu leads us through the building. With every step, the view opens up into a different room or the lush green garden, with flowers growing outside many of the windows. The materials are also unusual: almost everything is recycled. More than 20 demolished buildings have been given a second life in this private home; entire staircases, doors, windows, and stone columns have survived – except for the front door, hardly anything is new here.

Recycling is the way to the future

The developer, who wishes to remain anonymous, explains the idea behind it: "I believe we must preserve all these materials." Because old Addis Ababa has already been largely destroyed by a construction boom. "We can't stop this; the old must give way to the new," the developer is convinced. But the high-quality and well-crafted old materials are too valuable to simply let them deteriorate. "Recycling them and using them to construct a new building is, in my opinion, a way forward."

The architect Ahadu sees it the same way. Recycling historic stones, wooden doors, columns, and entire staircases is his specialty. The Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was founded at the end of the 19th century. Fifty years later, under Emperor Haile Selassie, who ruled from 1930 to 1974, it experienced its first construction boom. The emperor wanted to present himself as a modern, cosmopolitan ruler, and "his" capital was intended to reflect this. This resulted in a very special blend of traditional construction and modern architecture.

Much of this has already fallen victim to a construction boom that has been ongoing for years: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wants to give Addis Ababa a different image. Office towers with mirrored facades and residential areas are being built, and road corridors are being cut through the historic buildings.

"Ensuring that the buildings are climate-friendly isn't a priority," laments Abel Estefanos, who works for the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in the Ethiopian capital. "Most of the towers are glazed, which reinforces the effect of the city as a heat island." This doesn't play a role in the regulations for building permits, he regrets, neither in those of the country nor in those of the city. "We, the country and the city, have to work on this," the urban planner is convinced.

Climate-friendly construction is essential

According to Abel, Addis Ababa, with its already over five million inhabitants, is attracting increasing numbers of people, partly as a result of climate change. Droughts and floods are increasing, destroying harvests and livelihoods in rural areas. For many, the metropolis appears to be a last resort to find a new source of income. Others simply hope for better work in the city than the arduous toil in the fields. Rapid housing construction is therefore important to meet the rapidly growing demand.

However, "Due to the massive urbanization of the surrounding areas, less water is now seeping into the ground, and groundwater reserves are no longer being replenished," Abel explains. Instead, more water is flowing away, which in turn is increasing the frequency of flooding. "People who, contrary to all regulations, build in the buffer zones where the water collects, then experience the raw power of the floods directly," Abel laments – their huts and houses are being swept away by water and mudslides. In recent years, there have been repeated incidents of this kind, some of which have caused massive damage.

The plot on the outskirts of the city where the recycled house stands seems to be in another world. Plenty of greenery grows on the property, and birds and insects can be heard. "From our perspective, sustainability has many facets," explains architect Ahedu. "This includes preserving the culture. And the plants you see in the garden."

The garden is also recycled: The plants were dug up from plots of land that were supposed to be paved over. Now they grow here: trees, flowering shrubs, and flowers. A fountain burbles in the middle. "You can destroy the plants or create spaces like this garden," Ahadu describes. "When you come here, you sense that such spaces would be important in other parts of Addis Ababa. But the way they planned the new city, there's no room for plants."

Plants to bind _CO2 . Vegetation to avoid sealing even more land and preventing rainwater from seeping into the soil. But also because people feel more comfortable in nature, says Ahadu: The sight of nature makes him happy. Preserving it is his greatest passion. However, many species of butterflies, flowers, and trees have already disappeared from the greater Addis Ababa area. "Here in the garden, I'm now seeing butterflies again, which no longer exist in the city center because nature there has been destroyed in the name of development." When he designs a house, he always makes nature a part of the building as much as possible: There are gardens inside and outside, and inside and outside are intertwined wherever possible.

Preserving history and nature was important to both architect and client from the very beginning. However, the thought of climate change initially played no role for either of them. Over time, that changed. "Almost all of the materials here are made of stone or wood," explains the homeowner. "By using them for construction, we're doing something to preserve the environment and combat climate change." Concrete is a climate killer; its production emits a lot of _CO2 , a greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change – and thus contributes to species extinction. Something Ahadu wants to avoid at all costs. This includes the way he builds.

* In Ethiopia the family name comes first.