Studio Work with Sally Chen
Fall 2022
Francis Kere & Martin Finio
Fall 2022
Francis Kere & Martin Finio
The nonverbal ways of communication1 play out an important role in Benin. In a traditional village, gathering around the village tree becomes the spatial embodiment of the community gathering in a visually rich environment. Located on the Lake Nokoué in Benin, Wait For Me! plays with the question of how life on water is different than living on land.
Dwelling on this idea, in Ganvie2 water itself become the frame for the project to convene around. Reframing water in different ways construct new ways of engaging with what is already expansive in the area. The program resolves around playpools, bathhouses and laundry area.
Positioning itself on the main channel, the project attempts to add another layer to these different ways of existence and blur the line between the community and the school to carry the learning and knowledge-making process with different ways of gathering.
1 Drum, hair and fabric become pivotal in our project determining our orientation towards framing water. Music is a key element to keep the tempo of the fisherman during the hard labor of pulling the boat onto the shore. Hairstyles allows women to silently express their social, marital positions and sexual choice of the female between women. Different patterns on fabrics evoke themes of everyday life, objectives present in African society. It expresses wishes for prosperity, wealth and future.
2The village is located on the North end of the Lake Nokoué. Here people support themselves mainly from fishing, and lake becomes the main dynamic from carrying materi- als and resources, to navigating on it from an early age on. The houses are on piles, and informal ways of exchange of goods and dialogues betwe- en bots are an extension of the daily life.
Playpools imitate the tree in the African villages. All three of them share the similar way of gathering around its periphery.
Ispired by the African talking drums, double-layer envelope formed the pools into ‘talking platforms’ in elevation.
Second playpool is for kids near the laundry and bathouse units to accommadate better communication with their parents around.
Between the main pool and the kids pool are the gender-specific bathhouses. Each bathhouse have three rooms. Public toilets are provided for the bathhouse beside the main pool.
Section of the bathhouse with the anchored well water.
Laundry platform
A look from the bridge connecting the project with the school.
Third and last playpool is located near the bridge connecting the platforms to school courtyard.
In the area, the boundaries between land and water are very vague. With our project we at- tempt to add another layer to these different ways of existence and blur the line between the community and the school, as well as between the learning and ways of gathering. Tufting was one of our methodologies in rep- resenting the vague boundaries of the lake and project.
*Tuft The World supported the project with a donation of full tufting set and yarns. Upon the completion of the project, the gun is returned back to the company to be shipped to Benin to support women in the community.
“WAIT FOR ME, Welcome to the Playpool!”