Architecture Spotlight: Liberia (NASSCORP Commercial Center, Harriet Tubman Centennial Design Challenge)
Liberia is a country that for many years unwillingly served as the West’s poster-child for war and dysfunction in Africa, a strange paradox considering the fact that the first wave of foreign settlers to this region were freed slaves from the United States. Liberia initially showed tremendous economic promise in its earlier years under the Tubman administration (FYI, William Tubman was the 19th President of Liberia), and the economic prosperity that Liberia experienced under his time in office translated into notable buildings, many of which are still standing till this day. Unfortunately, dysfunction and the many years of civil war following Tubman’s term in office halted Liberia’s upward socioeconomic trajectory. Today, Liberia is no longer at war, and with the right leadership and collective buy in from its people, it has the chance to reclaim its Golden era of economic prosperity and facilitate a rich architectural culture. This point of view is embodied in the subjects for this article: the NASSCORP Commercial Center, and the Harriet Tubman Centennial Design Challenge.
NASSCORP Commercial Center
Designed by Liberian architect Sylvanus O’Connor (owner of AEP Consultants Inc. and built by ECOCON Incorporated (a Liberian construction company), the NASSCORP Commercial Center (NASSCORP btw stands for “National Social Security & Welfare Corporation”) was completed in 2014 with the purpose of serving as the hub to facilitate civil service and pension reforms across Liberia. Commissioned by President Ellen Johns-Sirleaf, the structure features “a pair of bulbous round turrets, bridged by a soaring lobby space, which together form the tower section of the complex, and a concave curtain which connects to a thin, missile-like clock tower, all planted on a colonnaded base meeting the street, providing a transformation-ally urban front to what is, after all, one the country’s primary traffic crossings.”
For a full description of this project, please visit the Liberian blog, Moved 2 Monrovia. It’s promising work, especially considering that it was designed by a Liberian firm, and hopefully the Liberian government will award more contracts to local architects so they can prove themselves and build on their experience.
Harriet Tubman Architectural Design Challenge
The Harriet Tubman Architectural Design Challenge is an innovative initiative between Howard, Morgan State and Tuskegee Universities and Liberia’s Tubman University.
Background: Prior to Liberia’s civil war, Tubman University was a 2 year technical college that produced many engineers for Liberia, and right before the war began it had been approved to become a 4 year college. Then the war broke out, and all the aspirations for the college seemed to fall to the wayside. That all changed when the war ended, and President Sirleaf came to power. This is when things started getting exciting, and these next two individuals I’m about to highlight play critical roles in this story:
Dr. Elizabeth Davis-Russell is an accomplished academic and psychologist of Liberian origin that has earned every degree under the sun (B.A., M.A., PhD in various forms of psychology and an EdD in Counselor Education). She was/is a teacher, researcher, director, provost at American Universities like SUNY Cortland and even had her own private practice in California. Dr. Russell was called out of retirement by President Sirleaf to run Tubman University (2007). Tubman University itself was officially reopened in 2009 with a little over 300 students registered. The university’s attendance rapidly grew, and with time it was determined that a new library would be needed to accomodate the growing student body. The Harriet Tubman Architectural Centennial Challenge was officially born.
Professor Barbara Simmons is a Philadelphia native who currently serves as an Associate Professor and Inaugural Dean at Tubman University (on a side note Prof. Simmons was kind enough to grant me the interview for this article). Professor Simmons served as the “conduit” between Liberia and America, and was responsible for bringing each participating HBCU into the fold.
The Competition: The challenge was unique in the sense that it did not pit the participating schools against each other. Rather, blended teams were created with equal members from each school. This approach promoted a spirit of collaboration between the schools as each team worked to come up with a winning design for the library. It was also unique as it fostered collaboration between African and African American students. The final designs were judged by a panel of stakeholders and architects in a ceremony (June 2014) at Howard University.
The final design concept has been selected, and President Sirleaf recently launched a fundraising campaign to commence construction. It’s worth noting that this entire initiative could not have been possible without the financial support of the William V.S. Tubman Foundation and the Marylanders for Progress organization.
In closing, this is quite a unique project, as it presents many benefits to both Africans and African Americans. Outside of helping bridge the gap between both worlds, it exposes the many opportunities for African Americans to take up design projects in Africa’s emerging markets.
Hope you enjoyed this article! Be sure to check out my website to learn about my other projects!
