Secular architecture
Ivorian architecture and housing vary according to ethnicity, region, climate and foreign influences. Through a series of models, the Musée du Costume de la ville de Grand-Bassam provides a fairly exhaustive overview of the different types of traditional architecture which, however different they may be from one region to another, are nonetheless underpinned by two major characteristics: the technique used for construction, and the architectural form borrowed.
Three construction techniques can be distinguished. The first is pottery: walls are built of layers of earth, one on top of the other. The second is wickerwork: branches planted in the ground, joined together and covered with foliage and/or papo (palm leaf panels). Finally, the third and most common type combines the first two with banco (adobe) walls and a generally conical roof made of papo, straw or thatch. Broadly speaking, there are two dominant types of architecture: the square or round banco hut with conical straw roof, typical of forest and savannah areas, and the Sudanese-style rectangular house with an upper floor and/or flat roof, which is predominant in Kong and Bondoukou. We are currently witnessing a modernization of this type of housing, with cement replacing banco and bricks and corrugated iron replacing plant elements on the roof. This phenomenon is partly the result of galloping urbanization and the construction fever that has gripped the country, as well as a concern for rain and fire prevention. The traditional architectural identity of Côte d'Ivoire's towns and villages is being diluted by the anarchic proliferation of a modern facade that is not always adapted to social realities and climatic constraints.
A mixed colonial legacy
Côte d'Ivoire's colonial heritage is more or less abandoned. The many buildings from the era, which are not without charm, display their decrepit facades to passers-by, who don't seem to mind. It's only in Abidjan and Grand-Bassam, where the regulations in force are theoretically designed to preserve the overall harmony of the Quartier France, a UNESCO World Heritage site, that any attempt is made to maintain these vestiges. The former governor's palace in Grand-Bassam was recently renovated and transformed into the Musée National du Costume. It is located in Ancien Bassam, the historic heart of the town on the Ouladine lagoon. Other buildings benefiting from the restoration program include the Maison des Artistes.
Modernity
In the capital Yamoussoukro, the trend is towards ubiquitous gigantism, in a debauchery of marble, precious woods and other gilding styles, with the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix and the Fondation Félix Houphouët-Boigny, disparate elements of a bygone splendor that rub shoulders in an urban savannah landscape with vast areas of informal housing, village districts, blocks of flats and strings of courtyard dwellings reminiscent of the everyday realities of the population. The Maison des Députés, now the hôtel des parlementaires with its prestigious rooms, unfurls its tiered structure in the shape of a truncated pyramid. This geometric, quasi-abstract composition contrasts with the ornamentation of its façade and arcades, whose pointed arches are reminiscent of Islamic architecture.
City architecture is resolutely contemporary. In Abidjan, the Plateau, the historic heart of the city, is the proud showcase of the Ivorian economic miracle. A symbol of the country's great post-independence ambitions, the business district boasted some of the most modern architecture in Africa, earning it the nickname "Manhattan of the Tropics".
Another emblematic work of art on the Plateau is the Grande Mosquée Salam, designed by architect Thierry Dogbo (1962-) in 1996. Built on a 7,500 m² plot of land, it is said to be one of the largest mosques in West Africa. The rectangular edifice features a sixty-five-metre-high minaret, topped by an imposing dome in blue and gold, covered in granite, ceramic and marble. In other words, it doesn't go unnoticed in the heart of the business district.
The great figures of architecture since independence
Several master builders have left their mark on post-independence architecture in Côte d'Ivoire, helping to give its two capitals that distinctive identity that still strikes visitors today.
Italian architects Rinaldo Olivieri (1931-1998) and Aldo Spirito are respectively responsible for the Pyramide building, emblematic of the Plateau's architectural audacity and glorious verticality, and the astonishing St. Paul's Cathedral, which won its designer the 1982 "Europe Architecture" prize. Their singular triangularity contrasts with the verticality of this Babylon of business, to which the Ivory Tower of the eponymous hotel on the other side of the lagoon responds, a glorious and lonely vestige of a pharaonic "African Riviera" project that was never completed.
Henri Chomette (1921-1995), who was entrusted with the design of central Abidjan, was the author of several large-scale projects combining elegance and monumentality, starting with theHôtel du District d'Abidjan and the Pont de Gaulle. The French architect also designed the Immeuble des Finances and the Nour al Hayat center, which houses La Rotonde des arts contemporains. Pierre Dufau (1908-1985) designed the majestic Palais présidentiel du Plateau, inaugurated in 1961 to mark the country's independence.
Another prolific builder and shrewd businessman, well known to the continent's eminent figures, is the Tunisian-born Frenchman Olivier-Clément Cacoub (1920-2008), known as the "Architect of the Sun", winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1953, and the author of numerous projects in France and around the world. He will be responsible for the presidential palace in Yamoussoukro, as well as the Fondation Félix Houphouët-Boigny and theHôtel Président, also in the political capital. In 2023, the Pyramid was embellished with frescoes created by six Ivorian and international street art artists, while it was being renovated on uncertain dates, as the building had fallen into disrepair.
Contemporary architecture to the glory of business
A sign of the times and of the country's gentrification, the most beautiful and ambitious architectural achievements of recent years include major banking establishments, shopping centers, luxury real estate programs and business hotels. The headquarters of pan-African group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, built around the symbolism of the Akan stool and the elephant, was officially inaugurated in July 2015. In early 2017, it was the Azalaï hotel's turn to reveal itself to Abidjan's residents. Both buildings were designed by the AR 2000 firm of architect Ibrahima Konaré, nicknamed the "bank builder", who prides himself on works rooted in local culture.
Architecture after the political crisis
Since the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, Abidjan has been undergoing an all-out facelift, which is also reflected in the city's changing architectural physiognomy. The ambitious verticality of the 1970s-1980s is now being replaced by a sprawl of buildings with a streamlined, designer aesthetic, designed to be more respectful of environmental standards and less costly to maintain. However, the question of the merits of horizontality - especially when it is uncontrolled, which is the case in the majority of cases - is a matter of debate, and not all specialists agree on the issue.
Abidjan's transformation is also reflected in the development of social housing projects and suburban neighborhoods, as well as the restoration of the city's heritage, with the rehabilitation of emblematic buildings such as the Abidjan International Shopping Center (CCIA, 94 m, 28 floors), the Postel 2001 tower (105 m, 26 floors), the Saint-Paul cathedral, which for some years had been a mere shadow of its former self, and in 2023 the famous Pyramique, dressed for the occasion in street-art frescoes.
In terms of technical and aesthetic qualities, and in view of their numerous projects in Côte d'Ivoire and several African capitals, Koffi & Diabaté is one of the most prominent architects of the moment. Founded in 2001, its references include the superb Green real estate complex and the Onomo Abidjan Airport Hotel, built according to an ecological architecture that combines local natural resources with building materials.
At a time when visionless real estate projects are proliferating, Koffi & Diabaté's vision of the African city, its needs and its layout, is one in which architecture plays a fundamental role in addressing local urban, human and environmental issues. It's a vision that's still struggling to take hold, but one that should be taken into account for the harmonious development of cities like Abidjan, which, according to certain projections, will have a population of almost 8 million by 2030.
