Form Making in Architecture

Abstract

Form making is one of the most important activities that the architect is engaged in when creating architecture. During the process of form making the architect expresses the individual perceptions of reality in tangible form, which is the symbolic form of architecture. When one observes the majority of built forms in the city of Nairobi they are more of an expression of Western culture than Kenyan culture. The individual perceptions of reality of Kenyan culture and nature are not well symbolized in most of the built forms. This has led to lack of a unifying architectonic style that defines and guides the Kenyan mordern architecture. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which the built forms in Nairobi portray the Kenyan cultural and natural forms through symbolism in their form making. A sample of 21 buildings constructed between 1960 and 2011 in the City of Nairobi were studied. Data was collected using interviews and observation techniques. Qualitative methods were used to analyse the data. Out of the 21 sampled buildings, only 40% seemed to be inspired by Kenyan culture and nature in their built forms. The study recommends that the architects in Kenya create architectural forms that are inspired by natural environment, traditions and cultural values of the local communities. It is only out of this that the symbolic architectural forms in Kenya can be realised