Social trigger. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs

The New Guabuliga Market was opened in September 2019 after growing with the community of Guabuliga in northern Ghana, since 2011. The project designed and implementated by the Upper Austrian non-governmental organisation Braveaurora and [applied] Foreign Affairs ([a]FA), - a transdisciplinary lab at the Institute of Architecture of the University of Applied Arts Vienna , was underway based on (field) research done in 2018.

In co-operation with a team students, led by Baerbel Mueller architect, constructed an iconic modular market structure with the goal of attracting traders to the remote community of Guabuliga in northern Ghana to strengthen the socio-economic life of the community.

New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Photograph by Toms Kampars. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs.

The design that respond to programmatic, climatic, and urban parameters and includes an integrated water source, started building in early 2019. The structure consists of a "floorscape" and "roofscape" and takes inspiration from the traditional grain silos of the region.

The project was conceived as a cellular group of geometries for the pavement and roof to respond to urban situations and future expansions of the market. Extension zones allow for the setting up of informal scenarios.

The market was built with local labor and professionals, and is located at one end of the Guabuliga Greenbelt (2012 – ongoing), a zone that connects the town center to the adjacent riverbed, a sustainable and alternative model of town development.

The construction has provided income-generating opportunities for people from community, for whom unemployment during the off-farming seasons is high. The construction of the buildings and the furnishing of the marketplace have been supported, inter alia, by the Austrian Embassy in Abuja.

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New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Photograph by Juergen Strohmayer. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs.

New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Photograph courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Plot. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Rendering. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Ground floor plan. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Roof floor plan. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Section. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

Sketch. New Guabuliga Market by [applied] Foreign Affairs. Image courtesy of [applied] Foreign Affairs

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More information

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Architects

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[applied] Foreign Affairs, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna. Head.- Baerbel Mueller.

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Project Team

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Chien-hua Huang, Magdalena Gorecka, Toms Kampars, with Juergen Strohmayer and Abdul-Rauf Issahaque. Head.- Baerbel Mueller

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Collaborators

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Structural engineering and details.- Franz Sam; Structural engineering.- Klaus Bollinger; Landscape design.- Karin Raith; Water and sanitary.- Frank Kumah

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Client

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NGO Braveaurora, Chief Salifu Mahama Tampurie.

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Area

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158 m² (roof). 634 m² (market area).

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Dates

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2018 – 2020.

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Photography

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Juergen Strohmayer, Toms Kampars.

Baerbel Mueller [applied] Foreign Affairs

[applied] Foreign Affairs is a trans-disciplinary lab investigating spatial, infrastructural, environmental and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. Each lab project centers on a distinct question or clear mission and culminates in field trips and residencies through which (applied) research, mappings, rural and urban growth patterns, urban prototypes, imaginary (art) spaces, and relational physical interventions are produced.

A series of lectures and talks introduces students to the spatial diversity and cultural vibrancy of the contemporary condition of the respective project context, followed by workshops which focus on the status and potential of a specific region. The process of relating and making is conceptualized in a reactive and slowed-down manner. Conditions of uncertainty and fragility are embraced. The outcome of each lab is presented in different formats and contexts.

Baerbel Mueller is an architect and researcher based in Vienna, Austria and Ghana, and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Architecture (IoA) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria. She studied architecture at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Germany, and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she graduated with honours in 2002. From 2002 to 2011, she has been teaching at the studio of Wolf D. Prix (Studio Prix), directing student realization projects and transdisciplinary courses.

Since October 2011 she is head of the IoA lab [applied] Foreign Affairs, which investigates spatial and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle-East through research-based workshops and field trips. She is founder of nav_s baerbel mueller [navigations in the field of architecture and urban research within diverse cultural contexts}, which has focused on projects located on the African continent since 2002.

Her work comprises architecture, urban research, installations, scenography, and curatorial projects, and has been widely exhibited; e.g. at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006, the Architekturmuseum Pinakothek Munich in 2013, and the Marrakech Biennial in 2016. She received various prizes and scholarships. In 2015, she was awarded with the Ars Docendi State Award for excellence in teaching by the Republic of Austria. In 2017, she edited [applied] Foreign Affairs - investigation spatial phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa.