Preview FuturIstIc EastafrIca

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Sunday, March 25, 2012


For these are the top 10 masterpieces in the architectural future of Nairobi

10. Panari Sky CentrePanari Sky Center, off Mombasa Road. Grand architecture with squat, imposing glass-work when viewing the facade from a close angle. Linear, cube shaped, tall structure when viewing the cone of the building from the South Eastern bend of the highway. Silver, neutral hue of the all-pane building highlighting the colonnades of same color and , seemingly material, with flying angels that give it a 'sky' identity.

09. 肯尼亚首都内罗毕国际会展中心  Kenyatta International Exhibition & Convention Centre,Nairobi, KenyaKICC on Harambee Avenue. Barely missed the list but for the round curves, inter-planetary curves that give it a futuristic epithet not seen in many other buildings. Furthermore it has some stunning open attic at the top for revelers at the top of a skyscraper under the sun.Wonder how it could have looked like if the Founding Father had kept his word to make it 60 stories.

08. Times TowerTimes Tower, off Haile Selassie Avenue. The intricate hexagonal, block nature of the tallest building in the city makes it inaccessible. It is insignificant in its grayish silver from afar, but becomes overwhelming from a proximate vantage point due to its solid, grounded foundation. Novel in the sense that it contains some alluring paintings (Gothic?) embossed on its ground floor entrance.

07.bonfire adventures contactsYalah Tower, Biashara Street. Contains some flying buttresses that make it quite airy , almost a gem in the midst of other laid-down buildings in its surrounding. It brings that slice of the Abu Dhabi to Nairobi, making you feel for the first time to be in an oriental locale, by the sea. For as you know, the building , I was told in an interview, was made to resemble a ship, a dhow by its owner. Made by the Chinese by the way.

06. Nation Center, Kimathi Street. The bottle-like aspect of this masterpiece at the center of the mass media in Kenya is always intriguing, with the horizontal silver-and-white lines effervescing with friendliness. It is a tall office building that appears like a plaything for a child showing just how the globe keeps turning daily bringing news events to the world without caring a whit about commentary.

05. The Rahimtullah, Upper Hill. Seems like all gray, silverly things win the appeal of the neutral bibliographer. This tall building with a spike pointing to the heavens in Upperhill in its  bright  silver color and an imposing barricade of mammoth blocks, as if to tilt it from its off-the-cliff position in Upperhill gives an illusion of direction to the Nairobian. It appears to be in Westlands sometimes, others at the city center, while yet other times, where it should be. Do not trust to its triangular linear projection just like you should not treat its protruding scaly bars kindly too. Pass it in awe only for its beauty.

04. Teleposta, off Kenyatta Avenue. If an award were to go to any piece of architecture with these merits, then they would go to the tower of the GPO: Elegant, cone-like., two towers side by side, inviting yellow-gold color, slim and modernistic. It is the only building in the city that can be seen from almost every direction despite being in the extreme end rather than the heart and despite being in the shadow of its tall, squat neighbor, Nyayo House. If any of the tower is unseen, then its robotic, perpendicular mast is.

03. Victoria Towers, Upper Hill. Elusive, phantasmagoria of blue illusions. All glass and almost a statement that the theory of relativity was after all right in that inverted and normally standing shapes can co-exist. The building is not so tall but it has immaculate curves that seem to be wrapping around each other in bottle and wing fashion.

02. Delta Corner, Westlands. In its finishing touches, Delta Center is by far the closest replication of how the Twin Towers in New York could have looked like in this city. In fact the 18 story twin towers are about to be possessed by the leading banker in the globe. It is a double-barreled masterpiece in the offing.

01. The Citadel, Westlands. Built in a hidden corner of the city, the Citadel deserves acclaim as the  most futuristic of all Nairobi buildings for it overcomes the theories of Roman-Greco architecture of adhering to form. It simply lacks form especially in its upper portion. Though solid and even linear, its color interplay overshadows any notion of solidity. Perhaps the car park underneath also gives the concept of a floating structure. It deserves the name citadel for its lack of grasp, being almost church-like, which makes it invincible. It is like a piece of graphic rendered solid in the air.


And at the VERY TAIL OF THE TALE....
Thirma kissed me again and again for the last time that night, as a light appeared in the east.
…a familiar light, only that this was redder, the light of the militia computeligents…

Thursday, September 23, 2010


Brief Introduction To East Africa

East Africa is made up of countries on the horn of Africa that comprises of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya and Tanzania have ports on the Indian Ocean whereas Uganda is landlocked. The three countries also share a common interior water mass, Lake Victoria, whose largest portion is on the Ugandan side. Economically, the region is an agricultural society whose main exports include, tea, coffee and livestock products. It  also enjoys industrial growth in areas like telecommunications, fines arts and manufacturing.

The political structure of the three countries follows the Commonwealth form of Constitutional Republics. The latest exception to this system occurred in Kenya, which promulgated a new constitution on 27th August 2010 setting up a county system of government. Other countries in the region including, Rwanda and Burundi are categorised as East African states through the shared EAC bloc, which is on its way to becoming a Common Market.

Tourism is a multimillion industry in the region due to the many national parks and diverse wildlife and the sandy beaches of Mombasa. The Kilindini harbor is the entry port for much of the foreign trade. Uganda has traditionally received imports via the port on the Mombasa-Uganda railway.

On the Common Market Of the EAC



Me

For any outsider to the East African Community (EAC), the fast rate in which the Common Market Protocol has been effected would seem incredible at first. A key prop to this assumption is that for an economic bloc to cross the barriers of the Customs Union, which is usually the precursor to a single market that embraces all states, within a record time, would require inexorable joint stamina.


The European Union, whose economic integration took several decades to implement is a measure of how long the process can take to implement. This is exactly what the five states that currently make up the EAC (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda) are set to achieve beginning the first of July 2010.

One can attribute these positive steps to the mutual cooperation between the five border states of East Africa. Unlike Europe, which is a heterogeneous society with disparate geographical barriers like the sea, and different political structures, the East African countries share common values like heritage and have a similar political system derived from the British. However, in order to realize a Single Market in this region, there are several milestones, the EAC  needs to cover by the by. These challenges include the ratification of the four freedoms and the show of political will to give security of tenure to already existing freedoms among the states. This will pave way for the formation of a common currency.

 These cross border freedoms that need ratification and implementation include convenient and cheap air transport, making the securities markets regional, enforcing free broadcasting rights across the region, customizing educational requirements, and modernizing travel and work documents.


Tuesday, September 21, 2010


Explanation on this Novel

Title: The Anti-Cousin
Synopsis: It is the year 2037 in postmodern EA Nation, a federal state
formed by East African countries. Against a background of a rotten court
system, two individuals are on the run after writing treasonable content.
Now the question is, who between them has done the capital wrong? Or is it
the state that is to blame? A forensic officer and robotic agents are out to
find out. The judgment on these two individuals, if caught, will resort in
the subtle salvation of a nation or the indictment of a whole society.
Finally, will the first person narrator,who is also the protagonist be finally
saved whereas the real culprit is brought to book?

The 63000 plus word novel is written in a
pseudo-surrealistic style that is deemed best to highlight in an undertone
the evils of impunity. The message is targeted at the here and now: the
future state, though realistic, is just a technical cap to drive the point
home.

The work is under copyright




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