Alpine Archi­tectural Styles on the Jos Plateau in Africa

Architecture historian Warebi Brisibe explores the work of the Austrian building contractor Johann Hofmeister, who went to hills of the Jos Plateau in Nigeria in the 1970s and began constructing Alpine-style houses.

Johann Hofmeister spent over 30 years designing and refining a residential building type formally inspired by houses found in the Austrian Alps. This architectural concept was a deliberate response to the strongly tourist-oriented character of the Jos Plateau, where the local identity and economic development were largely dependent on tourism. Hofmeister’s work exemplifies transferals, cultural appropriation and postcolonial interrelationships in architecture. Drawing on interviews, photographs, and case studies, Warebi Brisibe explores the question of whether these “imported” types of buildings should be interpreted as environmental and cultural misfits or as a sustainable success 40 years later.

Speaker: Warebi Brisibe, Professor of Architecture (African History and Culture), Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria