A recent article in The Modernist on Freetown in Sierra Leone had got me interested in African Modernism, and when I visited Uganda at the end of last year I managed to get a few shots of some of Kampala's modernist buildings. This kind of architecture, with it's forward-thinking, confident, utopian ambitions, has a particular resonance in the context of newly-independent African nations. Perhaps the best example I found was the National Theatre, which, like many of our own best modernist buildings, is now under threat of demolition.
Another example, and looking a little better looked-after, is the Bank of Uganda.
One feature I really liked from Kampala's 20th century architecture is the screen walls, as seen here on the Ministry of Education building. All along the road from Entebbe to Kampala I saw shops selling the blocks for building these perforated walls.
Another method of keeping a cool interior - the concrete slats on the post office building, which also still has its fantastic mid-century lettering.
This former mill building looks as if it was inspired by a Le Corbusier housing scheme. I couldn't do better than to get a snapshot of it, but the building is too good not to post here.
And finally this unfinished house in the swanky neighborhood of Bugolobi. It's pretty common to see half-built houses around Kampala, but this one seemed to me to be an accidental tribute to Victor Pasmore's Apollo Pavilion. These houses usually have "Not for sale" painted on them as the owners often live abroad and some have returned to find that their house has been sold by unscrupulous builders.