The Deborah J. Norden Fund 2004

In 2004, the Architectural League awarded two grants: one to Ruth Gyuse for “The Kainji Dam resettlement project: The politics of vernacularization in Nigeria,” and another to Jennifer Magee for “Interfacing architecture in the fragile ecosystems of Australia.”

“The Kainji Dam resettlement project: The politics of vernacularization in Nigeria”

With the support of the Norden Fund, Ruth Gyuse travelled to the Kanji Dam in Nigeria. In the 1960s, after independence, the newly formed Nigerian government undertook this and other large-scale infrastructural developments to unify the country’s diverse population and foster national identity. Gyuse explored the conflict between narratives of modernization and destruction, exploring how these two visions played out. Focusing on the population that was displaced by the dam project and the replacement housing that was provided for them, she analyzed how grandiose national ideas were interpreted at the local level.

Gyuse grew up in Jos, Nigeria, and and came to the United States in 1995 to pursue an undergraduate degree at Smith College in Massachusetts. Fascinated by the intersection between vernacular architecture and modern developmental politics, she returned to Nigeria, where her family still resides. She then received her Masters in Architecture from Yale University and moved to New York City, where she works as a junior architect at the green design firm, Cook + Fox, Architects. She continues to be interested in photography, architecture theory, and development, and hopes to pursue further research in Africa.

“Interfacing architecture in the fragile ecosystems of Australia"

Jennifer Magee traveled to Australia to study the interface of architecture and the environment. Interested in the problem of balancing expanding human desires with fragile ecosystems, Magee visited several projects in the areas around Queensland and Perth, analyzing three architectural typologies: construction above the ground, on water, and suspended in the sky. She focused on the physical impact of these different types of interface, exploring their successes and shortcomings.

Jennifer Magee is now running her own architectural practice called Ante A&D, and spearheading the development of a new online information, networking, and collaboration platform for the broader real estate, design, and building industry, called Urban Probe. Her research in Australia allowed her to marry the concepts of sustainable design and lightweight, suspended structures, and has directly influenced her work on innovative sustainable living environments for tropical locations.