Ka Cokere (The Meeting Place): Apac’s future rooted in tekwaro (cultural norms and beliefs)

Abstract

In Uganda, Lango culture is endangered owing to its limited study, and reliance on oral traditions, under threat from declining older populations. Preserving and incorporating local knowledge is necessary to provide direction and foundations for the region’s future development. This thesis seeks to explore the role of program and architectural form in merging the storage and learning of tekwaro (cultural norms and beliefs) and contemporary knowledge to create a kit of parts that transfer agency to the community to innovate solutions to improve their daily lives while retaining local identity. This thesis cross pollinates the rooted Lango culture and universal technology-based civilization in a rural context to create new spaces as well as adapting to existing ones, through place and placemaking, and materiality to allow community members to learn and test this shared knowledge, to exhibit their outcomes for common benefit.