INTERVIEW ARC. PAUL UZOR

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1 INTERVIEW ARC. PAUL UZOR WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT AIMS CONSULTANTS AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND ITS ESTABLISHMENT? Arc. Uzor: There is a fusion between Paul Uzor Associates and Aim Consultants. We try to cooperate. There is a new movement in the architectural world to see how two bodies can come together and form a more formidable entity, to practice, what I call, cutting edge Architecture that can compete with any level of work in the world because I strongly believe that Architecture in this country is below par. COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE US YOUR VIEWS ON NIGERIA & THE ARCHITECTURAL ENVIRONMENT, AND HOW YOUR PRACTICE HAS IMPACTED ON THE ENVIRONMENT? Arc. Uzor: Modern day Architecture in Nigeria is just about to start. Architecture is a global movement that appeals to the soul the mind, the observers who are the clients and the consumers. I think it has a global touch, an international feel. If architecture is good, it is good. If it is good in Abuja, it is good; if it is good in China, it is good; if it is in New York City and its good, it s also good. We need to compare ourselves with the International profile of Architects. I have always said that Nigeria needs some signature Architects. We need to have them and if we don t have them we should bring them here. So that we can invoke our senses so people know what the practice is all about, not just people saying draw me a house. It s about creating a living environment taking it to a different level. When you walk into places in the world you will be amazed, why somebody from Dubai has to go to America to get Frank Henry to design. These are masters and we need those sort of mastery here to make our people wake up to. HOW HAS YOUR PRACTISE IMPACTED THE ENVIROMENT? Arc. Uzor: It s is an ongoing thing. You cannot say its total but the most important thing is that there is a motion, there is a movement towards the dreams we all have the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step forward.

2 HOW DO YOU SEE ARCHITECTURE IN NIGERIA IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS? Arc. Uzor: I believe that if we don t rise to the challenges of our times we will lose it. I don t think if a Nigerian wants to build a house, he would say I have a million dollars and I must look for a Nigerian Architect. What he says is that he wants a good building and if a Nigerian cannot give that building people will look for the buildings somewhere else. I actually foresee that in the future what we call domestic architecture we practice here, we may not have any need for Architects, you can just go to a website and say I live in a certain place and they asks what s the indices of your site plan, and what do you want? And you say I want a 4 bedroom flat or this or that. With the questionnaire on the website I bet within 30 minutes, which might be too long. I bet you that within 5 minutes, they will give you about 20 options and it may not cost you more than $20 or even $5 because they are looking at the world as a market place. I just came back from China a week ago and the kind of practice I saw there, it s like we are still sleeping. People here call themselves Architects, but I doubt if they know what an architect means. What we are seeing here is pedestrian architecture. I strongly believe so. We need to rise up to that. These changes must come all the way from our schools. We have to bring these things into the head of our young ones, the future generation, they need to rise up. How do we do that? We must have good teachers. We must bring in people from the exposed world. Architecture, like I said before is international. You can t say you are a Nigerian Architect and not looking at what s going on here or there. It s a lie. You are kidding with yourself because money has no color, the money in your pocket wants the best. A dollar in Nigeria and a Naira in Nigeria wants the best product. And even you as an Architect when you want to do something good, you would want to use the best product for your money. I take a lot of photographs around the streets scraps of the World and I have them on my computer here. I have different kinds of streets. When I come back I start to compare them with what it is like in Nigeria. Nigeria falls far below par. You know our streets are not that exciting. Our developments are not that exciting. People could talk about vernacular architecture, but it has to excite the senses, so that when you look at it, you say its looks good. I believe the future is good for Nigeria but we have to rise up to it. We should move towards it, like other Countries of the world. WOULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PROJECTS, CONCEPTS, CHALLENGES AND HIGHLIGHTS THAT MADE THEM SPECIAL? Arc. Uzor: you know my relationship with AIM started way back in New York City, Manhattan. I went when I was in the Government. I had to supervise a 25 storey Nigeria House from start to finish. It was

3 an exciting challenge, I don t think I will ever have that kind of excitement again, but you never know about tomorrow. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE WITH US YOUR VIEW ON EKO ATLANTIC CITY? Arc. Uzor: Great idea. Wonderful idea. Such ideas are meant for historicals. I love it because we need something to lift us up beyond where we are. Eko Atlantic City is a dream come true if it comes to past. There are many cities like that around the world. I was in Sheyzan a week ago. Sheyzan nis like a 30 year old city. You will not believe it that they have all the things you can dream of from fast subways uncountable sky scrapers. Everything they need in a city they have, so Eko-Atlantic might be the beginning of such. It might be expensive, but if that s what s going to take us there, it s worth it. WHAT ADVISE DO YOU HAVE FOR NEW PRACTICES COMING UP EVERYDAY AND THE NEW GENERATION ARCHITECTS? Arc. Uzor: There is this saying that s goes like this when people pull together, then you have a form. There is a pectoral of architectural flames that doesn t give them the bite. When I was in School I thought that by the time I come out of the School, I would walk into an Architectural firm that can employ like 200 Architects. there were big firms in this Country who were handling big jobs but by the time we came out of the University, it was just that for you to go into a firm with 3 to 4 Architects. Think of a firm like S.O.N, an American firm that has like 2,000 to 10,000 Architects. You can see that it s a challenge. These guys mean business. It s not just verbal, it s from the action. But look at our youths, young people trained from college. You know what it means to be trained as an architect? 6 years, very tormentous. Some even stay longer, some stay 7 years and when they come out there s no promise of a job and in a country that has not started developing at all. I was in Lebanon some 2 years ago. I do a lot of travelling. I asked my kids who wants to be an Architect? And they say Daddy you travel a lot. And am like look if you an Architect or in the construction work you will never go hungry. I was at a site in Lebanon and they showed me a column, a vertical column a very beautiful column. The guy who was showing us around said this column is 9,000 years old, a roman ruin and I said if a Colum this beautiful, you know what they call a column? A column is what they call a peak sometimes its round and they come in different forms some are Dory Colum some are Greek some are Roman. You may see them and you don t know because there are a lot of copying. So when the guy said 9000 years old, I was shocked that if people could build this 9,000yrs ago then it means that what we are doing right now is nothing. It s nothing. It means that there s a lot of hope, a lot of promise for the construction world. It all

4 depends on where and how you approach it. If you are timid about it then you will get timid results, if you are courageous about it, I bet you the sky will be your limit. So there s hope but there is a lot of work, a lot of toiling required of these people DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD OR TELL US? Arc. Uzor: What do I have to say? I just said everything I wanted to say about the big environment. I had a meeting with this Company in New York, just having conversation with them and they showed me their works. If you get yourself to this level of play then you will become international. If you travel abroad, travel all over the world, you will see 70 year old, 80 year old men and women, who going to China maybe to see the Bank of China, designed and built by I. M. Pei. There are not up to 20 notable Architects in the world. These are signature architects. When they put a line, the line remains like gold. You know, the way you call Michael Jackson in music, the way you call Beethoven in classical music. Architecture is like that. So I say in this country we must encourage bringing Masters like that for our Museums, our Airports. We have Architects who can do it, but they are not world rated. Before they say when you are good you go out there, when you have practiced and you are recognized then you can come back home and remain a champion. You can t just be a local champion and sit here and say you are a champion. Everything you build is below par. Our young men are not given visas to travel abroad. Most of them are not exposed and exposure is architecture. It s the key. We need to bring in some Masters to come here and do some designs so that our young men and women, not only for the architects, but for all the people who are in love with the beauty of the environment, can see how things are properly done and they will learn from there without having to pay or queue up in at embassies for visas. There are a lot of projects, notable projects being done in our country today that they will just, you know, I don t know how they will go about it, but I believe that through things like competition, bring in Masters. There are people who do these things. If you have been to like Bulgatti Museum in California, you have been to the Guttenheim, you will understand that there are architects and there are architects. And if you are asked, who would you want to build your house? Am sure you will say the best, and you will be surprised that the best is not always the most expensive because these guys have passion for the job. Now when you talk of Picasso s works despite how old it is still stands the test of time because he is a Master. This is a print. If you take it and put it in your living room, people will know that you are dated, that you are a contemporary man. So we need to bring in these Masters. I believe it s going to help us a lot. It might cost us a lot more. Bring them in to build like airports and museums and public parks. So

5 when people come into the country to have a look, that s tourism, they want to see it. They are going to interpret your environment into the design. Both the young and old architects will learn. It s very important for us to get to that level and that s what gave birth to this fusion that Paul Uzor Associates has with AIMS Architects in the form of AIMS Integrated Architects so we can do big and notable projects that gives a sense of time.