By Donna Abu-Nasr and Mohamed Sheikh Nor
Friday February 18, 2022
Omar Degan wants to transform the way the Somali capital of Mogadishu rebuilds by tapping into the country’s cultural heritage.
Architect Omar Degan wants to transform the Somali capital.Source: Omar Designs
Omar Degan got used to being ridiculed when he sat down with developers. The architect wanted buildings to incorporate green spaces, use less glass but have bigger windows to allow in more air. They wanted to maximize profit.
Such a clash of visions between designer and constructor could, of course, happen anywhere. But the gulf between them was particularly wide in a place where people have been more focused on survival than sustainability.
Degan, 31, wants to transform the Somali capital of Mogadishu, a lofty ambition in a city that’s been defined by violence, piracy and terrorism over the past three decades. His persistence, though, has led to prominence by championing cultural heritage and buildings that are in tune with the environment during the frenzy of reconstruction in recent years. He designed a mosque, a restaurant, a school with gardens and a hospital’s maternity ward, work showcased by the New York Times and Wallpaper magazine over the past 18 months. He taught architecture students and shined a light on the potential for projects that are kinder to the environment. Because of the civil war, vast tracts of the country remain undeveloped and its coastline untouched, giving rise to opportunities for a more sustainable approach, he said.
“For many years, everyone thought I was crazy,” Degan said in an interview over Zoom this month. That was until the world became more focused on green issues. “Today, the discussion has moved from me being crazy to something more like: ‘Okay, there’s a meaning behind that.’”
Degan aims to bring out the beauty of cultural diversity and heritage in modern architectural designs that include curved interiors, bigger windows with latticed patterns to pull in the breeze from the Indian Ocean, and wide spaces with green areas.
Exterior of the Salsabiil restaurant, designed by Degan.Source: Omar Designs
The war, he said, was just a chapter in the history of a nation that still retains traces of the various civilizations that have had an influence on its culture, poetry and music, including Arab and Italian.
The drive comes from his own heritage: His parents were Somalis who left before the outbreak of the civil war in 1991. Degan was born and educated in Italy and now divides time between his offices in the U.S., Europe and the one in Mogadishu he opened in 2017. His work has allowed him to revive elements of Somalia’s lost identity, he said.
“That was the biggest challenge,” Degan said. “Trying to show to the people that you can translate the beauty of your culture, your identity into a more contemporary place.”
Large modern windows in the Salsabiil restaurant. Source: Omar Designs
One of the things that shocked him when he first landed in Mogadishu was the sight of the new airport: black, dark blue and shiny with glass panels, a magnet for heat in a city where temperatures can soar to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Next to it, sat the old airport: white and beige with open spaces and greenery.
“Here I was thinking ‘who’s this crazy individual who decided to place in a coastal city in Africa a black building,’” he said. “I was looking at the two and I was thinking ‘where’s the modernity standing here?”
His work is a mere fraction of what needs to be done to transform Mogadishu, once unofficially branded as the world’s most dangerous city. Yet the need for efficient, environmentally friendly building projects is more urgent now than ever as drought sweeps through most of Somalia.
Interior of the Salsabiil restaurant. Source: Omar Designs
The United Nations said this month that the country — again — is “staring at a potential catastrophe.” More than a quarter of Somalia’s 16 million population is believed to be affected by the drought, according to a UN report. Close to 300,000 people have abandoned their homes.
This comes on top of political instability and a fragile security situation in a nation that hasn’t fully recovered from the clan-based conflict that saw the emergence of al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab and an Islamic State group. On Feb. 16, the latest attack by al-Shabaab on the outskirts of Mogadishu left five people dead. A presidential election is scheduled this month with the potential for more violence if it’s mishandled.
Degan said the war has left Somalia with an “ugly” image that the world can’t look beyond. Mogadishu is often used as a byword for chaos and violence — much like Beirut in the Arab world. Somalia also ranked in the bottom three of Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Indeed, Lebanese architect Aram Yeretzian understands where Degan is coming from. After working for a few years in France, he returned to Lebanon in the late 1990s, eager to implement what he had learned as the country was in the midst of a massive postwar reconstruction boom. Although the opportunities were there, “no one cared,” said Yeretzian, founding member of the Lebanon Green Building Council.
A portable clinic that Degan designed and donated to NGOs in Somalia. Source: Omar Designs
It took about a decade before a charity approached him to build a school, but it didn’t have the money for an air conditioning system. So he built it using techniques such as shading, double-wall systems and cross ventilation.
Yeretzian, who now teaches at the American University of Beirut, said there have since been many efforts to raise awareness about green buildings and environmentally friendly construction, but “in general it’s very superficial as an approach,” he said. A lot depends on politics. “It's not yet well rooted in the culture.”
But, like Degan, he said the work shouldn’t stop. Degan still has hopes he can effect some sort of change with his pro bono work, by coaching students and by emphasizing the possibilities in his ancestral country when it comes to sustainable projects.
“This is like ground zero,” he said. “Somalia can look at what’s happening in developed countries, learn from their mistakes and avoid making them.”
— With assistance by David Malingha, and Michael Gunn