Abstract:

After independence, Kenya continued to rely on western architecture as model to be imitated in the new educational, religious and commercial buildings. The architects adopted international style irrespective of the style’s appropriateness and context. As a result international style neglected the local environmental conditions, culture, history and traditions.  The purpose of this study was to examine design principles of critical regionalism using works of Aldo Van Eyck, Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier. The lessons learnt from critical regionalism were used to establish to what extent it was applied in Nairobi city. The buildings studied in Nairobi were; namely, Ufungamano House, St Mary Shrine, and Shelter Afrique Centre. The critical regionalism principles focused on evaluation of; sense of a place, response to topography and climate, tactile and visual sensation, and openness to the root and use of other sources of archetypes. The results of study indicated that the...