“There is a distinctive architecture of Guyana. It is to be seen in the many examples of timber domestic buildings for the most part in and around Georgetown. It is an architecture which has been derived from the many European States which at one time or another controlled the country. Ignoring the traditions of both the Amerindian and African slaves the settlers built in the styles existing at the time in their respective homelands; the resulting buildings nevertheless show the modifications in design and ornament dictated by the new climatic and environmental conditions as well as by the skills of the builders and their interpretations of the new ideas. … Our domestic house building had long ago arrived at an accepted style. Many of these anonymous craftsmen builders had completely mastered the art of achieving composition in scale, massing and harmony and created buildings which were completely functional for their time and which are, even today, undeniably pleasing to the eye.”
Those were the thoughts of the (now late) renowned Guyanese architect Rory Westmaas, expressed in an article titled, “Architecture … building under our sun” which was originally published in the ‘Co-op Republic Guyana 1970’, and later reprinted in two parts in the Guyana Review (a Stabroek News publication), the first of which appeared in the 29th April, 2010 edition. Westmaas traced the origins of the many ideas infused into our building history by the various colonising powers, explaining in detail how we arrived at our “distinctive architecture.”
Over the course of the last two years, the current administration has approved and disbursed vast sums of money for the reconstruction of, and the expansion of, several high schools. In the former instance, as in the cases of the St. George’s High School (SGHS) and Christ Church Secondary School (CCSS), both institutions were destroyed by fire in July 2022 and January 2023, respectively, with arson confirmed in the latter loss. In June, with much fanfare, the Ministry of Education (MoE) announced the awarding of contracts to the tune of $253.8M and $688.1M, respectively, for the rebuilding of the two schools, with projected completion dates of February 2024.
At the signing of the CCSS contracts, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand noted that contracts will be signed soon to rebuild the St. Mary’s High School and the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School which was also destroyed by fire.The minister added that the completion of the Good Hope Secondary School and the Yarrowkabra Secondary School will address space issues on the East Coast Demerara, and the Upper East Bank Demerara, respectively. In July, contracts were also signed for the construction of Tuschen Secondary in Region Three and the Hosororo Secondary in Region One, worth $864.7 M and $2.22 B, respectively.
In September, again there was much pomp and ceremony with the opening of the rebuilt St. Rose’s High School, and the handing over of the new annexes to Queen’s College (QC), the Bishops’ High School (BHS) and the East Ruimveldt Secondary School (ERSS). At each function, quite appropriately, tributes were paid to previous long serving past principals of each school, with the naming of the new wing or annex, in recognition of their service and dedication to the institution.
Kudos are in order to the government for their push in executing these projects and increasing the number of places available for children at the secondary level. However, two concerns, neither of which are the focus of this column (space constraints notwithstanding), are the quality of workmanship of the finished buildings, and the standard of education which will be dispensed within those walls. The public have not forgotten the fiasco of the Kato Secondary School which was completed in 2015 (during this current administration’s previous term in office under the watch of the same Education Minister) at the cost $728.1 million and found to be unsafe after an architectural audit and required remedial work by the contractor to the tune of $144 million. Secondly, of what use are these new buildings, if not staffed with suitably qualified and properly compensated teachers?
While the St. Rose’s, QC, BHS and ERSS projects have been completed, the CCSS and St. George’s rebuilds are currently works in progress, and all we have at the moment are artists’ impressions of the finished project (SN 8th June, 2023 and 10th June, 2023, respectively).The government has painstakingly drawn attention to the fire prevention components of the new developments, namely fire escape stairs, escape doors, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, limited timber usage, metal ceilings and fire-retardant panels. These modern facilities will be also equipped with the latest technologies and several laboratories.
However, in their haste to execute these projects the administration has overlooked the critical areas of the outward appeal and the blending of our distinctive architectural history with these modern developments. Every new annex is aesthetically out of sync with the existing older traditional buildings, and in some instances, stand in sharp contrast. These bland juxtaposed concrete boxes appear to have just been dumped on the grounds of these century-old schools by some foreign entity in the middle of the night. They can best be described as dull, square, plain and completely lacking in cultural taste. If they don’t witness uniformed school age children parading in and out of the buildings, visitors might suspect that these buildings are institutions of forced confinement.
Of course, we can expect no one in the current teflon administration to absorb any responsibility for this oversight. On the contrary, one can expect a feral blast response to this point of view, which will most likely be perceived as unwarranted and unjustified criticism in light of the enormous sums being expended on educational facilities. Observers would be confused by this apparent lack of cultural taste or appreciation for our distinctive architecture just a few years after our independence. Or, is this just another deliberate attempt to erase, or disconnect from, our history?