The Activist

Issue date: 6/1/09 Section: Features

Samori Sy at Mayan ruins in Mexico

Samori Sy

Samori Sy, a third-year student here at Raymond Walters College, is on the fast track to greatness, and he's not looking back.

Majoring in Urban Planning with a minor in Architecture, this Senegalese, West Africa-born genius has been all over the world, leaving his imprint on everything he's touched.

"I interned for an architecture firm in Mexico last summer," says Samori. "I worked on a project named Ordos 100."

The project he speaks of involves the development of 100 villas in the town of Ordos, in Inner Mongolia, a province of China. The development of these villas involved 100 architects from 27 countries around the globe, who will each be responsible for a 100 master villa.

Besides constructing villas, Samori has also had a hand in producing a short film on Mexican Architecture with Mexican architecture students from the Ibero-American University in Santa Fe, Mexico.

Samori explains, "Together we developed a short film that portrayed the complexity and constraints of one of the first multi-purpose buildings in Mexico. The building had apartments, a market, a theater, a roof garden and a couple other amenities."

The group also made a silent movie that explained the special sequences they were taught were the most important involving the building. The movies are available upon request.

"My current project is a documentary on the preservation of architecture in sub-Saharan, Africa," he said. "This is my own independent project."

Samori was able to get funding for the new project through multiple non-government organizations. "I plan to take a road trip to five different countries in West Africa to start filming in the near future.

But the scope of the documentary is to show how traditional African architecture has evolved over the last 300 years; and in doing so, show how modern architecture is overshadowing the preservation of traditional architecture." Samori also talks about Christianity and Islam's influence on traditional African architecture.

I asked Samori what inspires him to work so hard. He says, "Being from a third world country means being self- conscious of many things people in developed countries never think of. In my mother's hometown, one of the problems we face is access to clean water.

"There is a confined aquifer that is sitting underground near the village, but because of the lack of funds, we are not able to have access to this water. Problems like this are what keep me motivated to go back home and help my people live a healthier life."

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