A team of authors from the Department of Architecture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), with support from NickSeth Construction Company, DBS Industries LTD, ASIB Company limited, and the Northern Chapter of the Ghana Institute of Architecture has donated 2,000 Architectural books to the Library of the Department Architecture on Tuesday, 29th March 2022.
The sponsors donated 500 copies each of the four books titled; Active Perception in Form Development (ACTIVE), Principles of Scamper and Hierarchy in Architecture (POSH), Theory and Context in Architecture (TAC), and Principles of Order and Design in Architecture to improve teaching and learning.
According to the lead author, Professor Christian Koranteng, the knowledge in the four books would contribute to solving a decade-long problem of how to better and integrate theory, history, culture, and design principles into architectural designs. He noted that industry and academia must work together to improve teaching and learning. ‘We believe that academia alone cannot produce the quality labour that Ghana needs, thus, the need for industry-academia partnership to improve teaching and learning,’ he added.
Professor Koranteng hoped that students and staff of the Department will imbibe the lessons in the books and build upon them to improve learning. He further seized the opportunity to announce the initiation of Award Schemes for best design which would be sponsored by the donors of the books. ‘The designs are to be based on lessons from the books and could make use of a company’s products to help solve current issues in Ghana,’ Professor Koranteng disclosed.
The Provost of the College of Art and Built Environment (CABE), Professor John Tia Bugri, on behalf of Management thanked the donors for the kind gesture and assured them that the books would serve their intended purpose. He mentioned that the books donated would curb the issues of duplications among students and serve as research materials for both students and faculty members.
Professor Bugri urged sponsors and Faculty members to continue to exhibit the attitude of sacrifice to transform the Department of Architecture and Ghana as a whole.