00:00In Dakar, Senegal, unusual dome-shaped houses known as bubble homes still stand among modern
00:11buildings. Built in the 1950s, these small round houses were built to solve a housing shortage
00:19after World War II. The design came from American architect Wallace Neff. A balloon was inflated,
00:27sprayed with quick drying concrete, and then deflated to form the dome.
00:33These houses were built by 2500 in his life Wallace Neff.
00:40On the 2500, 1200 were built here, in Dakar, because it was a command at the time of the AOF,
00:48the colonial authority of the French Africa Occident.
00:52We start with a foundation on the ground, so a circle of 6 mètres in diameter,
01:00on which we put a ballon in neoprene, which we fold, on which we put a metallic armature
01:08and put a metal bead on the ground that we call the gunite.
01:13Then we put a second armature, an isolant, and a new gunite.
01:19And then we put the ballon on the ground and use it for other houses.
01:25So it was very economical and quite solid.
01:30Strong, simple and fast, a home could be built in just 48 hours.
01:38But many Senegalese families soon outgrew them.
01:42Traditional households are large and multi-generational,
01:46and the small round homes could not provide enough space.
01:50Yes, let's say that I'm going to preserve some things,
01:54because in a future, for example in 100 years,
01:58if this house exists always, it will be something extraordinary.
02:02Over time, many bubble houses were demolished to make way for bigger buildings.
02:09Actually, from an economic point of view, it was very interesting.
02:13It was not cheap, and it allowed to offer rapid housing to people.
02:17You have to know that these ballons, in 48 hours, were made.
02:21And mitigated, because this concept and this typology
02:30does not take into account the life of the Senegalese,
02:34as we do not live in a family, or very little in a nuclear family.
02:38And so, very quickly, the need for extension is going to feel
02:43and the ballon is not planned for the extension of a family.
02:47For all the village, it is a ballon,
02:50but there are a few others who have transformed the ballon.
02:56But all the village, it is a ballon.
03:01Today, only about a hundred remain.
03:04Some families keep them out of sentiment,
03:07while others have added extensions to make them livable.
03:11In fact, maybe in a few years, it will even disappear,
03:17because everyone is trying to transform the ballon.
03:23Almost every country is changing.
03:26They are still trying to transform the ballon.
03:30Maybe in a few years, we will not see the ballon.
03:34Maybe in a few years.
03:35That will۔
03:37Architects say, they are a unique part of Dakar history,
03:39but fear that rapid urban growth may soon erase them.
03:43Erase them.
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