About
An archive kept by hand, building by building
PAACIV brings together architects, photographers, historians and residents around a single task: surveying, dating and publishing what remains of the national built heritage.
- Records
- 7
- Towns
- 3
- Architects
- 6
- Publications
- 5
Our work
Documenting before the rain does it for us
A veranda house loses its roof in a single rainy season. Our teams survey façades, photograph ornament, record materials and gather the words of those who live there.
Survey
Plans, sections, materials.
Account
Interviews, family archives.
Why follow us?
01
An open inventory
Every record is public and downloadable, with no account or subscription.
02
Rigorous surveys
A shared protocol, dating cross-checked against national archives and families.
03
A volunteer network
Correspondents in several towns, trained in surveying and photography.
04
A shared memory
Residents tell the story of their houses; their accounts accompany the images.
Our activities
What we do
Photographic inventory
All year round
Regular campaigns in Grand-Bassam, Abidjan and Bondoukou. Each building receives a record: dating, materials, condition, successive owners.
Guided walks
Two Saturdays a month
Two hours of guided walking between lagoon and ocean, from the Resident's House to the N'zima royal palace. Groups of fifteen.
Publications
Two titles a year
An annual book of surveys, plus short monographs devoted to a single building.
Earth building workshops
Sessions in Kong and Tengréla
Five days with the masons of the northern mosques: preparing banco, setting the timbers, repairing buttresses before the rains.
7 building(s) · 3 Towns