The Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development was officially inaugurated on March 6, 2010. It is the latest chapter of a long and vivid history of the school. Before becoming EiABC, the school was part of the Faculty of Technology of Addis Ababa University. And before that, it was known as the Ethio-Swedish Institute, or in short: the Building College. This institution was founded in 1954 through a bilateral agreement between the Ethiopian and Swedi... moreHISTORY
The Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development was officially inaugurated on March 6, 2010. It is the latest chapter of a long and vivid history of the school. Before becoming EiABC, the school was part of the Faculty of Technology of Addis Ababa University. And before that, it was known as the Ethio-Swedish Institute, or in short: the Building College. This institution was founded in 1954 through a bilateral agreement between the Ethiopian and Swedish Governments. The initial educational scheme, launched in 1955, aimed to offer a three-year diploma program in Building Engineering. At the end of the 1957/58 academic year the training was upgraded to a four-year program leading to a B.Sc. Degree in Building Engineering. As a result of recommendations made at various times, especially those of the Presidential Commission in 1968, and the report of the Technical Survey Team of 1969, the Building College and the College of Engineering merged to form the Faculty of Technology in 1969 till 2009 under Addis Ababa University.
In 2005, a nation wide effort was started to introduce a unified Bachelor and Master system in Ethiopia and with it establishing international recognized curricula in the field of Architecture, Urban Planning and the Engineering disciplines. From that date on, the Department of Architecture at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland played a very important role as a strategic partner in introducing new academic structures, pedagogical concepts as well as a capacity building program which continuously supported the exchange of faculty and students between the two institutions. In 2008/09, the strategic concept of the establishment of IoTs in Ethiopia was co-developed with the ETH Zürich and led to the installation of the founding Scientific Director coming directly from the ETHZ. The cooperation continues in project partnerships and research activities, ranging from Urban Design studios to prototypical construction proposals in full scale, always accompanied with academic and pedagogical training sessions.
FACILITIES
The EiABC Campus occupies a site in the southwest of Addis Ababa, on Jimma Road next to the Federal High Court. The campus incorporates classrooms, laboratories, workshops, design studios, and also offices for staff and students. Since 2010, additional laboratory facilities, lecture halls, classrooms, office spaces, libraries, and research grounds were added, in order to build up the necessary infrastructure for teaching, consultancy, and research for an ever increasing number of students and faculty. Dormitories provide accommodation for students, laundry facilities, social facilities, and support offices, as well as recreational possibilities. In addition, facilities for several outdoor activities are to be found at EiABC campus.
It is the vision of EiABC to become once again the leading excellence center for the built environment. At EiABC, ideas shall be exchanged, practical solutions need to be discussed and approved, and necessary standardized tests have to be conducted to strengthen the Ethiopian industry and to come up with new vectors and outlines for a transfer of practical, technical, and theoretical know-how from academia to industrial application. less
