When we look at the plan of the Nyumba, we see that the roof structure forces an internal geometry of a square within a circle. Why the circle is necessary in the first place may be explained from the roofing material used which renders itself best when formed into a cone. The circle also is the most efficient geometrical shape in its ratio of perimeter to area, and important point in the efficient use of material. The cylinder too is the strongest structure to take the outward thrust from the heavy cone.
Huxley suggests that there was superstition involved in making a circular hut and swore that the Kikuyu “would give anything not to use a straight line”
(Huxley E., 1998:49). It is obvious that the square within the circle was very well articulated so that it was not for lack of knowhow that the hut was circular, therefore there were other reasons as Huxley rightly imagined. As has been shown, there were strong technological reasons. Other reasons were, economic and cosmological and obscure religious reasons not easy to decode of which we can only give a reasoned guess. As far as economy is concerned it has been shown that the circle gives the most area for circumference and important consideration. Organic furniture and built-in beds all make the space use all the more logical. The only piece of loose furniture in the Nyumba was the woman’s stool, giturwa. Several smaller stools, tuturwa were available and could be placed near the gaturi corner (18)
Within the square, was the family circle and at its centre was the fire of three stones and a round pot on it. The point coming right on top of the feminine pot on the fire could be seen in relation to the spike, mucobe, at the apex of the
roof which is essentially a masculine symbol. This is borne out by the fact that the pot, nyungu also represented the womb of the woman and the spike was always broken when the man died. The spike therefore was definitely a phallic symbol and was not necessary structural. It is also possible that the square, circle and point may have had other meanings not verbalized or articulated in speech and will require a more thorough decoding.
Fig. 3.16 The Point, Circle and Square in the Nyumba.
Left: The various geometries in the plan of the Nyumba. (Source: Author, 2011) Right: The traditional woman’s stool, Giturwa as circle on a square (Source:
Author, 2012)
“The scheme is thus simple; first the fireplace, then the circle in which people may sit, then the outer apartments” (Kenyatta, 1965:81). By apartments, Kenyatta meant the spaces defined inside the outer circle by the square. “African architecture and design, especially in the rural areas, was rooted in the religious, political, economic and social conceptions of the populace” and “they
symbolized not only man’s relationship to his fellow man and to the cosmos but man’s adaptation to the natural environment” (Hull, 1972:188). It is possible then that the overall form was also connected at least in the sub-consciousness of the Kikuyu, to the form of Mt. Kenya and their cosmic understanding of their world as supported by the four pillars of the sacred mountains. Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga, the Kikuyu point of origin is located roughly at the centre of the square formed by the four mountains and not surprisingly we find a sacred tree there linking heaven and earth, the Axis Mundi. Kenyatta’s title, ‘Facing Mt.
Kenya’ is but one example of this strong connection with the mountains and especially Mt. Kenya while modern cultural painters like Wanjeri in their
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idealized paintings demonstrate very well the connection between the form of the Kikuyu Nyumba and the mountain. The traditional four-legged stool is indicative that the square within a circle was an important mandala to the Kikuyu. The stool being carved from a single log meant that the circles formed by the growth rings culminated to a point at the centre. This was the Axis Mundi that was so well articulated in the gichukia dance as well as the spike terminating the cone (Fig.
2.10).
Fig 3.17 Left: The geometry of Mt. Kenya. (Source: left ‐ Author, 2011) Right: Kikuyu homestead by artist Wanjeri. (Source:
http://www.insideafricanart.com/Artists%20Main%20Pages/Wanjeri_Jane.htm The space use also relates to geometry very well. It has been shown that African use of geometry reaches a sophistication that is not immediately apparent (Zaslavsky, 1999). Once the square is inserted in the circle, the definition of the spaces follows nearly exactly the areas thus defined. Thus the square defines exactly the area referred to as the kitchen, or riko. The kitchen square has four sides, miihirito (sing. Mwihirito). The nearest the door is the visitors mwihirito and this is the men sector, moving clockwise the second sector of the square is the children’s mwihirito followed by the tongue clicking side of the woman and the laughter side of the girls. Thus the woman’s irritation is opposite the man’s sternness and the girl’s laughter is opposite the children’s joy.
Since the boys slept with the goats, and the girls on the opposite side and since the man sat on the entrance side of the square opposite the woman, it is possible to divide the square diagonally along a feminine and masculine axis.
The left over spaces at the corners are also used. On the left as you enter would be storage for such things as farming implements and so forth. Moving clockwise the other storage was for cooked food and the next was for precious things and cooking implements and the last would be taken by the ram and water storage.
Fig 3.18 Geometry and Space (Source: Author, 2011)