Guido A. Ast was born in 1942 in Alwernia, Poland. He studied architecture in Germany, first in Karlsruhe and later at the Technische Universität Berlin under the renowned architect Oswald Mathias Ungers. His drawings from this project (Wohnen am Kreuzberg) are preserved in the Architekturmuseum der TU Berlin. In 1967–68 he attended the Architectural Association (AA) in London, undertaking the Housing Course within the Department of Development and Tropical Studies. In the early 1970s, Ast established an independent practice in Algeria, where major commissions included Africa’s first eyeglass factory and the Zoological Garden in Algiers. By the mid-1970s he relocated to Kenya, joining the University of Nairobi’s Housing Research and Development Unit (HRDU) and later serving as Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Development. His work in Nairobi centred on low-cost housing and settlement upgrading, producing studies such as The Village Layout System, Mombasa (1978) and Design for Conservation and Development, Lamu/Kenya (c.1981, with Kurula Varkey). His 1983 article “Development-Oriented Architectural Education” in Habitat International remains a significant contribution to the field. From the 1990s Ast undertook international planning and advisory work, including serving from 1996 as programme leader and government adviser on urban development for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in Kenya. In this role, he championed principles of accountability, community participation, and efficiency in decentralised planning, openly critiquing donor-driven inertia and corruption while advocating for locally owned, demand-driven development. In later years he combined consultancy with cultural projects, notably establishing an “Afrika-Atelier” in Heidelberg to exhibit East African art. In 2014 he published his memoir, Man nannte mich Bwana Soko, reflecting on his career in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Ast continues to reside in Heidelberg, Germany.
Sources:
- Architectural Association. List of Members 1971. London: Architectural Association, 1971.
- Ast, Guido A. The Village Layout System, Mombasa: A Case of “Minimum-Grade” Development. Nairobi: University of Nairobi, Housing Research and Development Unit, 1978. Accessed August 17, 2025. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL52856694M/The_village_layout_system_Mombasa
- Ast, Guido A. “Development-oriented Architectural Education.” Habitat International 7, no. 1–2 (1983): 79–89. Accessed September 5, 2025. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0197397583900139?via%3Dihub
- Jakob, Simone. “Architekt will Afrika-Atelier eröffnen.” Mannheimer Morgen, January 2, 2012. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.mannheimer-morgen.de/orte/heidelberg_artikel,-heidelberg-architekt-will-afrika-atelier-eroeffnen-_arid,65385.html
- Materu, Jossy, Tony Land, Volker Hauck, and Jane Knight. Decentralised Cooperation and Joint Action: Building Partnerships Between Local Government and Civil Society in Africa. Policy Management Report no. 10. Maastricht: European Centre for Development Policy Management, 2000. Accessed September 3, 2025. https://ecdpm.org/application/files/9216/5547/2963/PMR10-Decentralised-Cooperation-Joint-Action-ECDPM-April-2001.pdf
- Ungers, Oswald Mathias, und Guido A. Ast. Plätze und Straßen. Veröffentlichungen zur Architektur, no. 8. Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin, 1967.
