'Congobéton Léopoldville : congés payés du 1/1/57 au 31/12/57' : postwar architecture, construction work and local labor in a Belgian colony

This paper draws on a one page document from the archives of the firm Congobéton, which was part of the Belgian construction firm Blaton, to provide a reflection on the usefulness of alternative sources to rewrite the history of architecture in the former Belgian colony. Focusing on a document that provides a list of individual laborers, as well as information on salary and social benefits, the paper argues that a lot is to be gained from taking into account the bureaucratic dimension of the building process, in order to shift the focus from an architect's history to narratives that include a... Mehr ...