The Pan-African Biennale (PAB) has announced the official selection of participants for its inaugural 2026 edition, set to take place from September 7 to 11, 2026, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi. Conceived as the first continental architecture biennale dedicated to spatial practices from and within Africa, the event will bring together architects, studios, research collectives, and material practitioners from across the continent. Additional participants, keynote speakers, and contributors are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Founded and directed by Omar Degan, the Biennale is envisioned as a long-term platform that will rotate between African cities every two years. The inaugural edition is organized under the curatorial theme Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience, framing Africa not as a peripheral reference within global architectural discourse, but as a central contributor to contemporary spatial knowledge and future-oriented design practices.
The official selection reflects a wide geographic and disciplinary range, bringing together practices working across architecture, urbanism, material research, conservation, and community-based design. Among the confirmed participants are Djamel Klouche from Algeria, Banga Coletivo from Angola, and the Benin-based team of Larry Tchogninou, Olufemi Hinson Yovo, and Armel Sagbohan. Other selected practices include Moralo Designs, Association La Voûte Nubienne, Remesha Design Lab, Ramos Castellano Arquitectos, and Barla Barla Architectes, alongside Archi Infini & Partenaires and Afrostudio.
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The selection also includes practitioners and collectives engaged with heritage preservation, vernacular construction, and environmental research, such as Megawra – BEC, Hive Earth, Raas Architects, MASS Design Group, and Design Without Borders. Participants including Nu Goteh, Aboubakar Fofana, Daar Studio, and Lemon Pebble further expand the Biennale's interdisciplinary scope, which spans architecture, design, craft, and spatial storytelling. Across the continent, the Biennale brings together voices from established and emerging practices alike, including contributors from Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Sudan, Sudan, São Tomé and Príncipe, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. According to the organizers, the selection aims to foreground practices rooted in local realities while engaging broader questions surrounding climate, urbanization, material cultures, and future spatial imaginaries.
The Pan-African Biennale does not seek to correct exclusion from within existing frameworks. It establishes a new one, one in which Africa is the author of its own spatial knowledge, its own architectural discourse, its own futures. For the first time in history, spatial practices from across the continent convene under a single curatorial framework built from within. The center has always been here. - Omar Degan, Founder and Artistic Director of the Pan-African Biennale
The Biennale's curatorial framework is organized through three thematic strands: Land Under Pressure (Climate Change), Inherited Knowledge (Vernacular Intelligence), and Worlds to Come (African Futures). Rather than presenting a singular narrative, the exhibition proposes multiple perspectives emerging from African contexts, examining how architecture can respond to environmental transformation, inherited building knowledge, and evolving social conditions across the continent.
The Pan-African Biennale is registered in Kigali and operates as an independent institution dedicated to architecture, the built environment, and spatial practice in Africa. Conceived as a long-term platform beyond the exhibition format, the initiative combines exhibitions, publications, public programming, and archival production, with Nairobi marking the first edition of what is intended to become a recurring continental event.
In related developments, the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum 13 concluded on May 22 in Baku after six days of discussions, exhibitions, and international exchanges focused on the theme Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities. Upcoming architecture events are expected to continue these conversations around urban futures, climate resilience, and the evolving role of design practice, including the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona, scheduled from June 28 to July 2, 2026, and the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2026, curated by Stuudio TÄNA alongside Mark Aleksander Fischer and Mira Samonig, opening from September 9 through November 30, 2026.
