There is an increasing character of abandoned buildings in many African cities and Limbo Accra; a spatial design practice, roots itself in the experimentation of their repair, reuse, and transformation. The practice views these buildings as a unique architectural typology that includes key city landmarks, from the abandoned Independence house in Lagos to the incomplete airport tower in Accra, amongst others. They see them as major opportunities for modern public space and as symbolic sites for spatial justice. Through techniques such as photogrammetry, Limbo Accra has been creating a digital archive of these buildings and collaborating with artists and designers to propose new prospects for them. ArchDaily had the opportunity to speak with Dominique Petit-Frère, the co-founder of Limbo Accra, about the collective character of these buildings, Limbo Accra’s approach to their transformation, and navigating challenges in the adaptive reuse of these structures.
On behalf of His Majesty the King, Ghanian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko has been officially awarded the 2024 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Held at RIBA London headquarters, the medal was presented by RIBA President Muyiwa Oki, acknowledging Lokko’s dedication to promoting diverse perspectives in architectural practice and education. As the curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, she has been working to explore the overlaps between architecture and race, while shifting focus to Africa and its diaspora in the industry.
There’s a well-known catchphrase – “Cape to Cairo” – that has spawned numerous books and piqued the imagination of countless travellers of the African continent. The phrase’s origins are of imperial nature, birthed out of an 1874 proposal by English journalist Edwin Arnold that sought to discover the origins of the Congo River. This project was later taken up by imperialist Cecil Rhodes, who envisioned a continuous railway of British-ruled territories that stretched from the North to the South of the continent.
The Mysk Al Badayer Retreat in the desert outside Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Image Courtesy of Mysk Al Badayer Retreat
Set deep within some of the most isolated desert landscapes across the Middle East and further afield, these desert camp hotels offer a way to connect with their surroundings through the solitary experience of open and expansive scenery.
Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and curator Lesley Lokko has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), becoming the first African woman to receive the award. Lokko is not a practicing architect, but as a teacher, writer, and curator she has fought to widen access to the profession and to bring forward voices that have been disregarded for far too long. As the curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, she has shifted the focus to Africa and its diaspora, exploring the complex themes of decolonization and decarbonization. For all her contributions to the profession, Lesley Lokko will be formally presented with the medal in May 2024 by Muyiwa Oki, RIBA’s first black president.
Informal architecture is the dominant mode of urbanization in rapidly growing and industrializing cities worldwide. In Delhi, the city with the largest population in India has half of its residents living in informal settlements. Lagos, with a population of over 22 million, also has 60% of its residents living in informal settlements. This pattern is also observed in Cairo, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, and other cities in the global south that face similar challenges of inequality and housing shortages. As their population grows and urbanization progresses, the exploration of informal architecture schemes to address the demand for affordable housing and basic services will only increase. While the primary purpose of design is to provide structure, lessons from informal architecture offer insights into how architects can respond to such schemes.
Architecture in the Global South often embodies a rich cultural heritage and craftsmanship, incorporating vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and symbolic elements. It also tackles the challenges faced by developing economies, such as limited resources, rapid urbanization, and social inequality, by promoting inclusive and community-driven design solutions. As installations and pavilions serve as radical templates for interrogating these architectural ideals and seeking innovative solutions, we present the top architectural installations as part of our year-in-review. They encompass curated exhibitions like the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as permanent pavilion structures in specific contexts that delve into local materials, waste reuse, and the reinterpretation of historical narratives.
The 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia closed on November 26th. A total of 285,000 people visited the exhibition, making it the second most highly attended Architecture Biennale in its history. Named "The Laboratory of the Future," this edition led by curator Lesley Lokko, has been the first to focus on Africa and its diaspora, exploring the “fluid and enmeshed culture of people of African descent that now straddles the globe,” in the words of the curator, with themes of decolonization and decarbonization.
This edition has attracted a wide array of visitors, 38% of whom are represented by students and young people. Visitors organized in groups represented 23% of the overall public, with a large majority of groups coming from schools and universities. The numbers denote an event centered on the transmission of knowledge and circulation of ideas.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to an enormous number of religious adherents – within which there is extraordinary diversity in religious expression. Iconic buildings serving a religious purpose are found throughout the continent, such as The Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family in central Nairobi or the Hare Krishna Temple in South Africa. What is evident is that architecture that hosts religious gatherings makes up a key part of the urban fabric of sub-Saharan African cities and that in a lot of cases, religious structures go against the grain – leaving aside or tweaking classical models in favor of a unique architectural approach.
Protest has always been a powerful tool for creating change, and public spaces provide a platform for social engagement in societies. As part of the International Day of Democracy, we examine Africa, its series of emerging protests in the past year, and how citizens in various countries question political justice, demand better living standards from their government, and interrogate their nation’s sovereignty. With demonstrations ranging from organized large-scale marches to smaller spontaneous outbursts, residents of these countries have explored public spaces in symbolic and significant ways to amplify their voices. These spaces include public squares with cultural and historical meaning, sites of political buildings, or makeshift protest areas such as roads and open areas. Through this, African cities show how people make these spaces their own and how the power of their conglomeration cannot be ignored in unwrapping the democratic essence of public spaces.
A quick glance today at the cities of the African continent reveals a rich diversity of urban settlements, ranging in type from rural enclaves to sprawling metropolises. That quick glance also reveals a larger picture of cities that are continuously adapting and evolving as we enter the decade of the 2020s – yet this evolution in many places is taking place at the expense of those who are less fortunate. This is not happening in a vacuum, as the reason why a lot of African cities look as they do today is a result of a segregated organization during colonial rule.
African societies' cultures are intrinsically linked to color. From fabrics to clothing, products, sculptures, and architecture, various societies explore rich and vibrant colors that are vivid, expressive, and joyful. Through different shades, hues, contrasts, motifs, and ornamentations, colors are embraced as an unspoken language, a palette for storytelling, and a sense of cultural identity. Although the use of color in African societies may seem decorative on the surface, it is extremely symbolic, with a deep sense of history behind it. Traditional African architecture is a prime example. Ethnic societies have endowed their homes with color through ornaments and motifs, expressed it with religious and cultural patterns, employed it on facades to tell familial stories, and created labyrinths of communal architecture that not only celebrate color but explore its ethnic meaning.
Matri-Archi(tecture) prepositions an exhibition in Johannesburg, titled ‘Building Africa: The State of Things!. The exhibition asks what it means to restore, preserve, foreground, call upon, remember and project former and future conditions of socio-political identity through the architecture of buildings that were once central figures in the political agenda of South Africa. The exhibition foregrounds research about the Constitutional Court and Union Buildings.
Videos
Le Masurier (documenté en 1769-1775). Esclaves noirs à la Martinique, 1775. Huile sur toile – 125 x 106 cm. Paris, ministère des Outre-mer / Archives nationales. Image Courtesy of Archives nationales
The institution of slavery shaped landscapes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. And in turn enslaved and free Africans and their descendants created new landscapes in the United States, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. African people had their own intimate relationships with the land, which enabled them to carve out their own agency and culture.
As Venice Architecture Biennale presents its 18th edition titled "The Laboratory of the Future", it centers on Africa as a place of exploration that will offer a template for solutions to the world. According to its curator Lesley Lokko, the Biennale explores entrenched concepts such as climate, land rights, decolonization, and cultures. It challenges us to question how Africa's history can be a radical tool for imagination and reminds us of Stephen Covey's statement: “Live out of your imagination, not just your history.” The biennale's title is probably the most ambitious question in years. It forces us to revisit all boundaries of the continent's historical societies, explore the influence of imposed colonial borders on them, and examine the dual identities they gave birth to. We must consider how these identities can be instruments of creativity, and, more importantly, recognize that every African society has a unique point of view. This viewpoint yearns for cross-cultural collaboration as a powerful tool for imagination.
Located in the southern part of Benin-Republic, near the port city of Cotonou, is Ganvie; the largest floating village in Africa. It is situated in the middle of Lake Nokoué and is characterized by colorful wooden stilt houses arranged around artificial islands dating back to the 17th century.
This unique architecture was born from the history of the Tofinu tribe, who built it as a refuge from the slave trade. It has been sustained over time by their communal socio-ecological aquacultural systems and has now become a global tourist attraction for the country. The village was recognized as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1996, attracting up to 10,000 visitors annually. However, this influx of tourists has impacted the locals and their socio-ecological practices that sustain this water environment. Aquaculture has become increasingly challenging to maintain as the village struggles to retain its economic foundation. Additionally, traditional building practices have given way to modern ones, and the village faces ongoing environmental challenges. Nevertheless, the unique lifestyle of the locals around the water still offers many lessons for the design of prospective floating cities.
