Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Posts
Thumbs

Making a Case for the Renaissance of Traditional African Architecture

Last September, Nigerian Afrobeat musician Wizkid played to a sold-out house at the Royal Albert Hall in London, joining a growing list of illustrious African musicians, such as Selif Kaita, Youssou Ndour, Miriam Makeba and others, that have performed at that prestigious venue. This event affirmed the unfolding cultural renaissance across the continent, but it also signified the rising global i...

UJ GSA Lecture Series: Bjarke Ingels Speaks in Johannesburg on Hedonistic Architecture and the Art of Giving Form

Bjarke Ingels spoke last week to over 750 enthusiastic architecture lovers in Maboneng, Johannesburg, continuing on the Lecture series run by the Graduate School Of Architecture at University of Johannesburg. Ingels, perhaps one of the most divergent critically acclaimed contemporary architects, sort to take the audience through a journey of his famous "process" of architecture, one now made kn...

UJ GSA Lecture Series: David Adjaye on Unlearning Everything and Redoing it Again

David Adjaye explored a returning to the renaissance in African architecture yesterday at the University of Johannesburg Graduate School of Architecture in an engaging heart to heart with Lesley Lokko where he implored upon the need to radically explore architecture from always the new rather than projecting upon them before the actual solution, deeper meaning or discussion of the situation is ...

Local Studio's Thomas Chapman Headlines Talk 02 of GSA Boogertman + Partners International Lecture Series

The second event in Boogertman + Partners continuing International Lecture Series features Thomas Chapman from Local Studio. Thomas Chapman is an architect and urban designer with over 10 years experience working in both public and private sector. He founded Local Studio and has been focussing on community participation, exploration of materials and exploring new spatial typologies in the urban...

Andrew Freear Headlines GSA Boogertman + Partners International Lecture Series 2017

The first lecture in the GSA - Boogertman+ Partners International Lecture Series 2017 is coming up! This series creates an opportunity for architectural students, professionals and those with a keen interest in architecture to hear and interact with world-class local and international speakers, whilst building a great platform for new African design voices. Please see below an invitation to the...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Joe Osae-Addo on Competition and the Call to Young African Architects

This week ArchiDATUM dates the enigmatic Joe Osae-Addo, a renowned architect from Ghana and founder of the ArchiAfrika platform with a strong character which lives in his belief system as is seen in his highly acclaimed residence, Inno-native house. His words rally for zest in young upcoming African architects, with whom he has a special connection to as mentor and friend. After day long lectur...

Abdel Wahed El-Wakil / The Benefits of Traditional Construction in Contemporary Architecture

One of the foremost students of Hassan Fathy, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil is an Egyptian architect, who is the recipient of two Aga Khan Awards for Architecture as well as the prestigious 2009 Driehaus Prize. He is considered the foremost practitioner of masonry construction in Islamic architecture today. His commitment to the traditions of construction as an integral component of contemporary archite...

Philip Kleijnhans' Architecture's Survival for the Fittest

In this article originally appearing in Leading Architecture in 2008, Philip Kleijnhans talks of the ability of an architect to adapt to a cruel market, how response, debate and intricate notions of running a business visavis a practice can be handled, and how as a principal, one needs to go beyond working for your business rather than in your business. He says "I can tell you (with certainty),...

Film + Architecture: What it Holds for Africa

Did you notice the impossible Penrose steps in Inception? Or the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright and Phaeno Science Center by Zaha Hadid in The International? Cinemas have always found a way to reward groundbreaking architectural thoughts with engrossing scenes and sometimes 3D visual immersion into new worlds. All this is possible technologically by manipulating physical spaces and rel...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Paragon's Henning Rasmuss on Pouring Concrete in Africa

This week archiDATUM Dates Henning Rasmuss, a highly gregarious South African architect at the helm of Paragon Group. Henning tells us what he thinks about sustainable design and what the modern architect has come to stand for, the role of an architect should be in society, what it’s like pouring concrete in Africa and his long standing love with the pen and paper, not to leave out his strongly...

Why Abandon The Mud Hut: Joe Osae-Addo and affiliations of Tamale

Politics in Tamale is a special blend of family ties, ethnicity and party affiliation, practiced as combat sport. It permeates all aspects of their lives but you get the distinct feeling that you dare not take sides, since ultimately it's 'all in the family'. Isn't architecture too?

Joe Osae Addo on the Connecting Tissues of Resilience

Joe Osae Addo, a societal extrovert, is a Ghanaian architect that reinterprets and engages his design senses in a pseudo modern yet traditional palette. He tries to see Africa beyond its problems and tries to look at the architecture based on African architecture that has come to be defined from great pedigree and resilience rather than the problems facing it. In this video via DITV, he speak...

ArchiDATUM Dates: SAOTA's Greg Truen On Modern Day Silky Contemporary High End Designs

This week, we interview Greg Truen, a Director at SAOTA who has worked extensively through West African and increasingly into East Africa. With a proclivity for ‘ingenious innovations’ and modern day silky contemporary high end designs that resonate well with the architectural landscape, he talks to us about the pursuit of happiness in an architectural atmosphere, the love for design and the ev...

Architecture: From Nothing to Something

"What is architecture about? i have seen architects in Kenya and their attempt at designing in the sub-Saharan Africa. We see buildings coming up every day. But an in-depth call to action for you as Architects would be that what can you do as a steward in your field? What do you have to offer your country as an architect that can change the scope? We see skyscrapers coming and mushrooming all ...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Joe Gitau on the Psychedelic Battle with Paint

Meet Joe Gitau Kamau, an artist and art collector who believes in art as a hobby, a business, and a community service. A man with hearty laughter and high spirits, his greatest contentment so far comes from the tremendous collection of Joe Ashley’s psychedelic paintings, 52 in total. He has collected art from other artists both from local and international artists and has sold over 112 major pa...

Musau Kimeu: The Philosophy of Environmental Design

Day two of the Triad@50 celebrations brought in a familiar face from the world of sustainable design. Arch. Musau Kimeu is renowned for his environmental strategies in Kenya, a visionary some would say with his radical ‘sustainable’ ideologies which have silenced many in the LRC buildings at Catholic University, Karen.

H.E. Amb. Martin Kimani on Architecture in Africa

The inaugural article of archiDATUM Audio focuses on H.E. Ambassador Martin Kimani, Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations where he talks about the state of architecture in Kenya and the larger African region and a retrospective look at the Western cities towards learning and adaptation of our own cities in newer fresher ways.

Biennale Architettura 2014 - Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014

In 2014 the National Museum in Norway was in charge of curating and organizing the Nordic Pavilion at la Biennale di Venezia, in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design in Stockholm. The Nordic Pavilion at the “Biennale Architettura 2014” was co-owned by Sweden, Finland, and Norway. La Biennale di Venezia, regarded as the world’s ...