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.

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Pietri Plaza / Kilo Architectures

Situated in the heart of Morocco’s capital city of Rabat, the plaza creates a dynamic new public gathering space which encourages both planned and spontaneous urban and cultural events. Previously, the plaza consisted of the residual space between four vehicular roads. By sinking the core of the plaza and re-attaching two sides of the plaza to pedestrian thoroughfares, we created an urban ‘livi...

The Elusive Element of Regional Urban Resilience and Social Awareness in Cities

With urban sites being places where the large percentage of the population dwells to alter their economic situation, large cities have become home to high concentrations of poverty. The motivations and forms of concealing this reality have resulted in large inequalities manifest in conflict and other forms of social disability palpable in the region today. In the greater expansion, conflict can...

Estoril Beach House / José Adrião Arquitectos

The villas of Praia do Estoril are located in a privileged area of Sal-Rei, on the island of Boavista in Cape Verde. They have an exceptional location due to their close proximity to the city center - just a few minutes walk away - and to the direct contact with the magnificent sand and sand dunes of Estoril Beach.

Francis Kéré Unveils Burkina Faso's New National Assembly in Ouagadougou

At the 2016 Venice Biennale, Francis Kere unveiled, as part of the exhibition “in search of a new Ouagadougou” the schemes for the design of the Burkina Faso National Assembly. In the transformative time for Burkina Faso, the scheme can be summed as tackling the fundamental question of “How do we move forward”. It consequently not only seeks to address the democratic values of transparency, ope...

Nike Football Training Centre Soweto / RUF Project + Nike Global Football

Cities are living organisms- without the right cultivation, they wither and die. Architecture has the power to stitch individuals into a community and energize forgotten corners of our urban fabric. Nike football in conjunction with RUFproject and MMA architects have designed and built an architectural solution to the urban problem present in Soweto, and has shown its potential as a tool for en...

Maisha Film Garden / Tamassociati

The new headquarters of “Maisha Film Lab” want to synthesize life in cinema and architecture. Starting with the name Maisha, which means ‘life’ in Kiswahili, we thought about the project as a film sequence inspired by the evolution of life.The walking path, which develops in the garden, begins in childhood and develops through different stations in the evolution of the human being until the fin...

Market in Quibala / Michelle Vasconcelos Design & Art Studio

In all aspects description, the market of Quibala which is a Municipality in Angola was literally transported from Spain in sea containers. From the very start, the project was marked by the need to optimize the space inside the containers, and the solution adopted was a system of trusses with dimensions making it possible to ship forty-six of them, packed in pairs, in a single container. That ...

Sarah De Villiers And The Fantastical Realm of Growth: The Idea Bank

Architecture is a solution oriented process and it aims at making life more valuable. Through questioning the present, designs are able to develop important stepping stones into the future. And though ideas at times seem wild at their inception, in the long run they prove formidable. Sarah De Villiers questions and challenges the present financial institutions with her heartwarming and welcome ...

College Ouangani, Mayotte/ TERRENEUVE architects

The identity of Ouangani College is forged in the inclusion of the landscape as an integral part of the design. The ground floor plan is divided in an open regulating line: in its geometry, with vistas of the distance, but also in its evolution, to accommodate several phases of extensions that will be structured in line with the first buildings.

National Park of Mali / Kere Architecture

Amidst the senseless construction of commercial urban projects in Bamako, a welcoming vision of nature and beauty stands at the entrance of the National Park. The renowned architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, Aga Khan Award for Architecture recipient in 2004, was commissioned to redevelop 8 existing structures and design a primary and secondary gate, an entry building, a youth and sports centre, a ...

Village Health Works Staff Housing / Louise Braverman

“Sustainability is not an added benefit in Kigutu. It is a necessity.” Braverman. This quote from the Architect sums the deceitful simple project in Kigutu and shows the importance of the skills learnt by the locals in the execution of the housing.

FOCHTA Vocational Training Centre/Sam Crawford Architects

How could Sam Crawford Architects, with their experience designing houses for well-off Sydneysiders, contribute anything of value to the design of a Vocational Training Centre for children orphaned by AIDS – in a foreign continent and context? Wouldn't it be better to employ a local architect? Why impose western ideas on Africans? The brief was simple yet daunting. It basically called for a Mal...

New Algerian Parliament / Bureau Architecture Méditerannée

It is important to recognize the character of the Architecture of the North. This is where the New Algerian Parliament by Bureau Architecture Méditerannée comes into play, a building deeply enshrouded in Arabic tenets and heavy symbolism. It seeks embody the idea of democracy in action, the Algeria of the future, freedom, peace, strong but deliberative power. The design communicates a distinct...

Calabar International Conference Center/ Henning Larsen Architects

Calabar, the capital of the Cross River State situated by the scenic river delta at the outfall of the Calabar River Channel, is already hosting numerous conferences and, with the completion of the new Conference Center, the city hopes to attract even more international meetings and tourists.

International Conference Center / CAAU Architects

Located on 10ha of a 213ha site in the Ouaga 2000 district, the International conference center project, complemented by an immense urban park, was launched by the Burkina Faso Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through a design competition, and reflects the ambitious goals and extremely high standards that lie at its foundation. The site is bordered by the Ouaga 2000 development towards the...

Dakar's International Conference Center / Tabanlioglu Architects

The Dakar Centre just completed this year is an assortment of playful geometry by all words necessary. Steve Bright in Hailstorm was quoted saying ‘…there is always tension in good design; a tension between opposing forces represented by the creative and the prosaic, for design must work as few other artistic endeavors must work. It must work at many levels, at a practical level and at an imagi...

Dennis Mukuba And The Unbowed Hues of Justice: Meru Judicial Law Courts

Following the Chief Justice word on the need for more spaces and built forms for justice through long term plans of building High Court in each of the new counties defined by the constitution this final year Architecture student at the university of Nairobi decided to come with a court in Meru county that incorporates all the tenents of the modern court but also respects and borrows heavily fro...

George Yagomba And A Sail Across Diplomacy: Parliament Of South Sudan

Parliaments are symbols of the aspirations of nations. It is a fusion of tradition (authentic, organic, emotional, and symbolic) and modernization (highly functional, iconic, unifying, and environmentally conscious). Such are the words of the student architect that is the author of this work, an iconic parliament in South Sudan that des well to remind you of just how rich the African architectu...

Ardhi University/ University of Dar es Salaam

With a swooping roof and ideal surroundings for serenity and learning, the Ardhi University campus captures the very essence of student life and creativity. Located along University Road past Mlimani City Shopping mall, it provides easy access to both commercial and residential parts of the city which serves to inspire the campus students. Albeit enough inspiration can be drawn from their facul...

Evolution of Pedestrian Bridges/ Urban Morphology

Africa is growing at an unprecedented rate with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) projecting that urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2030. With such statistics, urban designers (and planners alike) need to start drawing lessons from the successes and failures of existing cities. And in particular, the life of the average pedestrian in cities.

Dar es Salaam: An Emerging African Metropolis

With more than a century of cultural heritage and history, Dar es Salaam has shone its light as not only the main economic centre of Tanzania but also an urban hub for travel and entertainment in East Africa. The earliest reference to the town talks of a nearby settlement of the Swahili Shomvi people called Mzizima, short for Mji mzima translating to the Complete City. However, it was establish...

South African Embassy, Addis Ababa/ MMA Design Studio

This complex serves one of South Africa’s most important missions abroad being the seat of the African Union and provides for both bilateral and multi-lateral functions. This is one building that presents an image of Africa in the modern times. It is not romantic about the past or futile in depicting modern design.

Kigali: A City’s Rebirth Into The 21st Century

Transcending the trials and tribulations of its dark past to become one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, Rwanda exemplifies the spirit of a progress with a bright future in the horizon. To some, it is referred to as ‘the Singapore of Africa’ due to its attitude towards development. And there is no other city that shares in this remarkable journey of rising up from the ashes as the Ci...

Johannesburg: The City of Gold

A city of various urban dimensions and distinguished as one of the largest urban clusters in the world. Jozi is undoubtedly the economic powerhouse of Sub-Saharan Africa with its origins made on the gold deposits lying in the Witswatersrand range of hills. The provincial capital of Gauteng has had its fair share of history from dusty miners’ town to aristocrat colonial society wrangling with ap...

Alexandra Interpretation Centre / Peter Rich Architects

The Alexandra Interpretation Centre was developed as a community project by the government in the heart of Alexandra with the main objectives being poverty alleviation and community building through training the local community in tourism and heritage. The centre also acts as a space for nurturing small enterprises, and showcasing arts, culture, heritage and the environment of Alexandra townshi...

Opera Village Laongo/ Kéré Architecture

Initiated by the German film and theatre director, actor and artist Christoph Schlingensief, the Opera Village is an arts education project operated by Festspielhaus Afrika. When Francis Kéré first heard the idea of an opera house for Africa, he thought that it was crazy until he met Christoph Schlingensief, the initiator and visionary of the project "Opera House for Africa”. The architect’s co...

Durban Beach Front Redevelopment / Design Workshop SA

The Durban Beach front development, is a revamp of the Durban’s Golden mile Promenade, orchestrated by Design Workshop: S.A. This development is located in Mini Town, the northernmost node of the four nodes in the city of Durban. It includes a restaurant, a skate park, the promenade, Amphitheatre, and public ablution. The primaryintervention was a new public facilities and restaurant building. ...

Great City or Terrible Place: Experiencing Lamu

While the history and origin of the Waswahili people remains a contentious issue, scholars of culture and house form have in the past acknowledged that there is an obvious difficulty in attempting to transfer ideas and concepts from one culture to another. Swahili culture has been seen to display a myriad of influences from the wider Indian Ocean, producing an integrated mix that is different f...

Art or Farce: Africa Renaissance Monument in Dakar is a Bold Statement of Either

Never before has a monument drawn so much publicity like the Renaissance Monument of Africa in Dakar. Whilst some art critics hail it as a symbol of power and robust resilience, other have termed it as an colossal expense with vague African features. Constructed of bronze, themonument is made of 3-centimetre thick metal sheets and depicts a family group emerging from a mountaintop: a full-lengt...

Naomba, Naomba/ Nadir Tharani

In this article, originally posted on Dar Guide, August 2004 as Naomba, Naomba, Architect Nadir Tharani demonstrates how our spaces are bereft of human interaction and how as architects, designers, government and the common man, we have all failed towards human enrichment in our public spaces . When we sit down at the end of the day and look at our African Cities through a thin scope, don’t we ...