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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Alioune Diop University Extension / IDOM

The Government of Senegal, financially assisted by the World Bank, has started an ambitious plan for the extension and improvement of several universities in the country. In the University of Alioune Diop, in Bambey, to the West of the country, 4 new buildings are planned which will house the Training and Research Unit, which in turn will include lecture rooms, a lecture hall for 500 students, ...

White Cube/ OMA

Located in the heart of a plantation system, the research centre designed by Rem Koolhas led OMA in Congo aims to become a vector for a social and ecological shift. Designed by the OMA, this White Cube is a central element of the Lusanga International Research Centre for Art and Economic Inequality (LIRCAEI). Located in the heart of the plantation system and at the crossroads of global inequali...

Right-Side Down / Oualalou+Choi

The pavilion of morocco at the 14th Venice Biennale focused on territorial speculations in the Sahara: “inhabiting the uninhabitable.” The Sahara, with its extreme geography and climatic conditions, remains an unexplored territory for architectural speculation. We proposed an urban structure for this territory, a means of putting down roots, implanting urbanity and civilization.

Looking Up / Francesco Bonanomi, Michael Goldoni, Riccardo Bovo

Cult, introspection, spirituality, rest, identity: these are some of the themes translated through an architectural perspective to design a versatile space which can serve several varieties of cult. This is the place where every visitor can seek his own spirituality through an experience of personal introspection and detachment from reality; the centre around which architectural spaces and shap...

Ecological house in Gambia / Virai Arquitectos

At the seaside just outside Tujereng, west Gambia, a house has been built for a family of three children and some bungalows to accommodate tourists. The architects aim was to make this buildings ecological, cozy and rooted in its context. The goal from the very beginning was to construct ecological buildings with references to and in harmony with local housing traditions. The buildings are dist...

Adrian Kasperski on Coexisting with Nature: The Island of the Future

The first impulse for choosing a future work topic was seeing one of the reports by Fernando Guerra – a famous Portuguese photographer of architecture. The photos presented an almost unnoticeable building hidden in nearly lunar landscape. After analysing the topic, it turned out that this building served as the Cultural and Administration Centre of the National Park of the Fogo island in Cape V...

New Research Centre for Nigerian Languages / BC Architects and Studies

BC Architects and Studies command a monolithic part of studies in their architecture practice. In this Nigerian project, they sort to explore local techniques of design and incorporated these into high contemporary standing to come up with the New Research Centre for Nigerian Languages in Llorin Nigeria.The concept, structure and appearance of the building are shaped by both awareness of the ac...

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

There is an expected boom in the construction sector in Sub Saharan Africa as factor of the projected urban population estimated to grow by almost 70% by 2025. This heavy urbanization consequently will choke the already insufficient planning methods in building techniques, soft and hard infrastructures and economic cycles. The current solutions in the said region are not commensurable with the ...

Foster + Partners Ventures into Rwanda with a Droneport Project to Save Lives

Lord Foster has launched proposals for the Droneport project in Africa to support cargo drone routes capable of delivering urgent and precious supplies to remote areas on a massive scale. The project is a collaboration between Redline partners led by Afrotech, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL); the Norman Foster Foundation; and Foster + Partners.

University Campus Denis Sassou Nguesso/ IAD

There is a boom in the construction Industry in the Republic of Congo due to the interest given by international investors and the prospects of economic development: the country looks to the future and plans for a full industrialization by 2025. One such Development is a modern polytechnic Universitylocated in Kintele, on the northern edge of Brazzaville along the river Congo, which will includ...

Warka Water/ Architecture and Vision - Arturo Vittori

“WarkaWater is designed to provide clean water as well as ensure long-term environmental, financial and social sustainability,” Says the Architect. “Once locals have the necessary know how, they will be able to teach other villages and communities to build the WarkaWater towers.” Each tower costs approximately $550 and can be built in under a week with a four person team and locally available m...

Biovac Centre Phase 1 / Studio Mas

Its a play of solids and voids, of thematic light intonations and a subdued aura of space within the laboratory commissioned by Biovac and implemented by studio mas. The way the project has been incredibly put together was so simple, the final outlook simply blows the mind.

Mama Sarah Foundation School/Kere Architecture

Mama Sarah Obama’s vision is to create a “cycle of life” that encompasses an early childhood education centre, a primary and secondary school, a medical centre and a vocational training centre.