The late German film and theater director Christoph Schlingensief convinced Berlin-based architect and Burkina Faso native Di'b'do Francis K'r' to build the Opera House for Africa, a music-education complex, in the landlocked country known as a center of African film and music.
Steven Ehrlich Architects New Abuja Gate City is a 98-acre complex and symbolic entryway into the new Nigerian capital, Abuja. Commissioned by the government and designed to resemble a traditional bow harp, the gateway is meant to symbolize national unity. Its packed program includes a reception hall, children's zoo, gymnasium, and marketplace. It's not clear when construction will begin on the project. Image courtesy Steven Ehrlich Architects Ahmadu Bello University Theater. Click here to view more images.
Sharon Davis Design The nonprofit Women for Women International (WFW ) commissioned New York architect Sharon Davis, who had worked with WFW in Kosovo, to design the Women's Opportunity Center. The 5-acre 'mini-village,' with classrooms, dormitories, and communal spaces, is meant for women survivors of the war in Rwanda. Canopies of corrugated metal sit atop circular bases of handmade brick, fired and produced by local women. WFW hopes to open the center on March 8, 2013, International Women's Day. Image courtesy Sharon Davis Design Women's Opportunity Center. Click here to view more images.
SHoP architects The Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), will be a 320,000-square-foot center for research in technology and science. SHoP snagged the $100 million commission through a competition sponsored by Bostwana's government, with its plan for a sustainable series of interconnected offices and laboratories; the BIH is designed to be the country's first LEED-certified structure. Government officials, who are still raising construction funds, hope the building will spur growth in the country's tech sector, decreasing the nation's economic dependence on diamond mining by providing a place for local and foreign entrepreneurs to incubate ideas and interact. Image courtesy SHoP architects The
Louise Braverman Architect Louise Braverman's plan for this 40-acre medical campus in Burundi, contracted by the nonprofit organization Village Health Works, includes a 29,000-square-foot women's health center, staff residences, and several other facilities. Though operating rooms require HVAC , the New York'based architect designed most of the buildings on site to be naturally ventilated, and the complex will produce its own electricity with photovoltaics and other energy sources. Phase one of construction'the staff residences'is scheduled for completion this fall. Image courtesy Louise Braverman Architect Village Health Works. Click here to view more images.
Frederic Schwartz Architects Former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade commissioned New York'based architect Fred Schwartz to design One Family, One Home, an 800-acre town plan with 3,600 units of affordable housing north of the capital city, Dakar. The new town will also provide parks, shopping, schools, and other services for a working-class population. Ground was broken for phase one in October 2011, and construction is under way. Image courtesy Frederic Schwartz Architects One House for Africa. Click here to view more images.
Western-trained architects are designing housing, schools, and buildings for social services in Africa's expanding cities and its rural areas. Here's a look at a number of projects currently on the boards.
Architects have long traveled to far-flung corners of the world in search of inspiration, information, and work. But few places remain as unfamiliar to most architects as Africa—a continent with an area equal to the United States plus Europe and half of Asia.
Jack DeBartolo Phoenix-based architect Jack DeBartolo partnered with the nonprofit Engineer Ministries International to design the Shebraber School, a K'12 facility in this rural town near the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. DeBartolo developed both a master plan and construction documents with a group of Arizona State University students of architecture and design. Now under construction, the library, community spaces, and school building are slated for completion in late 2013. Image courtesy Jack DeBartolo Shebraber School. Click here to view more images.
Adjaye Associates London- and New York'based architect David Adjaye is currently developing a number of projects in Africa, including at least two in Ghana. Elmina College, a private international boarding school on 116 acres, is modeled on a Maghreb military fortification, elevated and centered on a quad within its forested site. Image courtesy Adjaye Associates Elmina College. Click here to see more images of this project and Five-Star Resort.
Architects tackle larger development considerations alongside building design in Africa. Image courtesy Perkins+Will Kenya Women’s and Children’s Wellness Centre. Click the image above to view slide show. When construction on the first phrase the 29,000-square-foot Village Health Works (VHW) medical campus wraps up this fall, the project will have involved architects, contractors, craftsmen, and one human waste-to-fuel specialist. If one of these things seems unlike the others, it is: Dr. Kartik Chandran, a professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University was contracted by New York-based architect and VHW designer Louise Braverman to consult on alternative energy solutions and