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By Catherine Slessor
Dedicated to the legacy of Yves Saint Laurent, this museum glosses over the relationship between creation and commerce
Irish missionaries in West Africa in the 20th century embraced the Tropical Modern of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew while encouraging the substantial input of indigenous builders
Following physical separation from Stone Town and colonial alienation, Ng’ambo is gradually shaking off the shackles of segregation
Remittances from migrant workers hailing from the Global South are extremely important for both hosts and home
Consigned to society’s periphery, the spaces and identities of the Caribbean diaspora continue to shape the mainstream
The architectural and urban colonial legacy of the Congo should not be seen through the prism of a Belgian-Congolese context, but from a global perspective
In African cities – as in cities all over the world – ‘building as development’ is depriving people of their right to the city, exacerbating inequality rather than diminishing it
At Low Design Office’s Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform in the scrapyards of Accra, Ghana, new into old takes on a whole new meaning
Renegotiating Downtown Cairo through design, Omar Nagati’s Cluster initiative aims at establishing a space for critical urban discourse and design practice
The refugee camps of the Western Sahara allow us to rethink the notion of the nation state - and that of the citizen itself
The way in which such projects are procured, designed and delivered has to be reviewed and refined
In unplanned urban growth and informal settlements where the quality of life is low and land use is highly inefficient, effective policy is essential
The architecture is as diverse as the continent is large
As countries in Africa gained their independence, modernist architecture attempted to express their new identities
Even in an architect-free zone, beauty is in the detail
Only with change will Africa – confined by the expectation of being influenced rather than influencing – realise its true architectural potential
The Norman Foster Foundation’s prototype drone port must negotiate the context of Rwanda’s hyperreal ‘Vision’
If NLÉ’s project successfully prevented the eviction of the local community, its tragic collapse forces us to rethink the viability of photogenic architectural solutions in vulnerable settlements
Iain Jackson looks back at the AR’s 1953 coverage of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew’s projects in West Africa - its first appearance as a coherent body of work
Architect Killian Doherty’s practice in Sierra Leone is one of many affected by the Ebola outbreak. Here he reflects on the limits of architectural power against an immaterial enemy
From the Palestinian West Bank to apartheid townships the Garden City model has been continuously twisted into suburban anomalies across the globe
From Lagos to Medellín, the generative energy of dense cities could drive the development of their fragile parent states, reports Seth Kaplan
In the charged contexts that follow major atrocity and disaster, architecture is key to finding a means of recovery and redemption, writes Jon Snow
Twenty years since the devastating genocide, Rwanda is a transformed nation. Killian Doherty reports on the capital’s attempt to remodel itself as the Singapore of Africa
Political impotence and uninhibited economic inequalities stifle the vibrant cultural legacy traceable in Freetown’s urban grain, reveals Killian Doherty
In the face of dramatic changes in climate and increasing social inequality, could life on the water come to define urban planning?
‘For me it’s very important to look at a full spectrum, from working with people like Zaha Hadid or Rem Koolhaas or Herzog & de Meuron, to how people build for themselves out of pure necessity’
Orkidstudio champion collaboration with local communities and crafts
Jhono Bennett made his university project a reality to help develop an informal settlement
A youth centre built in 10 weeks in an area with no electricity
As the spotlight falls on Africa following the death of Nelson Mandela, a timely exhibition on the continent’s built environment gives cause for hope
Kigali Institute of Science & Technology sees an international faculty and 19 home grown students drive an african identity towards solving the social economic and development agenda in Rwanda
The experience of building a school in Zambia has given Guylee Simmonds and James Mitchell a unique perspective on the country’s wider challenges
The biggest city in Africa needs an architectural impetus commensurate with its growing size and importance, say John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood
The political unrest that recently engulfed Dhaka highlights some of the cultural tensions discussed at this year’s CAA conference
The power of culture to reflect the best aspects of humanity does not always save it from the worst
Islamist rebels destroy precious manuscripts in Timbuktu, Mali
Italo Calvino would have felt at home in Saint-Louis, the former capital city of Senegal, and the Venice of Africa, reports Paul Brislin
As Egypt advances towards democracy, opportunities open up for a more environmentally responsive architecture
Nowhere in England, and indeed nowhere in Europe or North America, can such a consistently up-to-date neighbourhood be seen
Africa has the world’s youngest population and the world’s oldest leaders – a divide challenged by the democratisation of social media
The Empower Shack prototypes in the township of Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, upgrades extended-family housing with built-in flexibility
Women in Architecture Moira Gemmill Prize shortlist 2018: in South Africa, a country that has witnessed extreme marginalisation, Ilze Wolff strives to redress the balance
Heatherwick’s spectacular cultural building in Cape Town is not entirely at ease with its financial bedfellows
From the most elemental ingredients of architecture comes a future for those who lack it most
The legacy of apartheid by design will take generations to rectify
The extension to Vredenburg Hospital by Wolff Architects integrates a history of piecemeal additions
The Pixley House refurbishment reconciles desire with emergent conditions
A basic historical primer outlining South Africa’s architectural evolution from earliest times to the present day reveals a peculiarly fertile synthesis of indigenous and foreign influences
The Africa Architecture Awards 2017 bear testimony to a robust culture of architectural critical discourse on the continent, keeping threats of modern-day colonialism at bay
Spatial analysis of Bree Street in Johannesburg questions the universality of globalisation and reveals potential for new forms of urbanity to emerge
Director of Designing_South Africa Zahira Asmal reports on the project for a new ‘place-making’ pavilion for Jo’burg, a dreamed opportunity to rethink the role of urban public space in the city and turn Park Station, the continent’s biggest transport node, into a new gateway to South Africa
Spatial analysis of Bree Street in Johannesburg questions the universality of globalisation and reveals potential for new forms of urbanity to emerge
An irrepressible commitment to architecture which bridges divisions and addresses social concerns across the Global South and beyond defined the 2014 UIA congress in Durban
South Africa’s new developments offer promising ‘places of light’ and aim to transform Johannesburg into a true melting-pot city
Taking local marginalised neighbourhoods as urban laboratories students at UJ are encouraged to design radical schemes rooted in context
An apartheid museum that celebrates the ordinary is South Africa’s latest attempt to come to terms with its past
Red Location’s evolving cultural precinct explores ideas about placemaking and the African urban realm
Celebrating invention and authenticity, the AR presents a snapshot of work in progress from around the world
Bremner speaks of a way of being in the world that is nomadic
[Shortlist: 10 students from around the world] The AR highlights 10 emerging architecture students from renowned architecture schools across the world
A startling urban landscape of township, mine dump and high-rise
World Cup development seems at odds with the inconvenient urban truth
Mokena Makeka’s new sports community centre in a Cape Flats township shows how to make decent, dignified architecture that uplifts its surroundings. Photography by Dennis Gilbert
Set in a spectacular but remote veld landscape, Peter Rich Architects’ Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre exemplifies contemporary African architecture. Photography by Obie Oberholzer
By Michael Badu
An architect who cares more about the opinions of his clients and collaborators than those of critics and peers
A curated selection of the best architectural ideas in the world to
inspire your mind and feed your soul. Each special edition is created
using sheet-fed litho printing with hand-inserted tip-ins and gatefolds
with vegetable-based inks on a mix of FSC-certified paper and card.
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