20 shortlisted for finals of first Africa Architectural Awards

The inaugural Africa Architecture Awards last month in Johannesburg, South Africa, shortlisted 20 projects in 32 countries for the finals.

The awards, founded by Saint-Gobain, attracted more than 500 entries, out of which 307 qualified.

Mr Evan Lockhart-Barker, the managing director of the Saint-Gobain Retail Business Development Initiative, said: “The Africa Architecture Awards have been established to highlight the continent’s innovative and collaborative style of solving problems – architectural or otherwise. In sub-Saharan Africa, Saint-Gobain provides a range of solutions and services tailored to local demand.

The 20 projects are divided into four categories: Built, Speculative, Emerging Voices and Critical Dialogue. The winner in each category will receive a trophy, while the overall winner will get $10,000 (Sh1,030,000).

They will be announced at a gala ceremony at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art in Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, on September 28. The architects of the 20 projects will be flown to Cape Town by Saint-Gobain to attend the ceremony.

The following day a public colloquium titled “Celebrating Architecture in Africa” will be held at the Institute for Creative Arts at UCT Hiddingh Campus in Cape

Town to discuss the winning projects and explain why they were chosen.

The shortlist was chosen by a master jury comprising a pan-African panel of architects and industry experts including: Anna Abengowe (Nigeria), Guillaume Koffi (Côte d’Ivoire), Professor Edgar Pieterse (South Africa), Patti Anahory (Cape Verde), Professor Mark Olweny (Uganda), Tanzeem Razak (South Africa), and Phill Mashabane (South Africa).The shortlisted projects are:

BUILT

One Airport Square, Ghana, by MCA Architects
Thread: Artists’ Residency and Cultural Centre, Senegal, by Toshiko Mori Architect
Dakar Conference Centre, Senegal, by Tabanlioglu Architects
Umkhumbane Museum, SA by Choromanski Architects
Out of the Box Partnerships, Ethiopia, by Parallel Solutions

SPECULATIVE
Ecree, Ecowski Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency, Cape Verde, by Fernando Mauricio Dos Santos
New Eye Sight Hospital, Republic of Congo, by Boogertman and Partners
Kigali Genocide Memorial, Rwanda, by Mass Design Group
The Territory Inbetween, South Africa, by Aissata Balde
Beyond Entropy, Angola, By Paula Nascimento

EMERGING VOICES
The Embassy of Mantanhas Eclectic Atlases, Cape Verde, by Stephanie Ryder, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg
Architecture of Crisis: Windhoek Community Boreholes, by Elao Martin, Namibia University of Science and Technology
Re-think Makoko, Lagos, by Mohamed Waheed Fareed Abdelfatah, Helwan University, Egypt
The Monolith of Kasolo, DRC, by Federico Fauli, Architectural Association, School of Architecture, London.
The Exchange Consulate: Trading Passports for Hyper-Performative Economic Enclaves, South Africa, by Ogundare Olawale Israel

CRITICAL DIALOGUE
Design Indaba, South Africa, by Interactive Africa
APSAIDAL by Ebano Wey Ekame Ikuga, Spain
Forum de Arquitectura, by Ceica, Angola
The Journey of Design and Critical Dialogue. Securing the Presence of Urban Livelihoods, by Richard Dobson, South Africa
Revolution Room, by Visual Arts Network, SA & Waza Arts Centre, DRC