Exploring Togo’s Architectural Heritage and Future Through Talks, Exhibitions, and City Tours Led by African Visionaries
Courtesy of Palais de Lomé.
Palais de Lomé announces its first Architecture Encounters (Les Rencontres Architecturales de Lomé) curated by Studio NEiDA. This inaugural edition will feature two days of talks and events, alongside an exhibition presenting Togo’s most iconic architecture from the past to the present.
Since its rebirth as a centre for art and culture nearly five years ago, Togo’s Palais de Lomé has become one of Africa’s most revered institutions originating a space for creative minds shaping contemporary culture and conversations. Palais de Lomé itself is a stunning example of the power of architecture and the importance of reclaiming historically decayed buildings. This has subsequently led to establishing Togo’s first international Architecture Encounters initiated by its founding director Sonia Lawson.
RAL #1 will take place from 28 to 30 November 2024 curated by Studio NEiDA, co-founded by architect Jeanne Autran-Edorh and writer/curator Fabiola Büchele. The architecture and research practice is dedicated to equitable design processes that train an Afrocentric lens on contemporary architecture discourses. The transdisciplinary duo has invited a line-up of peers working in West Africa to trace architectural histories in the region along the theme of conservation and transformation. RAL #1 will also serve as a critical tool for convening on the continent to broaden the discussion of architecture and intersecting design disciplines, concurrently questioning and querying timely global issues.
Speakers come from across the region and are among the finest emerging voices in their field. They include Nana Biamah-Ofosu (Ghana/UK), Nzinga Biegueng Mboup (Senegal), Josias Seddoh (Togo), Anthony Baba-Oladjiy (Nigeria), Olufemi Hinson-Yovo (Benin) and Limbo Accra (Ghana).
The accompanying exhibition will trace a number of Togo’s most iconic architecture through the turn of the 20th century. It will showcase historic building traditions in danger of disappearing, thus unveiling some of Lomé’s known and hidden modern architecture treasures.
The two-day RAL #1 program will comprise of the exhibition opening, interactive speaker presentations, workshops as well as architectural tours around the city. RAL #1 is further committed to guiding activities and questions around expertise, material knowledge and existing structures in Lomé that should be preserved, while exploring how innovation and transformation offer sustainable and equitable solutions for contemporary design challenges and architecture practices.
“We are honoured to be curating the first event dedicated to architecture at the Palais de Lomé. African architecture, both historically and today, is complex and varied. This event celebrates the rich architectural heritage and highlights practitioners involved in transforming this legacy to fit contemporary needs and suggest equitable solutions for our future,” say co-curators, Jeanne Autran-Edorh and Fabiola Büchele.
Hotel de la Paix, Lomé (2019) © Studio NEiDA
CURATORS & SPEAKERS
Jeanne Autran-Edorh and Fabiola Büchele
Studio NEiDA is an interdisciplinary architecture, design, curatorial and research practice based in Lomé and Berlin. Founders Jeanne Autran-Edorh and Fabiola Büchele met in 2019 while working at Studio Francis Kéré. They design and realise projects in and around space. Studio NEiDA veers towards Afrocentricity and is in dialogue with local knowledge and crafts. Their work is committed to an equitable production process.
Nana Biamah-Ofosu (Ghana/UK)
Nana Biamah-Ofosu is a Ghanaian-British architect. She is the director of YAA Projects, an architecture, design and research practice dedicated to exploring counter-histories, material and diasporic culture, through making, speaking and writing architecture.
Nzinga Biegueng Mboup (Senegal)
Nzinga Biegueng Mboup is a Senegalese architect and co-founder of the Dakar based architecture studio WOROFILA. She is known for her expertise in bioclimatic design and construction using locally sourced earth and biomaterials. She is also active as a researcher and has made significant contributions to urban and cultural heritages studies in Dakar.
Josias Seddoh (Togo)
Josias Seddoh is a Togolese architect specialising in rammed earth construction. He has realised projects using earth material across the African continent as part of the South-African construction company Rammteck. He is dedicated to the search for sustainable building materials as ancient construction techniques have reemerged as a beacon of innovation and sustainability.
Anthony Baba-Oladeji (Nigeria)
Anthony Baba-Oladeji is a Development Architect dedicated to making Africa a home for the homeless. He currently serves as the Director of CoDesign, a collective that connects donors, philanthropists, impact investors and client partners to provide DIY building kits for urban middle and low-income communities in Africa.
Olufemi Hinson-Yovo (Benin)
Olufemi Hinson-Yovo is an architect, designer and researcher based in Cotonou, Benin. She is the founder of Sah Studio, a design practice rooted in research and the decolonisation of subjects such as heritage, biodiversity, housing and the informal sector. Winner of the 2023 Prince Claus Prize, she collaborates with prestigious institutions such as the re:arc institute, MoMA and the African Futures Institute.
Limbo Accra (Ghana)
Limbo Accra is a spatial design practice founded in 2018 by Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip. Their work emerges from rigorous research and interdisciplinary design projects, focusing on the repair and transformation of unfinished building projects in West African cities and beyond. Theirs is an intuitive and future-ready approach to experience, materials, and space. They aim to redefine spatial design by reimagining unfinished spaces, fostering meaningful experiences that honour cultural contexts and promote sustainable practices, ultimately creating a transformative impact within the communities they serve.
Sonia Lawson
Sonia Lawson is the founding director of the Palais de Lomé which opened its doors to the public at the end of 2019. She was responsible for the design, management and supervision of the transformation of the former governors’ palace into an arts and culture centre after being abandoned for 20 years. Due to its distinguished design and construction qualities, the restoration project won Le Grand Prix AFEX (the Association of French Architects Overseas) presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021.
Architecture Encounters (Les Rencontres Architecturales Africaines) will take place from November 28th to November 30th, 2024. For more information, please visit Palais de Lomé.
