On March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan nation to gain its independence from colonialist rule, igniting a sweep of liberation in the region. Colonial control was no longer viable for former European powerhouses consumed by post-war debt, and decolonization was shakily negotiated. Between 1957 and 1966, 32 African countries gained their independence from European oppression and began to look toward the future.
Independence and modernism went hand in hand: new populist leaders channeled aspirational modernity into national identity. In Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Zambia, experimental architecture served as a means to express departure from the colonial era. Utopia was at the forefront of thought: State, industry, and banks envisioned a modernist workplace replete with hives of workers’ housing; resorts were built with outdoor lagoons, bars and restaurants; public spaces marked by expansive landscaped outdoor areas.
The process of decolonialization is, of course, long and complicated. Newly liberated African countries had a vision for the future but often lacked the means to complete it, and therefore had little choice but to hire Europeans to do the job.
In 1967, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, hired Norwegian architect Karl Henrik Nøstvik to build the Kenyan African National Union. Nøstvik was an appealing choice, coming from a neutral country with no colonialist blood on its hands. Also hired was Kenyan architect David Mutiso, a recent graduate of the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture.
As the project unfolded, it became clear that Kenyatta envisioned a landmark symbol rather than a party headquarters. Furthermore, during the design process, it was decided that Nairobi was to host the World Bank’s annual meeting in 1973, greatly changing the scope of the project. It had now become the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC), a 32-story tower adorned with a motorized revolving restaurant, a lotus-shaped amphitheater, and large landscaped outdoor plazas featuring a sculpture of Kenyatta (by British sculptor James Butler) atop a very large stone plinth.
The KICC is an iconic modern African building that celebrates the freedom and optimism of a country that shrugged off its foreign oppressors and boldly looked outward. Its use of exposed concrete, visible construction, and monumental scale, places it firmly in the Brutalist tradition, yet its local motifs (geometric cuboids, the conical rooftops of traditional Kenyan huts, terracotta facade, and indigenous timber interiors) point to it being an important early example of African Brutalism.
In 1971, the Senegalese government launched an international competition to build an exhibition center in the capital city of Dakar. Like his Kenyan counterpart, newly elected poet/president Leopold Sédar Senghor wanted to forge a new cultural identity for Senegal, which for him, a proponent of African culture and Black identity, was one that called for a vernacular architecture with an emphasis on “repetition of rhythm in time and space”. If this sounds far out, it is.
The Foire Internationale de Dakar (FIDAK), built by French architects Jean Francois Lemourex and Jean-Louis Marin, was inspired by the idea of forms that would rise out the ground. All of the pavilions are built around a central square. These forms create a succession of partially open and fully enclosed structures with dramatic floor to ceiling screens, complementing the external corrugated roofs and light-dappled paths between buildings. The passage spaces have been artificially raised above the ground level, using a succession of ramps and terrain differences that offer exciting perspectives. The pavilion buildings themselves are constructed to resemble the traditional nomadic tents common to the region. The rough textures, decorative patterns, and warm colors of the facades are inspired by West African traditions.
Designed by Italian architect Rinaldo Olivieri in collaboration with Ivorian architect Raymond Aka Adjo, the Pyramid of Abidjan was completed in 1973 in Plateau, Abidjan’s commercial and administrative district. Commissioned by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast’s first post-independence president, “La Pyramide” was one of several eye-catching new projects that were built between 1960-1980, during a period of financial boom known as the economic miracle of Africa. During this time, much of the colonial architecture was removed and replaced with new buildings intended to showcase the then capital as a modernist symbol of African progress. Unfortunately, this luxury building was a practical failure. Intended to emulate an African market, with expensive boutiques replacing street vendors, and a high rise containing opulent apartments for wealthy Ivorians and expats, the upkeep proved prohibitively expensive and the building slowly fell into disrepair. La Pyramide, in other words, was badly adapted to the tropical climate.
While the KICC, FIDAK, and Pyramid are excellent examples of flamboyant new directions taken by young nations freeing themselves from harsh foreign rule, it is easy to contest the genuineness of selecting European architects to generate new national identities for African nations. After all, placing Europe at the center of African stories sounds a lot like the very colonialist histories it seeks to elucidate.
When Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, burst onto the political scene in 1957, he brought with him a new Pan-African ideology, reasoning that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless linked to the liberation of all Africa. He commissioned Eastern European architects to work with emerging young Ghanaian architects to design monuments meant to inspire Africans, made Ghanaian architects required partners on all construction projects, and established a training program that linked the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi with the Department of Tropical Architecture at the Architectural Association in London. As a result, Ghana became a hot bed of experimentation, attracting fresh new talent from Africa and beyond.
As evidenced by projects like La Pyramide, Modernism did not necessarily fare well in tropical Africa. For one thing, the glass and steel high-rises popular in temperate Europe performed poorly in the sub-Saharan sun. Brutalist concepts, however, performed very well. Designs had to be adapted to withstand heavier rainfall and warmer temperatures, and thus, tropical modernism was born. Greats like John Owusu Addo, Samuel Omari Larbi, Daniel Sydney Kpodo-Tay, and Alero Olympio began to leave their marks on the new African landscape.
Kpodo-Tay’s Museum of Science and Technology in Accra employs brutalist construction tropes alongside traditional, passive cooling techniques such as vertical window shades and elevated walkways. Addo took Ghanaian societies into account, with shaded outdoor space, courtyards, and verandas, and combined them with the scale of Brutalism to create the Unity Hall at KNUST (Africa’s largest twin tower hall). Addo and Larbi’s Cedi House, current home of the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Bank of Ghana, features elements of tropical modernism: solar shading devices, rhythmic facades, breeze blocks, cross ventilation, and east-west orientation. The juxtaposition of brutalist and vernacular elements created a distinctive new architectural language.
The next generation of West African architects developed this language even further. Alero Olympio’s work, for example, extended well beyond the construction of physical buildings, into activism and the decolonization of African architectural identity. Olympio rejected industrialized products in favor of present materiality like African hardwood and polished stone. When building the Kokrobitey Institute, she taught local builders brick making techniques using the region’s abundant laterite clay. She championed the protection of West African timber and forest ecosystems, and rigorously dedicated herself to social and environmental sustainability. As such, her buildings not only confirmed the value of vernacular building solutions, but created desire for them among the emerging middle class.
Brutalism (and Modernism in general) was absorbed well in sub-Saharan Africa. Modernism does not take anything into consideration. Modernism is anti-local. Its search for universal solutions disregards any regional distinctiveness. Pitting it against African climate, tradition, and attitude, made for a unique experiment in architecture. Self-assertive African states responding to the challenges of modernity were able to funnel it into new national identities and make a form that fit into Africa rather than control it.
