The inaugural Africa Architecture Awards announced 21 shortlisted projects out of an unprecedented 307 entered projects situated in 32 African countries at a function held at the Workhorse Foundry in Johannesburg.  The occasion was used to launch the Africa Architecture Awards Trophy and guests were invited to view the hot molten pour of the 4 ‘ Best of Category’ trophies that will be awarded on the 28th of September 2017 at the Gala Awards ceremony at the recently opened Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.

Although still in its infancy, this ambitious awards programme has already become one of the most successful architecture awards programmes on the continent – and it hasn’t yet announced its winners. It is also the only one of its kind due to its pan-African scope; it being the first to invite entries from across Africa, for any project that pertains to Africa, regardless of where the architectural firm is located.

“The Africa Architecture Awards,” explains Evan Lockhart-Barker, the Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Retail , “have been established to highlight the continent’s innovative and collaborative style of solving problems – architectural or otherwise. Saint-Gobain has engaged with some of the best minds in the field to establish this programme, so that the awards are relevant, contextual and progressive. We are more than thrilled to see the response that the awards have received to date.”

The shortlist of 21 projects, now stand in line for a trophy in either the Built, Speculative, Emerging Voices or Critical Dialogue category; or, the overall Grand Prix award of USD$10 000. There were 139 entries in the Built category, 91 entries in the Speculative category, 44 entries in the Emerging Voices category and 34 entries in the Critical Dialogue category.

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 21 shortlisted projects are as follows:

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, South Africa – 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 + 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, Democratic Republic of the Congo – 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, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg

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, South Africa & Waza Arts Centre, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Cave Manifesto – by Cave Architects, Kenya