From Rotterdam To Dutch Accra

Join us at ArchiAfrika’s exhibition opening on February 26, 2020 at 6:30pm the Golden Tulip Hotel. The exhibition reception will include a panel discussion on the role of internships in architecture education. The exhibition runs for one month.

In architecture, all the rigorous of academic studies are just the first baby steps in the training process. Work experience during or just after school is pivotal in shaping the young architect’s philosophy and career path.

Our exhibition honors 2 great architects who have influenced ArchiAfrika’s Internship Program in Ghana over the years: Nanne Le Rou and Amaechi Ndili. Nanne has employed many ArchiAfrika interns since 2015 at his office in Rotterdam. Amaechi has hosted ArchiAfrika at the Golden Tulip Hotel since our inception.

Collaborations that inspired a Movement and Exhibition

ArchiAfrika Accra, is a relatively small Organisation with a big Global foot print. It consists of a loose association of Architects, Academicsand Creativesw who champion the role of Design and Architecture as ani portent tool in Africa’s Development.Archiafrika is chaired by Ghanaian Architect – provocateur, Joe Osae- Addo, who moved HQ to historic Dutch Accra in……‘after their seminal Conference’ Accra re- visited, theECOWAS Chronicles, in 2015. This Event brought together relevant Architect Vouces from West Africa and the Netherlandsto investigate how historic sections of Cities like Old Accra, could be a catalyst for urban redevelopment, that eschews classic gentrification, to a more integrate, community driven approach.

For Joe Osae- Addo and his cohorts like the late Nat Nunoo Amartefio, Archiafrika needed to be in old Accraand put into practice , ideas developed at theSccra Revisited Conference. Joe Addo, was a visiting tutor at the Berlage Institute, TUDElft headed by Nanne du Ru. The Archiafrika venue in Accra, became the urban studios for Joe’s Berlage Students, who studied old Accra in detail. Being based in Accra’s oldest and marginalized neighborhood, refocused Archiafrika’s mandate to tap into local resources to start a Creative hub where locals and outsiders can commune for mutual benefit. Thus begun a series of collaborations between ArchiAfrikaand different International groups. The most endearing was the Archiafrika internship program, where African students, studying in Ghanawould intern with Archiafrika, and the in Rotterdam at Powerhouse Architects.

Archiafrika galleries has hosted many exhibitions over the years but the PowerHouse exhibition opening 26th February for a month, is the most ambitious yet and will also celebrate a design collaboration between Powerhouse and Joe Addoin the creation of a new building, slated to become a Hotel for one the  key Archiafrika creative partners in its early years in Accra.This building is significant on many levels as it would be the first of its kind since the historic Sea View Hotel in Jamestown was demolished a few years ago. The sea view hotel, was the first Hotel built in colonial Accra, and is steeped in tradition. This new building is a nod to historical Accra as a tourist destination.