The A3 – Archnet Collaborative for Documentation of Africa’s built heritage is elated to announce the first West < > Africa Architecture Biennale scheduled to hold from 20 February – 31 July, 2022.
West < > Africa Architecture Biennale is an international biennale organized by the A3-Archnet Collaborative to foster and grow an academic and professional community around the intellectual preservation of under researched, underexposed, and under-recognized architecture in Western Africa. The biennale serves as a forum to collect and share documentation of obscure and lesser-known modes and styles of architectural heritage as formal objects, in addition to studies of the cultural factors that contribute to their non-canonical attributes and status.
The West < >Africa Architecture Biennale will interrogate the criteria and processes that lead to the valorization of certain structures and architectural traditions over others. It also aims to collect documentation of architectural and urban planning projects in this regional hub. Programming may include round tables, lectures, conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, and other events. The biennale will also serve as the space to organize long term pedagogical workshops around how language, globalization, urbanization, environmental politics, material histories, construction methods, pedagogy, and architectural education affects what becomes in/visible, under/represented.