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Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Pancho Guedes, A “Legend of African Modernism Architecture, Dies at 90

Pancho Guedes, one of the pioneering architects of lusophone African architecture has just passed away at age 90. Pancho died Friday at the age of 90. Famous for his artistic look at architecture and a keen eye for spatial acquity, Pancho is famously known for his buildings such as the Smiling Lion, the Saipal Bakery, and a a host buildings across Mozambique. His work perhaps tied the modern er...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Joe Osae-Addo on Competition and the Call to Young African Architects

This week ArchiDATUM dates the enigmatic Joe Osae-Addo, a renowned architect from Ghana and founder of the ArchiAfrika platform with a strong character which lives in his belief system as is seen in his highly acclaimed residence, Inno-native house. His words rally for zest in young upcoming African architects, with whom he has a special connection to as mentor and friend. After day long lectur...

Abdel Wahed El-Wakil / The Benefits of Traditional Construction in Contemporary Architecture

One of the foremost students of Hassan Fathy, Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil is an Egyptian architect, who is the recipient of two Aga Khan Awards for Architecture as well as the prestigious 2009 Driehaus Prize. He is considered the foremost practitioner of masonry construction in Islamic architecture today. His commitment to the traditions of construction as an integral component of contemporary archite...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Paragon's Henning Rasmuss on Pouring Concrete in Africa

This week archiDATUM Dates Henning Rasmuss, a highly gregarious South African architect at the helm of Paragon Group. Henning tells us what he thinks about sustainable design and what the modern architect has come to stand for, the role of an architect should be in society, what it’s like pouring concrete in Africa and his long standing love with the pen and paper, not to leave out his strongly...

ArchiDATUM Dates: SAOTA's Greg Truen On Modern Day Silky Contemporary High End Designs

This week, we interview Greg Truen, a Director at SAOTA who has worked extensively through West African and increasingly into East Africa. With a proclivity for ‘ingenious innovations’ and modern day silky contemporary high end designs that resonate well with the architectural landscape, he talks to us about the pursuit of happiness in an architectural atmosphere, the love for design and the ev...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Joe Gitau on the Psychedelic Battle with Paint

Meet Joe Gitau Kamau, an artist and art collector who believes in art as a hobby, a business, and a community service. A man with hearty laughter and high spirits, his greatest contentment so far comes from the tremendous collection of Joe Ashley’s psychedelic paintings, 52 in total. He has collected art from other artists both from local and international artists and has sold over 112 major pa...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Michael Khately and a Propensity for the Lens

Michael Khately is a humble 29 year old man behind a Canon 50D lens. He says he has been photographing ever since he learnt how to hold his first Kodak Point and shoot and over the last 3years he has been involved in the photography of various buildings and interiors in Kenya both personally and as a photographer for Gina Din Corporate Communications. He is a self-made architectural photographe...

ArchiDATUM Dates: Amyas Cornell and his Rebellious Streak

Amyas Connell, the architect whose legacy to Kenya included designs for some of the country’s most important and beautiful buildings died on April 19 1980, in Washington Hospital, Highgate, London. He was 79, but was still actively involved in conceptual planning for many parts of the world at the time of his death.

ArchiDATUM Dates: Issa Diabaté on a Political Architecture and Social Orders of Architecture

At ArchiDATUM, we think that architects are the opinion shapers of the future world in which we will live in and here we bring you Issa Diabate, Principal Partner at Koffi and Diabate Architectes and his eye-catching gusto for the compulsive disorders in every architect, the role of African architects in our developing countries and civic environments of architecture. Here he speaks more about ...