Africa’s most honest architecture is increasingly coming from its women.
Nzinga B. Mboup grew up between Mozambique, Cameroon, South Africa and Senegal. She saw what colonial urbanism did to African cities. Then she decided to build differently.
Her practice Worofila works with compressed earth bricks, typha plant fiber, and self-supporting earthen vaults, materials that have kept people cool in West Africa for centuries. In Dakar, where concrete dominates because it’s cheap and politically convenient, that is a radical act.
She puts it plainly: “Why did we ever stop building with earth?”
Nobody has a good answer.
Nzinga B. Mboup | Worofila | Dakar, Senegal 🇸🇳
This is a fantastic resource on straw and biomaterial building
With construction details, deconstruction steps, fire and thermal performance, and much more.
By the Royal Danish Academy https://t.co/BF2x74IX5z
Cheikh N’gom, the first Senegalese architect to start a firm, designed projects throughout Dakar which helped define its architectural language. His notable works include the Grand Medina (1982), the Immeuble Faycal (1984), and the UCAD Faculty of Law & Political Science.
To mark International Women's Day, @dezeen asked current and former Dezeen Awards judges (including @mariamkamr) to nominate a woman in architecture and design who should have greater recognition.
https://t.co/G9P7DhO2Xe
READ: Conversation between Senegalese architects Carole Diop @CaroleDiop & Nzinga Mboup @nzingabm - On the Importance of Defining and Conserving Urban and Architectural Heritage in Dakar 🏫 https://t.co/GbXIRJsQvs Commissioned in collaboration with RAW Material Company