Blueprints of Paradise

Exhibition until the end of October 2011.

And here they are, 12 exciting projects, illustrating different aspects of Africa’s architectural future (in alphabetical order):

• African Agora as Generator, The,
• Building an Identity for Fiamah
• Case Ameliorée, La
• Catalyst – Environment for Change
• Daydream for Africa, A,
• Garden City Park
• Hairdresser’s Premises
• Indigenous Meets Contemporary
• Living Kiosk
• Re-designing the Temporal Spaces
• Sedar Hall of Residence
• Suburban Slipstream & Grow-a-Garage

The jury has selected twelve entries to be on display at the exhibition that will be held in 2011. Those twelve are listed in the report. Three projects have been awarded a prize, and a special mention has been given to two projects. The ranking of the prize winners will be announced at the opening of the exhibition in April 2011. Prize winners will receive personal notice and an invitation to the exhibition’s opening at the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal, Netherlands.

Read the jury report

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there. — Charles F. Ketterin

Joe Osae-Addo comments on Blueprints of Paradise

Spatial aspirations of Africa

Africa is planning for the future. Some projects, like the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, affect the entire world, others, like the works of Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, Doual’art, or the team of Takako Tajima and Aziza Chaouni, are locally focussed.

What would you put forward when it comes to presenting the aspirations of Africa?

Architects, artists and visionaries of African descent are invited to enter their ideas to the competition:

Blueprints of Paradise

Two Dutch organisations, the Afrika Museum (Berg en Dal) and African Architecture Matters (Utrecht) have set up a competition in which African Architects can demonstrate their ideas for future Africa. Too often, plans for Africa are made on Western drawing tables. These plans barely fit today’s reality. African cities, for example, are indisputably modern, but different from modern cities in the West. The same goes for the villages, transport hubs and all other parts of African society that often go unnoticed to ‘outsiders’.

Are you in for a challenge?

We invite African architects, artists and visionaries to send in presentations showing their planning ideas for future Africa. The jury will select 25 entries that will be shown in the main exhibition hall of the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal (the Netherlands) from April – October 2011. In case one or more of the entries are suitable for temporary installation in the outdoor museum, this will be considered.

Questions to consider are:

• What is the power of architecture in Africa?
• How can African spaces and buildings inspire the world?
• What specific qualities are important for the development of spaces in Africa (be it public, private or semi private?)
• How will African identity influence spaces and buildings in Africa and other parts of the world?
• What technology will influence African planning most? Is there a future for traditional techniques? Can tradition push innovation or will the planning of future Africa completely break with its traditional or colonial past?

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