Join Martino Stierli, co-curator of “Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa,” for a rare on-location look at modernist buildings across six West African countries — Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria.
In the decades after independence, countries across West Africa turned to modernist design as a symbol of progress, self-determination, and Pan-African ambition. This video tours some of the era’s most striking buildings, including:
Bessengué Train Station (Douala, Cameroon) — a 1978 landmark by Émilien Douala Bell and Jacques Nsangue Akwaa, famous for its undulating roof and multicolored aluminum facade
La Pyramide (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire) — Rinaldo Olivieri and Riccardo Morandi’s futuristic 1970s high-rise
Hôtel de la Paix (Lomé, Togo) — Daniel Chenut’s colorful, expressive building in exposed concrete
Scott House (Accra, Ghana) — Kenneth Scott’s climate-adaptive modernist family home
CICES (Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal) (Dakar, Senegal) — a triangular-motif complex designed for global visibility
Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire) — Henry Pottier’s sprawling university campus
Obafemi Awolowo University / University of Ife (Nigeria) — Bauhaus-trained architect Arieh Sharon’s climate-conscious campus blending modernism with Yoruba design traditions
These structures remain vital records of a defining moment in African history — some still in use, others abandoned and facing an uncertain future.
This videos and more works from this ambitious period are featured in the exhibition “Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa” at MoMA.
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The comments and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speaker alone, and do not represent the views of The Museum of Modern Art, its personnel, or any artist.
