Sustainable Architecture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Edited by Caroline Geffriaud and Philipp Meuser

This title is expected to become available in March 2027. 

Pre-order now!

Sub-Saharan Africa is among the world’s most rapidly urbanising regions, yet much of what is built there continues to be shaped by imported models and external narratives. This bilingual volume – in English and French – offers a different vantage point: a polyphonic conversation among architects, researchers and practitioners who together rethink what sustainable construction can mean when grounded in local materials, climates and knowledge systems.

 The book emerged from Learning from green African building, an initiative developed by the Goethe-Institut Senegal in the wake of its commission to Diébédo Francis Kéré for a new cultural centre in Dakar. Across seven thematic chapters, the contributions foreground situated processes rather than exemplary objects, tracing a critical lineage from postcolonial pioneers such as Hassan Fathy and Demas Nwoko to contemporary voices including Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou, Christian Benimana, Mamadou Dia, Tosin Oshinowo and Huda Tayob.

Sustainability, used here, is a question of decolonised resource access, imaginaries, and constructive sovereignty. Building Diversity aims to contribute to a counter-discourse on African architecture – written, for the most part, by Africans.

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Published as volume 199 in the Basics series.

210 × 230 mm
384 pages
340 images
Softcover

Bilingual edition (English/French)