Go West

From Senegal to Nigeria, and from Niger to the Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa is vast and brimming with potential. A powerful mix of peoples and cultures, and in some nations, exponential demographic and economic growth, makes this part of the world a locus of change. The result? A dynamic new generation of studios that operate in the architecture realm and push the boundaries of their field towards a promising future. Architects, spatial designers and builders converge here to create a unique, rich melting pot of fresh thinking and innovation that will no doubt reshape the way we think about architecture globally.

- By Ellie Stathaki

LIMBO ACCRA

More of a spatial design studio than an architecture firm, Limbo Accra is a practice that defies categorisation. Set up in Accra, Ghana, in 2018 by Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip, its name was inspired by the large number of uncompleted buildings scattered throughout the city. These structures await a future while fossilised with fragments of the past,' explain the founders. 'Since they were never completed, we can only ask: what is their purpose altogether then?"

While Petit-Frère and Grip are not registered architects (they have backgrounds in education and international relations), they work with designers and architects and have a strong spatial understanding of the world. Their output spans continents, all composed through collaborations with architects in Accra, Copenhagen, London, Abidjan, Bombay and beyond. 'We see our role as designers operating within the architectural industry, but more importantly as cultural entrepreneurs, working with artists, brands, venues and a wide range of clientele to design conceptually stimulating creations, say the pair, who describe their work as 'urban-acupunctural, anti-disciplinary, context specific and future-ready. They continue, 'Accra and West Africa have been the perfect laboratory for initiating projects that champion an innovative, affordable and sustainable vision of the future.

Their breakthrough project, 'Adjiringanor: Activation oor, was a 2018 exhibition centred on the narrative functions' of luxury homes and (sub)urban development in East Legon, Accra. It was followed by many more, from Virgil Abloh's Freedom Skatepark, which opened in 2021, to more recent commissions, such as a series of pavilion interventions in Sharjah and the Cayman Islands, and ongoing research to build a digital archive of scanned 'Limbo' structures across Africa.