Architect profile
of Portland, England. Though Adjaye’s
projects span the globe, he has
numerous projects in Africa, including
designing the Princes Town resort, in
Ghana. In 2012, he opened an office in
Ghana’s capital, Accra.
www.adjaye.com
Kunle Adeyemi
Kunle Adeyemi, the Nigerian-born
founder of NLE Architects, made
waves last year with the completion
of one of his designs: a floating, threestory A-frame school built in Makoko,
a slum on the waterfront of Lagos,
Nigeria.
Bobbing on top of about 250 empty
barrels, the school is designed to avoid
many of the problems associated with
frequently rising water levels. The
structure is also green: it makes use of
rainwater collection, and solar panels
provide the electricity.
Though the school accommodates a
mere 100 elementary school children,
it has potential to act as a model for
water-bound communities the world
over.
David Adjaye
Kunle Adeyemi
“It didn’t start as a big idea, I was
trying to solve a small problem
the community had. I realized the
problem I was trying to solve was
a problem for a larger part of the
world,” Adeymi told CNN last year.
“We’re now seeing people take
interest in this across Africa.”
www.kunleadeyemistudio.
com
Diebedo Francis Kere