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African Architecture : Buildings

New Architectural Designs + Developments

post updated 19 March 2022

African Buildings

African Architecture Links – latest building updates

African Architecture News

We’ve selected what we feel are the key examples of African Architecture. Buildings are mostly located on the Mediterranean coast or in South Africa. We aim to include the most interesting African buildings. We cover completed African buildings and new building designs. We also post architecture competitions across Africa.

African Architecture : news + major projects (this page)

African Buildings : A-D

African Architecture Developments : E-I

African Building Developments : J-M

African Building Designs : N-Z

African Buildings by country

Algerian Buildings

Egyptian Buildings

Libyan Buildings

South African Architecture

Latest African Building Designs + News

Key African Building Designs, chronological:

Eritrea World Heritage Site

On July 8 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage Center announced that “Asmara: a Modernist City of Africa,” would become Eritrea’s very first site on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, under selection criterion ii and iv.

Asmara was once an Italian colony—from the late 1880s through World War II. As a result, Italian architects like Giuseppe Pettazzi built Modernist and Art Deco buildings in the Eritrean capital, such as the Fiat Tagliero and the Cinema Impero buildings.

Today, the city remains a well-preserved example of Italian colonial and Modernist architecture. UNESCO say the designated area includes part of the city that underwent extensive planning between 1893 and 1941, as well as the neighborhoods of Arbate Asmara and Abbashawel.

The World Heritage Committee meets once per year in one of UNESCO’s State Parties. This year the committee inscribed 21 new sites on the World Heritage List, increasing the total number of World Heritage Sites to 1,073.

A recent Lagos Building on e-architect:

19 May 2014
Ramzi Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Design: SPARK Architects
Ramzi Towers, Victoria Island, African Architecture
picture from architects
Lagos Tower Building
The landmark scheme, designed from SPARK’s London studio, is SPARK’s first significant project in Africa and is scheduled to win planning in June 2014, with Construction beginning this summer.

22 Aug 2013
Melkbos, Cape Town, South Africa
Design: SAOTA
Melkbos Residence Cape Town - African Architecture
photo : SAOTA
The form and siting of the house is strongly orientated around views. On entering the house, the focus turns completely to the sea facing side of the home, which opens up and embraces the landscape of the West Coast.

17 May 2013
Salam Cardiac Surgery Centre, Khartoum, Sudan – new images / information
Design: Studio Tamassociati
Salam Cardiac Surgery Centre Sudan - African Architecture
photo : Marcello Bonfanti
Salam Cardiac Surgery Centre
The Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery consists of a hospital with 63 beds and 300 local staff, with a separate Medical Staff Accommodation Compound sleeping 150 people. The centre is built as a pavilion in a garden with both primary buildings organised around large courtyards.

3 May 2013
Revival Sunset Chapel, Libreville, Gabon
Design: FATmaison
Revival Chapel in Libreville Gabon Africa building
image from architect
Chapel Building in Gabon
Revival Sunset Chapel is a public church built in a forest in the center of the capital of Gabon, Libreville. In an extremely controversial state of central Africa the primary need is to find a reference symbol that unifies the moral area and the civil area.

29 Apr 2013
Japanese Cultural Center, Kinshasa City, D.R. Congo
Design: Beijing Matsubara and Architects
Japanese Cultural Center in Africa
photo : Tokyo Matsubara and Architects
Japanese Cultural Center in Africa
This building has built by “grass-root grant aid fund” of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) in area of Gombe Institute of Pedagogique, the center part of Kinshasa city, D.R. Congo.

5 Apr 2013
Head Road 1815, Cape Town, South Africa
Design: SAOTA Architects
New House in South Africa
photo : SAOTA
New House in Africa
The house includes three storeys accommodating three en-suite guest suites on the ground floor, with a plant area and a staff flatlet at the rear. The first floor is the main living level, with a large living room and dining room opening to a covered and uncovered pool terrace.

12 Mar 2013
House in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa
Design: Nico van der Meulen Architects
Serengeti House South African Architecture
photo from architect
House in Bryanston
Situated on a 4,000 sqm stand in Eccleston Rd, Bryanston this is a new 1,400 sqm residence designed by Nico & Werner van der Meulen of Nico van der Meulen Architects cc. Interior design was done by M Square Lifestyle Design, and the furniture, interior decoration and feature lights were by M Square Lifestyle Necessities.

27 Feb 2013
United Bank of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, north east Africa
Design: Söhne und Partner Architekten with BET architects
United Bank of Addis Ababa Building - African Architecture
image from architect
United Bank of Addis Ababa
United bank represented in units coming together in to a single entity in a seamless fashion. These units are the shares that make up the bank. Shares are the people that came together to make this bank a reality.

25 Feb 2013
Jabi Lake, Abuja, Nigeria
Design: Studio Seilern Architects
Jaba Lake Nigeria
image from architects
Jabi Lake Nigeria
A double frontage concept: There are two distinct frontages: the road-front and the water-front. Each influences the form making of the buildings. The placement and scale of the buildings will create the identity of each and how it relates to the wider context.

28 Jan 2013
British Council Building, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Architects: The Manser Practice
British Council Tanzania - Africa Architecture
images from architect
British Council Building Dar Es Salaam

12 Oct 2012
C Spot, Angola, south west Africa
Design: Segmento Urbano Arquitectos
C Spot
image from architects
C Spot Africa
This project comes as a reflex of a sustainable mission where the developer contributes to reduce levels of illiteracy by awarding the communities where they build roads, and viaducts, and bridges with a Spot, which is more than a school, but actually a space that foments social elevations through education.

14 Aug 2012
Clifton House, Cape Town, South Africa
Design: SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects
African Architecture
photo : SAOTA & Adam Letch
Clifton House
The clients, a British couple living in Cape Town, requested a six-bedroom, seven-level home that makes the most of the site, the views and the mountain. The lower levels of the existing structure were totally remodelled while the upper level was demolished to allow for two new levels.

19 Jun 2012
Addis Ababa Stadium, Ethiopia
Design: LAVA with JDAW
Addis Ababa Stadium Building
picture from architect
African Stadium Building
New national stadium building will have a new FIFA and Olympic-standard 60,000 seat stadium in Addis Ababa thanks to a competition winning design combining local identity with new technology. LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) and Designsport collaborated with local Ethiopian firm JDAW to win the international architecture competition for a national stadium and sports village.

14 May 2012
Clockwork Embassy, Yaoundé, Cameroon, west Africa
Matteo Cainer Architects
Clockwork Embassy Building
image from architects
Clockwork Embassy Cameroon
The design of the new Swiss Embassy in Yaoundé pays tribute to its renewed presence in the Cameroon and a respect for the uniqueness of the site. The resulting proposal is an elegant ensemble that encapsulates the identity and self-image of the Swiss people and their values.

23 Mar 2012
Dakar Sow House, Senegal, western Africa
SAOTA Architects and Antoni Associates
Dakar House
photo from architects
Dakar Sow House
Situated on a cliffside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Villa Sow in Dakar, Senegal was completed in 2011, with SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects, the Architects and ANTONI ASSOCIATES doing the Interior Decor. The house was designed for a Senegalese businessman and his family.

South Africa Football Stadiums – World Cup 2010

African House Competition, Luanda Angola : Lisbon Architecture Triennale
African House Competition
image from architects office

Architecture in Africa

Major African Buildings, alphabetical:

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Snohetta Architecture
Alexandria Library Building
photo from Snøhetta Architects
Alexandria Library Building

British Council Building, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
British Council in-house architects
British Council Building Ethiopia
photo © James Brittain
British Council Building Addis Ababa

Calabar International Center, Nigeria
Henning Larsen Architects
Calabar Conference Center
image : Henning Larsen Architects
Calabar International Center

Cove 3, Western Cape, South Africa
SAOTA Architects
Knysna Property - African Architecture
photo : Micky Hoyle COURTESY OF VISI
Cove 3 House

Cove 6, Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa
SAOTA Architects
Knysna Building - African Architecture
photo from architects
Cove 6 House

The Freedom Park, nr Pretoria, South Africa
various Architects
Freedom Park South African Architecture
photograph from architect
Freedom Park, Salvokop

More African architecture projects online soon

Architectural Designs

Botswana Design Competition : Science and Technology Park – Innovation Hub
Botswana Innovation Hub African Architecture
photo from organisers

Soccer City Stadium, South Africa
BUE & Partners with Populous
Soccer City South Africa
image : Boogertman Urban Edge & Ptrs / Populous
Soccer City Stadium Building

African Office Buildings

Grand Egyptian Museum Cairo : Entry

Buildings / photos for the African Architecture page welcome