098 BENIN


Meeting in Davos. Te projects of his firm, now based in Berlin, range from the Cultural Oasis Agricultural Institute in Saudi Arabia, to the joint UNESCO-Interpol innovative project to create the first virtual museum of stolen cultural artefacts, to the Serpentine Pavilion in 2017, and the future Las Vegas Museum of Art, to be built in the city’s growing cultural district Symphony Park. Known for his resource-light community buildings – on social initiatives for marginalised communities using local vernacular forms re-contextualised within contemporary design – the firm has designed a number of remarkable schools and colleges, housing projects and health buildings. A multi-use civic centre at the heart of the Technical University of Munich’s Garching research campus is in design, along with a


Benin’s participation in the Venice Biennale in 2024 marked a crucial step in an ambitious government programme that’s been underway since 2016


proposal for a new National Assembly building in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. But it is the Benin National Assembly that will probably create the greatest buzz when it is completed. Innovative buildings are often,


unsurprisingly, small, functionally undemanding pavilions or pavilion-like structures, and the history of architectural styles is often best illustrated from their small beginnings. The Serpentine pavilion signalled the way for the National Assembly building in Benin. Taking inspiration from the palaver tree – the age-old African tradition of meeting under a tree to make consensual decisions in the interests of the community, a timeless symbol, having borne witness to previous generations and inspiring respect for the majestic forces of nature – this was


Right Work from Moufouli Bello was among the art on show at the Benin Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2024


Far right Romuald Hazoumè used black plastic jerry cans to fashion a ceremonial hut


ALL IMAGES: JACOPO LA FORGIA


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