Kunlé Adeyemi presents his work as part of “Making Africa” at Vitra Design Museum in Germany

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    Project update April 2015 – Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding

    The cantilevered structure liberates scarce land to create a shaded landscaped area and public space for the community.

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    Project update April 2015 – Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding

    Chicoco Radio is part of NLÉ’s African Water Cities project, which investigates the challenges and opportunities at the intersections of rapid urbanization and climate change in African coastal cities and waterfront communities.

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    Project update April 2015 – Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding

    The simple yet innovative structure adheres to standards of sustainable development. It is designed to use renewable solar energy, to manage organic waste, and to harvest rainwater.

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    Project update April 2015 – Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding

    A participatory venture using locally produced materials, Chicoco Radio is a voice for the community and will include recording studios, a computer center, meeting rooms, cinema, and an amphitheater.

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    The exhibition “Making Africa” continues at Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany until September 13, 2015 and illustrates how design accompanies and fuels economic and political change.

Main author of the “Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding” project in Port Harcourt, Nigeria will present his recent work including the Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize-winning project at the Vitra Design Museum, Germany on April 2, 2015. The presentation is part of a series of talks with African artists, designers, and film makers as part of the “Making Africa – A Continent of Contemporary Design” exhibition. 

Last updated: April 01, 2015 Weil am Rhein, Germany

Main author of the “Chicoco Radio: Community building designed for urban flooding” project in Port Harcourt, Nigeria will present his recent work including the Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize-winning project at the Vitra Design Museum, Germany on April 2, 2015. The presentation is part of a series of talks with African artists, designers, and film makers as part of the “Making Africa – A Continent of Contemporary Design” exhibition. 

The talk (free entry) in English will be held on Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 18:00hrs at the Vitra Design Museum (Charles-Eames-Strasse 2, Weil am Rhein, Germany). Kunlé Adeyemi will present selected projects including the African Water Cities Project, which focuses on the development of Africa’s coastal regions in view of climate change and increasing urbanization. One of the most well-known projects is the much-publicised Makoko Floating School, a floating schoolhouse and community centre on Lagos Lagoon, as well as Chicoco Radio in Port Harcourt, which is currently under construction and earned him a Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize for Africa Middle East in 2014.

Kunlé Adeyemi is 2014 Baird Distinguished Visiting Critic of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA, teaching and researching “Water and the City”. Previously he was the 2011 Callison Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA, teaching and researching “The Modern City in the Age of Globalization”. His main area of academic interest is in developing cities of the global south. He has pursued and developed this issue via a number of research papers and study opportunities. His hypothesis “Urban Crawl” published in the Log Journal, is a critical exposé on architecture and urbanism in emerging megacities of the global south, which also unravels the complex urban conditions and operative mechanisms of such cities.

The exhibition “Making Africa” continues until September 13, 2015 and illustrates how design accompanies and fuels economic and political change. Africa is presented as a hub of experimentation generating new approaches and solutions of worldwide relevance – and as a driving force for a new discussion of the potential of design in the twenty-first century.