Joe Osae-Addo
Principal, Constructs; Chairman, ArchiAfrika
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The Holcim Awards jury for region Africa Middle East met in Casablanca, Morocco in June 2011 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Javier de Benito, Hashim Sarkis (Head of Jury), Joe Osae-Addo, Abderrafih Lahbabi, Amer Moustafa, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Mphethi Morojele, Chrisna du Plessis and Holger Wallbaum.
Joe Osae-Addo, Principal of the architecture practice Constructs, with offices in Accra and Tamale, Ghana, and in Washington DC and Los Angeles, USA and was a member of the Holcim Awards jury for Middle East Africa in 2017.
Last updated: August 25, 2021 Accra, Ghana
The firm synergizes architecture, urban planning, landscaping, and building technology into a single unit geared towards bringing modern architecture and building techniques to create ‘inno-native’ design solutions to contemporary African architecture. ‘Inno-native’ is the condition where solutions are developed smartly and are indigenous.
The work and interest of the practice has been influenced by various investigations of ‘genus-loci’ and how architecture can/should respond to this in creating pieces that are both site specific and meet the needs of the people who will inhabit or interact with it. This has led to a more public intervention in South Los Angeles, where several projects are under construction aimed at establishing a discourse between what is important to communities and how site, climate, materials and their weathering, with design intent, should shape these interventions
Joe Osae-Addo studied architecture at the Architectural Association (AA) in London (1980-86). He has worked for architectural firms in Finland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
He is Chairman of ArchiAfrika, a platform that initiates and facilitates research and projects on the terrain of African architecture and architecture in Africa.
Joe Osae-Addo was a member of the Awards jury for Middle East Africa in 2008, 2011 and 2017.