Date: Thursday, 28th May, 2026  |  Time: 4:00 PM Prompt   |   Venue: Great Hall, KNUST

Abstract of the Lecture

What does it mean to build “African” in a world that has already decided what modernity should look like?

For decades, African architecture has operated within frameworks largely defined elsewhere, i.e., importing materials, standards, aesthetics, and even aspirations. Yet, as African cities expand at unprecedented rates, the urgency to interrogate these inherited paradigms has never been greater. Must African architecture continue to emulate global models, or is this the moment to fundamentally challenge and re-script them?

This lecture confronts the uncomfortable realities behind the rhetoric of “building local.” While the call to return to indigenous materials and knowledge systems is compelling, the constraints are undeniable: fragmented research ecosystems, limited material testing infrastructure, and the absence of scalable industrial pathways. Can Africa genuinely construct its future from within, or will its architecture remain a negotiated product of dependency and adaptation?

Equally pressing is the question of identity. The search for a singular “Ghanaian” or “African” architectural language risks oversimplification in a continent defined by multiplicity. Identity, in this context, is not fixed; it is contested, layered, and continually reconstructed. Who, then, has the authority to define it? And how do global perceptions continue to frame, and at times distort, the value and visibility of African design?

Drawing on critical practice and global engagement, this keynote challenges architects, students, and thinkers to reject passive alignment with dominant narratives. Instead, it calls for an assertive reimagining of African architectural futures; one that embraces complexity, leverages cultural intelligence, and transforms constraint into innovation.

This is not a call for nostalgia, nor a retreat into romanticised notions of tradition. It is a demand for agency. A demand to produce architecture that does not seek validation from elsewhere, but instead projects its own intellectual, cultural, and material authority onto the global stage.

The future of African architecture will not be discovered; it will be deliberately authored.

Profile of Sir David Adjaye

David Adjaye is a Ghanaian-British architect who has received international acclaim for his impact on the field of Architecture. In 2000 he founded Adjaye Associates, which today operates globally with studios in Accra, London, and New York. Adjaye’s most well-known project to date is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by The New York Times. In 2017, Adjaye was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was included in TIME’S 100 Most Influential People List. Adjaye is also a recipient of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, considered one of the highest honours in British architecture for significant contributions to the field internationally. In 2022, Adjaye was appointed to the Order of Merit, selected by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of distinguished service in his field. He is also the recipient of the World Economic Forum’s 27th Annual Crystal Award, which recognises his leadership in serving communities, cities and the environment.