Projects for Africa

Africa is now waking up to an international architecture. If South Africa is attracting attention because of the football World Cup and shows its new stadiums which are equal to those of western countries, Maghreb and black Africa have some remarkable and noted structures. Two projects in progress bear the signature of French architects.

Conference centre, Ouagadougou
The winner of an international competition last July, the agency Codelfy & Associates, will be constructing a Conference Centre made up of three buildings with a cupola form at a strategic crossroads in the capital of Burkina Faso. The structure will be in the centre of a town park created around the water and calabash, a herbaceous plant which inspired its profile. According to the designers, its mission was to be an international shop window of quality and will offer the inhabitants and visitors to the city a place for relaxation. The complex will exploit its natural elements, the relationship of time and traditional landmarks. The organic spirit of the architecture accentuates this spirit of harmony. The buildings in architectural concrete have curved surfaces in their 17,800 m2 surface area. A large dome with a textile membrane will be able to cool the actual conference hall. This very ambitious project should see the light of day in two years’ time.

CasaArt, Casablanca
In 2015, Casablanca will be able to claim that it has the largest theatre in Africa and in the Arab world. The author is the French architect Christian de Portzampare (born in this town of Morocco in 1944) in association with the Moroccan architect Rachid Andaloussi. The complex extends over a surface area of nearly 25,000 m2, and will include a large multi function performance hall of 1800 places, a theatre of 600 places, stores, meeting places, a library, an exhibition hall and art galleries. It is a veritable cultural village which can bring the town centre to life. The project’s appearance and functionality were very impressive during the international competition. Its “elegant fragmentary architecture” integrates with the environment and respects the city’s strong identity. Christian Portzamparc is one of the most important designers of auditoriums in the world. “I like to design architectural forms for music, for listening and watching, two fields of perception dialogue and answer freely. Space grants us a space, he affirms. Based on an alternation of levels, the new theatre takes root in the joy of a meeting and cooperation with the Moroccan architect.