The Pan-African Biennale 2026, whose inaugural edition will take place in Nairobi from 7 to 11 September, proposes a radical reconsideration of Africa’s position within international architectural discourse. Under the curatorial framework “Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience”, the Biennale challenges narratives that have historically interpreted the continent through colonial parameters or imported models of development, asserting instead Africa’s capacity to generate its own spatial knowledge, material innovation and urban futures. Fragility is therefore reframed not merely as vulnerability, but as a condition from which strategies of adaptation, memory and transformation can emerge. Displacement, extractive economies, environmental instability and colonial legacies become starting points for new architectural imaginaries grounded in vernacular intelligence, climate-responsive construction, community practices and indigenous knowledge. Nairobi plays a particularly significant role within this framework: rather than functioning simply as an exhibition backdrop, the city becomes an active curatorial site, embodying tensions between informality and regulation, colonial inheritance and local appropriation. The continental selection expands this proposition through practices such as Hive Earth in Ghana, Association La Voûte Nubienne in Burkina Faso, MASS Design Group in Rwanda, Cave Bureau in Kenya and Studio Ola Hassanain in Sudan. Together, these participants articulate diverse responses to territory, materiality, community and memory. Ultimately, the Biennale argues that decolonising architecture means reclaiming authorship, transforming the criteria through which space is produced and evaluated, and recognising Africa not as a peripheral recipient of global models but as a crucial laboratory for imagining sustainable architectural futures. Pan-African Biennale 2026, Curatorial Statement, Participants, Publication Reference: Pan-African Biennale (2026) Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience. Available at: https://www.panafricanbiennale.org/curatorial-statement (Accessed: 10 August 2026).
Participants Djamel Klouche, Banga Coletivo, Larry Tchogninou, Olufemi Hinson Yovo, Armel Sagbohan, Moralo Designs, Association La Voûte Nubienne, Remesha Design Lab, Ramos Castellano Arquitectos, Barla Barla Architectes, Archi Infini & Partenaires, Afrostudio, Nadia Moussa, Basabose Studio, Waiss Associates, Megawra–BEC, Lauge / Laboratorio de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Guinea Ecuatorial, Eritrea Collective Team, Lebala, Raas Architects, Maissa Architectures, Studio Ndaanan, Hassoum Ceesay, Hive Earth, Aboubacar Sidiki Komara, Amadou Camara, Marinho Pina, Moyésoa, Mokhethi Gerard Rampeta, Nu Goteh, Pulse Design Group, Joan Razafimaharo, Liminal Design, Aboubakar Fofana, Cheikhani Nahwi, Jugaad, Belyas.Co, Una Stuurman Architects, NANA Collective Studio, MASS Design Group, Worofila, Add.Locus Architects, Daar Studio, Lemon Pebble, South Sudan Collective (SSC), Studio Ola Hassanain, EdwIne Neto, Arafa Cynthia Hamadi, Studio Neida, Bled El Abar, Design Without Borders, Lucid Concept, Craig Muyambo.
