Tropical Modernism Architecture, Venice International Architecture Biennale

Tropical Modernism Architecture The architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew are at the origin of modern tropical architecture, a concept they created in the late 1940s by applying a European and modernist aesthetic to the specific climatic conditions of the African continent.

To do this, in 1954, they created a department of tropical Architecture in London to train postcolonial architects capable of solving the architectural problems of West Africa.

This approach allowed them to build schools, universities, and other cultural centres funded under the English Colonial Welfare and Development Act.

After them, KNUST's school, the African Bauhaus, inspired new architecture by seeking to create a specifically African style.

The exhibition shows how Ghanaian architects adopted tropical modernism to promote pan-African ideals by marking a break with the colonial past.

It shows the power of architecture as a means of colonial repression and a symbol of political freedom via the heritage of tropical modernism in West Africa.

Tropical Modernism Architecture