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Adjaye Associates' Accra Studio: A Monolithic Marvel of Rammed Earth and Concrete

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Adjaye Associates' recently completed Accra studio stands as a testament to innovative and sustainable architectural design, harmoniously blending local construction techniques with contemporary aesthetics. The four-story structure, serving as the firm's West African headquarters, is a striking monolithic form composed primarily of rammed earth and low-carbon concrete. This design not only establishes a prominent architectural landmark but also creates a highly functional and inspiring environment for collaboration and creative exchange. The building’s unique finned facade and an impressive 26-meter cantilever define its distinctive presence within the urban fabric of Cantonments, a central district of Accra. This cantilever cleverly lifts the main workspace, providing an expansive, column-free office area exceeding 1,300 square meters, organized efficiently across its vertical axis. The material selection, including deep, closely spaced earth fins, plays a crucial role in moderating sunlight and ensuring privacy, while strategically framing views of the city. These design elements collectively contribute to a structure that is both environmentally responsive and visually compelling, reflecting a deep commitment to sustainable practices and regional context.

Architectural Harmony: Rammed Earth and Concrete in Accra

Adjaye Associates' new headquarters in Accra, Ghana, redefines modern workplace architecture through its innovative use of rammed earth and low-carbon concrete. This four-story monolithic structure, situated in the bustling Cantonments district, serves as both a functional office and a bold architectural statement. The building's design integrates diverse spaces—office areas, galleries, and communal zones—within a cohesive framework, promoting a dynamic environment for daily operations, collaborative projects, and intellectual exchange. Its distinctive exterior features a finned facade and an impressive 26-meter cantilever, which dramatically extends over the ground-level parking, effectively elevating the primary workspaces. This design choice not only creates an imposing visual presence but also delivers over 1,300 square meters of uninterrupted, column-free office space, meticulously organized into a vertical sequence that optimizes spatial efficiency and light. The selection of rammed earth and low-carbon concrete underscores a commitment to sustainable construction, drawing inspiration from local methods while adhering to contemporary environmental standards. The deeply set earth fins on the facade act as a crucial environmental filter, controlling sunlight penetration and ensuring privacy, all while offering carefully curated views of the surrounding city. This facade is instrumental in shaping the building's aesthetic and its ecological performance, embodying a thoughtful balance between form and function.

The Accra studio by Adjaye Associates masterfully combines aesthetic appeal with practical functionality, creating a landmark structure that resonates with its local environment. The building's monolithic presence, achieved through the robust application of rammed earth and low-carbon concrete, reflects a conscious decision to employ sustainable and contextually appropriate materials. This approach is evident in the design of the exterior, where the intricately finned facade not only contributes to the building's striking visual identity but also serves a vital environmental purpose. These deep, vertical fins effectively modulate solar gain and glare, ensuring a comfortable interior climate while maintaining a sense of privacy for occupants. The 26-meter cantilever is a testament to the engineering prowess behind the design, providing an expansive, unobstructed floor plate for the office areas. This structural innovation allows for a flexible and adaptable workspace, capable of accommodating up to 180 people and facilitating various work configurations. The careful integration of office, gallery, and shared amenities, such as a conference suite, a rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen, and an on-site crèche, transforms the building into a vibrant hub that supports both professional activities and personal well-being. The ground-level pergola further extends the building’s engagement with its surroundings, offering a semi-open space for informal interactions and strengthening its connection to the community.

Sensory Spaces: Earthen Surfaces and Filtered Light

The interior of Adjaye Associates' Accra studio is meticulously crafted to offer a rich sensory experience, characterized by the interplay of natural light and tactile earthen surfaces. Daylight, softly diffused through the glazed openings between the external fins, permeates the internal spaces, creating an atmosphere of calm and focus. This controlled illumination highlights the inherent textures and warmth of the materials, contributing to a sense of depth and tranquility within the workplace. The dominant use of timber and earth finishes throughout the interior reinforces a connection to natural elements and local craftsmanship, enhancing the building's overall tactile quality. The open-plan layout is deliberately designed to foster flexibility and encourage collaborative work, allowing for various configurations that can adapt to different project needs and team dynamics. This thoughtful approach to interior design ensures that the studio is not just a place of work, but a nurturing environment that stimulates creativity and well-being. The building’s comprehensive amenities, including a state-of-the-art conference suite, a welcoming rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen, and an on-site crèche, further enrich the user experience. These shared facilities underscore the studio's commitment to supporting its community, providing spaces for both professional interaction and personal respite. A shaded pergola at ground level extends the architectural narrative outdoors, creating an inviting zone for informal gatherings and seamlessly integrating the building with its urban context.

The internal environment of the Adjaye Associates' Accra studio is a masterclass in how material choices and lighting design can profoundly influence the user experience. The strategic filtering of natural light through the building's finned facade ensures that interiors are bathed in a gentle, diffused glow, enhancing visibility without harshness. This soft illumination beautifully accentuates the organic textures of the rammed earth and timber finishes, creating a warm, inviting, and highly tactile atmosphere. The choice of these materials not only aligns with sustainable design principles but also imbues the spaces with a distinct character that reflects local sensibilities. The open-plan design is fundamental to the studio's operational philosophy, promoting fluid movement and interaction among the 180 occupants it is designed to accommodate. This flexibility supports a diverse range of activities, from focused individual work to dynamic group collaborations, ensuring that the environment remains adaptable to evolving needs. Beyond the primary workspaces, the studio integrates a suite of shared amenities that cater to a holistic work-life balance. The conference suite provides dedicated facilities for formal meetings, while the rooftop terrace with its outdoor kitchen offers a relaxed setting for social events and breaks, providing panoramic city views. The inclusion of an on-site crèche highlights a commitment to supporting employees with families, fostering a more inclusive and supportive workplace culture. At the ground level, the facade thoughtfully extends into a shaded pergola, serving as an informal meeting point that blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor spaces, inviting interaction and fostering a stronger connection with the surrounding neighborhood.

Sculptural Illumination: Richard Yasmine's Sensory Lighting Art
Building materials

Sculptural Illumination: Richard Yasmine's Sensory Lighting Art

SolidNature and OMA/AMO Create 'Il Sonno Supermarket' in Milan
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SolidNature and OMA/AMO Create 'Il Sonno Supermarket' in Milan

Uzbekistan's Craft Pavilion at Milan Design Week 2026: A Journey Through Tradition and Adaptation
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Uzbekistan's Craft Pavilion at Milan Design Week 2026: A Journey Through Tradition and Adaptation

Building materials

Exploring Ursula K. Le Guin's Cartographic Imagination

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A new publication and accompanying exhibition cast a spotlight on the extensive collection of hand-drawn maps created by the renowned science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin. Housed within her archive at the University of Oregon, these cartographic works range from simple sketches on standard paper to intricate compositions spanning multiple sheets. While incorporating familiar elements such as compass roses, mountains, and rivers, Le Guin's maps transcend traditional geography by integrating mythical symbols, including instructions for drawing dragons and valleys defined by the placement of magical artifacts.

Inspired by these captivating maps, Sarah Shin and co-editor So Mayer have brought forth 'The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K Le Guin.' Scheduled for publication in 2025 by Silver Press and AA Publications, this book was developed in conjunction with a 2025 exhibition at the AA School in London. The project illuminates Le Guin's cartographic ponderings, employing her maps as a starting point for a broader inquiry into the nature of maps and their implications for our understanding of the world. Through contributions from philosophers, poets, and Le Guin's own son, the work explores the intricate connection between internal and external realities.

Shin, in an interview with designboom, expressed her long-standing admiration for Le Guin, citing a profound impact from reading 'The Dispossessed' during her youth. She highlighted Le Guin's unique approach to world-building, emphasizing how the author crafted settings that allowed for the exploration of concepts governed by the internal logic of those worlds, rather than being constrained by real-world conventions like patriarchy. This artistic freedom, Shin noted, is a key aspect of Le Guin's enduring appeal.

The title of the book, 'The Word for World,' is derived from Le Guin's 1972 novel, 'The Word for World Is Forest,' which explores the colonization of the Athshean people. Shin explained that in Athshean culture, the terms for 'forest' and 'world' are synonymous, reflecting a deep psycho-cosmological connection between the landscape and the psyche. This relationship between external environments and internal experience is a recurring theme throughout Le Guin's literary works.

This profound interplay between mapping and territory, between depiction and actuality, forms the central theme of 'The Word for World.' Theo Downes-Le Guin, in his essay 'The Geography of Imagination,' explores his mother's nuanced perspective on abstraction. Shin elaborated on this, suggesting that Le Guin viewed abstraction with suspicion when it served capitalistic and profit-driven motives. She aimed to dismantle the rational mindset that reduces everything to quantifiable measurements, as evidenced in her essay 'A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be.' In contrast, Le Guin's maps adopted different metrics for scale, particularly illustrated by her talismanic map, which embodies her unique philosophical direction. This approach re-establishes the connection between reality and its representation, a bond often severed by conventional abstraction, by allowing landforms to dictate the axes of her maps.

Downes-Le Guin ultimately views his mother's map-making as a form of imaginative expression, acknowledging the necessary informational gaps inherent in such creations. He noted that cartography was a symbolic abstraction that resonated with her. Shin reflected on how studying these maps unveiled a lesser-known aspect of Le Guin's creative process, a cherished hobby. She drew parallels between Le Guin's view of writing as a form of translation—seeking an original text—and her map-making, which served to visualize underlying ideas, like "the deep sea where ideas swim."

The collected works in the book reveal a new dimension of Le Guin's artistic endeavors, showcasing a terrain where her imaginative concepts were actively developed and explored. Shin emphasized the role of dreams in these maps, acting as a counterpoint to the logical function typically associated with cartography. This fusion of conscious and unconscious thought, made visible through the maps, also highlights what remains unseen, underscoring the fluidity, transformation, and natural essence that define Le Guin's worlds, where even a dream or narrative can function as a map.

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Convey Building: A Vertical Design Showcase at Milan Design Week 2026

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During Milan Design Week 2026, Convey, a prominent platform for emerging design enterprises, is expanding its presence with "Convey Building," a complete spatial transformation. Now in its fourth iteration, this initiative is taking over an entire building constructed in 1958, located at Via San Senatore 10, in close proximity to the notable Torre Velasca. For a full week, this historic structure will be reimagined as a dynamic vertical exhibition, spanning four floors and extending to a rooftop terrace, where the movement of visitors becomes an integral part of the overall experience.

The exhibition deviates from a singular curatorial approach, instead allowing each room to tell its own story. Instead of conventional booths, individual brands will curate dedicated spaces, resulting in a series of distinct environments. The showcase will feature an eclectic mix of furniture, textiles, lighting, and material innovations from established designers like Patricia Urquiola, Stefan Diez, BIG-GAME, Panter & Tourron, and Zaven, alongside contributions from up-and-coming studios and independent creatives. The journey through the building is meticulously designed to be a fluid progression. Corridors will alternately narrow and expand, leading visitors through diverse settings, from densely packed installations to more intimate, home-like displays. The absence of a prescribed path empowers attendees to forge their own route, fostering an experience akin to visiting multiple design studios rather than a conventional trade fair.

The entire event culminates on a panoramic rooftop terrace, offering sweeping views of the city. This elevated space serves as the central social hub for Convey, hosting informal gatherings and various activations, thereby extending the exhibition into an interactive, open-ended environment. Conceived by the international creative agency Simple Flair, Convey consistently refines its format within the larger design week context. The shift to a single-building model provides a more deeply engaging alternative to the decentralized Fuorisalone, consolidating brands, audiences, and events into a cohesive, vertically integrated destination.

Convey Building at Milan Design Week 2026 exemplifies innovative approaches to showcasing design, moving beyond traditional exhibition formats to create a truly immersive and dynamic experience. By transforming a historic building into a multi-layered platform, it not only highlights contemporary design but also celebrates architectural heritage and fosters a sense of community among designers and enthusiasts. This forward-thinking approach encourages creativity, collaboration, and a deeper appreciation for the art of design, inspiring future endeavors in the global design landscape.

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