African design and architecture were for too long stuck in a narrow stereotype—rendered in vivid motifs, tribal patterns, or rural craft the world whittled down to "authentic." It was a superficial look that overlooked the diversity, innovation, and richness of the continent's creative traditions. But in the last 20 years, all that has begun to crumble. There is a new generation of African architects and designers reclaiming their heritage but rewriting how it is understood, progressing from tokenism to truth, from borrowing to ownership. The outcome is a language of design that is uncompromisingly African—firmly grounded in history but unapologetically future-facing, speaking well beyond the shores of the continent.

African architecture and design have always carried an intimate relationship with place: with climate, with material, and with community. From Mali's mud adobe villages to Ghana's extremely textured textiles, design here has ever been both functional and symbolic, combining use with meaning. What we're now witnessing is a new generation of architects and designers wanting to reimagine those traditions—literally, not as nostalgia, but as a source of strength and inspiration.

New studios are tapping local materials such as laterite stone, bamboo, and recycled materials, infusing sustainability into their work long before it became a global necessity. In the process, they are infusing their buildings with the texture, rhythm, and geometry that appeals to indigenous craft, storytelling, and religiosity. The result is a language that is deeply African but inescapably modern.

“African design now speaks a new language—one that is sophisticated, contextually rooted, and reshaping both its objects and spaces with cultural agency rather than imitation.”

In recent years, the world's attention has begun to turn to the continent. Leading biennales, design festivals, and shows—Venice to London, Cape Town to Lagos—have increasingly placed African creatives centre stage. All this attention has opened up new opportunities, but more crucially, it has allowed African artists to dictate how the world engages with their culture.

Photo by @henrydiagne 

As symbolical of this next generation is Hall Haus, a design quartet set up in 2020 by Abdoulaye Niang, Sammy Bernoussi, Teddy Sanches, and Zakari Boukhari. There is something different about each one of them, their pathway into design drawn from different disciplines: Niang, Bernoussi, and Sanches both came through ENSCI on an industrial design course, while Boukhari graduated from the École des Arts et Métiers in energy process engineering. They embody collectively the diversity of African diasporic artistry, fusing academy focus and street life, industrial rigor with creative experimentation.

“Our philosophy can be summed up in three words: object, experience, and transmission.”

— Hall Haus

Hall Haus advocates a creative approach rooted in a constant dialogue between environment (hall) and design (haus). Their practice covers objects, experience, and pedagogy, aiming to generate and share knowledge. What sets them apart is their aim: to design tomorrow's world by drawing from their multicultural heritage—taking from their African origins, the urban street life of the city, and the global design tradition—to drive ecological transformation and democratize design, particularly for the youth.

Photo by @mathildehiley @mariondirodi

“We put reinterpretation of our world at the center of our experiences, because through that process our creativity lives, dies and is reborn… An object can be charged with a personal and/or common story… It can testify to an era.”

— Hall Haus

For them, inspiration is always taken directly from what and whom they surround themselves with. Atmospheres, gestures, materiality are collected and transformed into a visual and tactile vocabulary that defines their specific identity. For Hall.Haus, design is not an end but a process, a way of feeling out the rhythm of society and translating it into form. Industry, architecture, and art act as constant references, yet their approach insists on breaking down the barriers between them. As they put it, design becomes the bridge—between industry and art, between tradition and modernity, between the African street and the global stage. Industry, architecture, and art act as constant references, yet their approach insists on breaking down the barriers between them. As they put it, design becomes the bridge—between industry and art, between tradition and modernity, between the African street and the global stage.

This dynamic is also reshaping design education. Emerging designers in Europe, America, and Asia are drawing on African models of circular economies, vernacular innovation, and community-led strategies. Meanwhile, African creatives are building new networks of production, entrepreneurship, and storytelling that transcend continents.


Photo on the left by @dmamss 

At the core of this movement is one of reclamation of identity. For the majority of African architects and designers, the project is not one of form or function—it's one of definition. Design as a tool to reconceptualize history, dismantle colonial legacies, and speak to the plurality of African cultures. This has also resulted in hybrid practices that eliminate boundaries between art, design, and activism. They are doing this through Afrofuturism applied to interior and fashion design, or by way of reviving timeless building practices reimagined for urban resilience. African designers are at the forefront of design as cultural revival and resistance.



The more that connections with the world are made on the continent, the clearer the lesson is: world design's future is not about homogeneity, and it is not about that at all. Africa is not catching up on global trends—Africa is leading them, with creativity both timeless and visionary.

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Words: Simone Lorusso