The ArchiAfrika Pavilion was designed by YAA Projects and situated in Giardini della Marinaressa, a public park beside the lagoon in Venice. The project is rooted in our research into the African compound house as a communal housing typology, aiming to inform contextually driven approaches to housing on the African continent. This research also considers how the typology might influence European housing design to meet the needs of its diasporic communities.
The five-by-five-metre pavilion offered space for gatherings, exhibitions and talks in various forms. Externally, its perimeter and four expressive corners acted as seats and resting spaces. The bright and colourful tapestry of Ghanaian wax prints that formed the roof filtered sunlight dynamically into the interior. As people interacted with the pavilion, their bodies became part of the architecture, like the totems, carvings and sculptures evident in West African architecture.
From the outset, we embraced the pavilion’s temporary nature, treating it as an opportunity to explore circularity and material reuse. Given the site’s heritage significance, the installation had to respect the park’s ecology and existing planting and leave no trace after deconstruction. We worked with AKT II as structural engineers to design a foundation system that required no digging, avoiding damage to the site. The pavilion was designed to be fully demountable and built using low-carbon, biodegradable and reusable materials. Following deconstruction, its components were reused in other temporary pavilion projects, including the summer school programme hosted by the German Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2023, two years after its initial completion.
Through a programme of exhibitions and talks curated by YAA Projects, the pavilion engaged with a wide variety of audiences, including architecture and design professionals, students and the wider public.
The pavilion demonstrates how temporary architecture can support an enduring cycle of use and reuse, bringing people together while allowing its materials and components to take on new lives beyond the original installation.
Photography: © Luca Bosco
Collaborators: 121 Collective & Bushra Mohamed