Niamey 2000 shortlisted for 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architeture

An aerial view of Niamey 2000 by Aboubacar Magagi for Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Press release: Bët-bi, a new museum and centre for culture and community due to open in Senegal

The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Le Korsa is pleased to announce Bët-bi, a new museum and centre for culture and community due to open in southwestern Senegal, in the vicinity of the historic city of Kaolack in early 2025.

Mariam Issoufou Kamara, an architect from Niger and founder of the award-winning practice atelier masōmī, has been selected by a jury to lead the design of Bët-bi from a shortlist of four African architectural firms which also included Aziza Chaouni Projects (Fez and Toronto), MASS Design Group (Rwanda and global) and Meskerem Assegued and Elias Sime (Addis Ababa). Bët-bi – which means “the eye” in Wolof – will be constructed on a site in the vicinity of Kaolack situated in the Senegambia region of West Africa which is renowned for the remarkable ancient stone megaliths that proliferate across this area and includes four Unesco World Heritage sites. The 1000 square meter space will comprise exhibition and events spaces, community rooms and a library.

“It is a great honour and a privilege to be selected to lead the design of Bët-bi. For far too long our region has been a place where cultural wealth is pillaged to profit museum collections. This project is an opportunity to design a new type of space that is inspired by the roots and spiritual legacy of the region. It is a chance to push the boundaries of what defines a museum in the 21st century,” said Kamara. Bët-bi will be a state-of-the-art museum using sustainable and traditional methods of building. Ensuring that the project is an opportunity for meaningful collaboration, atelier masōmī intends to work with local artisans to ensure that there is an exchange of knowledge and expertise. Underpinning the brief is the desire to create accessible communal spaces and an environment that is open and inclusive, where visitors can feel immediately welcome. A primary focus of the building is to respond to the historic and cultural complexities of the site, looking at ways to draw attention to the unique heritage of the Kaolack region. atelier masōmī’s proposal links the history of the stone megaliths with the present – building upon the significance of the area through a sensitive response to both the cultural heritage of the site and its future potential. Bët-bi’s design takes its inspiration from the people who have occupied this part of Senegal since the 11th century and are known for their profound spiritual connection not only to the land but to the natural elements such as the sun, wind and water. As Kamara explains: ‘We approached this project through a look back at the site’s past. We looked at the history of the Saloum Kingdom very closely and have been absolutely fascinated by its origin story, as a place jointly founded by the Serer and the Mandinka people. The latter are historically also a people from the Mali empire who are known for their monumental architecture. As museums and galleries are a product of our more recent past, it is important for me that the project serves as a bold imperative to continue the recent dialogue around rethinking the typology in order to explore new spatial languages around museums.”

Bët-bi will showcase contemporary and historic African art and celebrate the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa. It will be a living and breathing institution with art as its focal point and offer a dedicated education programme with a variety of initiatives aimed at engaging local and national communities with art from all corners of the globe. Staffed by a team of locally recruited curators and personnel, the museum intends to partner with a range of institutions in Africa and overseas to facilitate internship and guest curator programmes. Bët-bi also plans to serve as a temporary space for repatriated African objects, expediting the critical undertaking of returning African art to the continent of its creation by acting as a facilitator between Western collections and the African nations and communities to whom the objects rightly belong but which may not currently have the resources to conserve them. In particular, the museum aims to play an important role in the global initiatives to facilitate and secure the return of objects of West-African origin.

Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Founder and President of Le Korsa says: “Bët-bi will be an institution where everyone, regardless of background, can celebrate and experience the unequalled wonders of visual art. People who may never before have entered a museum as well as international visitors will have the chance to enjoy art that relates to the culture of the Sahel and to experience it as an essential respite from life's inevitable hardships. The universality of great art – whether ancient, contemporary, local to sub-Saharan Africa, from the Diaspora, or from entirely different cultures – will be celebrated in a milieu that is inviting, friendly, and accessible to all. We are thrilled with Mariam Kamara as the unanimous choice of our distinguished architectural jury. Her profound respect for local traditions, keen awareness and knowledge of environmental impact, and eye for visual beauty will result in a building sure to help revitalize the economy of the region, providing the benefits well demonstrated from other new cultural institutions in locations with minimal previous tourism. Bët-bi will demonstrate Josef Albers's maxim of ‘minimal means for maximum effect’ and Anni Albers's faith in ‘art that is universal and timeless’.”

www.betbi.org

Mariam featured in the Metropolis March/April 2022 issue

Press Release: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center design team announcement

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Partners with Leading African Women Architects to Design the World’s First Presidential Center and Library for a Woman Head of State

The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development (EJS Center) announces that it is collaborating with atelier masōmī’s Mariam Issoufou Kamara, Counterspace’s Sumayya Vally, and Pan-African Engineering Group’s (PAEG) Karen Richards Barnes in the design of a state-of-the-art Presidential Center and Library in Monrovia, Liberia.

The project will be a landmark in every sense of the word. Never before has a woman president founded and commissioned the design and build of a presidential center and library. Not only will the building provide digital access to former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s personal and professional archives, but it will also educate, inspire, and drive visitors forward on their own leadership journeys. It will offer a space for training and networking, present exhibits that inspire women to pursue leadership in all spheres, and be a national and international hub for programs that advance the socio-economic situation of women and girls and uphold their rights and democratic freedom.

The Presidential Center and Library will feature a contemporary, future-facing sustainable design that uses local and sustainable materials wherever possible, such as Liberian rubberwood. It will also incorporate vibrant works from African artists, designers, and artisans. These environmental and artistic elements will lend the campus a strong sense of purpose and identity.

The use of local materials and traditional architectural styles reflects the Center’s respect for African artistry and will inspire the same in others, bringing a sense of history, culture, and social context to visitors. Open exhibit spaces will allow for special access to study and source materials, while quiet corners will offer spaces for reflection. International visitors will learn about the history and culture of African women, alongside more recent events—including the political career of President Sirleaf herself. 

The EJS Center has identified land in Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia, located beside the city’s busiest thoroughfare and overlooking the Atlantic coastline—a site adjacent to the president’s residence. The project will harness the expertise of celebrated women architects, with lead architect Mariam Issoufou Kamara directing the building design, Sumayya Vally as scenography, pavilions, and exhibition architect, and distinguished Liberian architect Karen Richards Barnes as the local architect. Once completed, the Presidential Center will represent excellence in African architecture and serve as a distinctive feature within the landscape of Africa’s national and cultural institutions. This partnership between the EJS Center, Ms. Kamara, Ms. Vally, and Mrs. Richards Barnes will create a truly unique destination with women and girls at the very heart of its design.

Since its official launch on International Women’s Day 2020, the EJS Center has successfully situated itself as the continent’s driving advocate for gender equality in public leadership by building on the inspirational legacy of former President Sirleaf. Through training, mentoring, and networking, the EJS Center aims to ensure more qualified African women are able to vie for and assume political and executive leadership throughout the continent. Today, it embarks on the next phase of its journey as it plants its feet firmly on Liberian soil to inspire and nurture new women leaders for generations to come.

—    ENDS —

Press release: Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab

Photo by Lyndon French

We’re proud to announce that Mariam Kamara is one of 14 designers selected to be part of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab. This three-year incubator is a think tank for emerging talent across fashion, design, furniture architecture and the industrial arts.

Cultured's 2022 Young Architects List

10 Black Women Changing the Architecture and Design Space

Contemporary feminist spatial practice

2022 Aga Khan Lecture

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Event Description

The Architecture canon, the way it is researched, taught and practiced, has a singular point of view. Accepting that point of view as universally valid has been one of the biggest missed opportunities in architecture. What we are taught as universal masterworks are, in reality, only a representation of a small homogenous group. This talk will cover the way I have merged practice and research to fill the gaps left by the absence of authentic scholarship outside of the canon. I will also discuss the ways in which this approach continues to shift my conception of what is possible given the contexts, narratives, and challenges of the places in which we work.

Please click on the link to register for the event which will take place virtually on March 7 at 12h30 to 2pm (Boston): https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/mariam-kamara/

Mariam featured in Monocle Magazine

Good news: Women in Architecture

Good News: Women In Architecture is an exhibition that takes you on a journey through the female evolution of the architectural profession from the pioneers of the early 1900s to today’s architects. The exhibition, which is on at the MAXXI Museum in Rome — between 16th December 2021 and 11th September 2022 — is curated by Pippo Ciorra, Elena Motisi and Elena Tinacci. As part of the exhibition, Mariam Issoufou Kamara presented a site-specific installation called A Room For Instrospection. The room is meditative space that takes you into Mariam’s interior walls with art, photography and artefacts that both inspire and speak to who she is.

25 Years 25 Hours Festival

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Architecture as a Prompt for Storytelling

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Prince Claus Fund, the organisation invited creative director Keng Sen Ong to come up with a 25 hour online festival that would feature Prince Clause Chamgemakers from around the world. As a Prince Claus Laureate, Mariam Issoufou Kamara was asked to invite a guest with whom to have a discussion about architecture. Mariam invited filmmaker Aicha Macky for a discussion that was recorded at the our offices in Niamey. The conversation, titled Architecture as a Prompt for Storytelling covered the influence of architecture in both their practices, their experiences in Niamey as well as their hopes for future collaboration.

Adapt: Architecture and Climate Change

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Adapt: Architecture and Climate Change

Visitors to The Design Museum in London, will be able to experience a new exhibit, as the exterior of the building transforms in AR, to bring the realities of extreme weather due to climate change to life. In turn, the building materials themselves transform, to highlight the way we can adapt to combat these challenges. This inaugural Landmarker project, in partnership with Snap, sees architect Mariam Issoufou Kamara reimagine the Design Museum building to mark its fifth birthday in its current home, and ties into the Design Museum’s mission to make the impact of design visible and demonstrate its role in addressing contemporary issues.  Visitors or passers by will be prompted to ‘Open their Snapchat’ at which point Snap’s AR technology will transform the building in front of their eyes, bringing the sometimes distant effects of climate change close to home by putting it right in front of them. Mariam’s career began in software development before she went back to school to study architecture, her first love. She founded architecture and research practice, atelier masōmī, in 2014. It is Mariam’s belief that architects have an important role to play in creating spaces that have the power to elevate, dignify, and provide people with a better quality of life.  Mariam chose to explore how architecture can adapt to extreme weather conditions, and not only highlights the ongoing effects of climate change but demonstrates a tangible way that buildings can be adapted and repurposed to face contemporary problems.  Mariam Issoufou Kamara, said: “For an architect whose practice is in a desert country like Niger, the effects of the climate crisis are already all around us through increased droughts, floods, and even climate refugees. This collaboration with the Design Museum and Snap, really allowed me to explore a future where the climate has changed drastically, a new normal if you will. I wanted to use the facade of the Design Museum to explore how the built environment might respond to harsh conditions, and how we could perhaps put buildings to use in order to serve new needs under extreme conditions.” The Snap Landmarker project celebrates both that renewal of an architectural classic and the way that buildings can be adapted for a changing world.

Land of broken dreams by Carrie Mae Weems

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Decolonising Futures

Accompanying Carrie Mae Weems’ exhibition, THE SHAPE OF THINGS, Land of Broken Dreams was a large-scale, multidisciplinary convening and concert series that will activate the Armory with a wide range of conversations, presentations, and performances featuring artists, poets, singers, dancers, thinkers, and scholars sharing work and exploring some of the most urgent issues facing society today. As part of Land Of Broken Dream, Mariam Issoufou Kamara and Salome Asega sat down for a conversation on Decolonising Futures. The talk was introduced by Jennifer Hsu, who also showcased her video shot while visiting our projects in Dandaji called Compressed Earth.

Designing for the DNA of a Place

Africa's iconic architecture in 12 buildings

Columbia lecture: Memory as Blueprint

Liverpool Waterfront Transformation

29 September 2021: Shortlisted from an extremely impressive entry of six teams that included Arup, BIG, DSDHA, OMMX and Shedkm, the winning team also includes Plan A Consultants, Prior + Partners, The Place Bureau, Hara Design Institute, AKTII, ARUP and Donald Insall Associates. Together they will now take forward the transformation of the Canning Dock Project – a public space that has an incredibly unique history, embedded with a rich and powerful heritage linked to the very roots of Liverpool’s port.

This landmark project will transform the area between the Royal Albert Dock and Mann Island, as well as revitalising all our waterfront facilities, as part of National Museums Liverpool’s (NML) 10-year masterplan of reimagining Liverpool’s waterfront. The starting point and highlight of this transformation will be the redevelopment of the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building which will be at the very heart of the reinvigorated International Slavery Museum, which recently received £9.9m funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. A dramatic new front door will lead to spaces to explore and investigate the transatlantic slave trade and legacies.

The Canning Dock competition, managed by Colander Associates, is supported by £120,000 of funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA), as part of their Race Equality Programme. 

Councillor Mike Wharton, Liverpool City Region Portfolio Holder for Culture, Tourism and the Visitor Economy, said:

“We are committed to tackling racial inequality and facing up to the shameful legacy of our region’s role in the slave trade. Our International Slavery Museum is the only museum of its kind in the country and a vitally important institution, not just locally but nationally and internationally too, in educating people on the sins of the past.  This exciting project will both redevelop the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building and transform the entire waterfront, attracting even more people to visit and learn about the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy.

“Last year we launched a Race Equality Programme to help tackle the systemic injustice and inequality that many Black, Asian and people from other ethnic minorities still face. As part of that, it is important that we’re able to help support the International Slavery Museum to evolve and grow. Understanding and learning from our history is an integral part of building the brighter, fairer and more socially just future we all want – and our local museums are central to that.” 

Taking in key landmarks, including the creation of pedestrian links to the Canning Dock, and bringing life to multiple buildings within the area, the brief for the project drew on the complexities of the site. A primary focus of the transformation is to respond to the waterfront’s unique history – looking at ways to bring the history of the transatlantic slave trade more into the public realm through compelling yet sensitive designs - and ensuring Liverpool’s Black communities are engaged and represented throughout.

The collaboration between Khan, Adjaye, Kamara and Gates was the unanimous choice for the judging panel, which included local representatives as well as industry experts. Chaired by Paul Monaghan, Liverpool City Region, Design Champion and Founder of AHMM, the panellists were hugely inspired by the high quality of all the entries and the passion and expertise of the winning team, which exemplified the best of amalgamating history, design, and innovation. Creating a unique destination that links storytelling, heritage, community, connectivity and commercial activity, the jurors were impressed by their ambitions defining the change that will establish the waterfront as a place for all, and intriguing new visitor journeys.

Mairi Johnson, Director of Major Projects comments:

“Congratulations to the winning team! We had six fantastic teams apply for the competition and we knew it would be a difficult choice for the jurors to decide. We’re thrilled and hugely impressed and inspired by their innovating, sensitive and powerful thinking in delivering this transformation.

The waterfront transformation is a huge opportunity for National Museums Liverpool to now work with the team and Liverpool’s communities to reimagine the full potential of Canning Dock. We’re very much looking forward to the collaboration process and the result.”

Drawing upon their collective knowledge, the blockbuster design team - which includes both international and nationally recognised organisations and individuals - will work with NML, stakeholders, communities, the public and wider design team to ensure that the vision for the new waterfront is explored and delivered with a collaborative, open and accountable approach. From building benches to bridges, the team will synthesise opportunities and constraints, and begin to develop scenarios that test ideas and approaches. Consultations and workshops will be facilitated by their community programming group which includes 20 Stories High, Writing on the Wall and Squash Liverpool and through this method, the team will determine the best way to successfully animate the visitor experience on the waterfront.

Asif Khan MBE said:

“History is like the ocean, with all its depths and treachery. Looking out from the shore, those waters feel like they belong to us, and yet the sea looks so different from where you stand in the world. History can wash things away one day and brings them back like ghost ships the next. Reconciling with history is how we grow as individuals, as communities, and – we believe – is what makes life and cities beautiful.

For National Museums Liverpool we have formed a different kind of design team – not simply to deliver a project, but to steward a significantly meaningful one into being. This new piece of history will welcome voices from across Liverpool and globally from the places and people connected with Canning Dock.”

Sir David Adjaye OBE:

“Our collaborative team composed of technical architects, planetary architects and an artist envisions the NML Waterfront Transformation as an opportunity to powerfully reformulate the history of Liverpool through re-invigorating the diverse social, civic and environmental context of the city. Recognising the history of the surrounding waterfront, connecting the region’s cultural infrastructure, and creating a space in which the public realm and public arts can connect, holds the potential to create a distinct, engaging, and empowering identity for the community to grow with and in.”

Mariam Kamara:

“The Canning Dock transformation is a chance to explore the power of architecture as a storytelling tool to bridge the gaps in knowledge that exist about the history of Liverpool as well as this significant site. The NML Waterfront Transformation is an opportunity to pull on the threads that make up the history of the transatlantic slave trade - from Africa, across the Atlantic to the US and back to Liverpool - to bridge gaps, to exhume memories and ultimately bring to the fore an exciting space for the public to explore and engage with the history of Liverpool while firmly facing towards the future.”

Theaster Gates:

“Commemoration and memorial making are some of the most important acts a nation can be involved in - especially commemoration around racial complexity and social ill. Canning Dock represents one of the most important racialised sites in the UK and it gives me tremendous honour to work with this team to realise the complexity of the site. We hope that by using the tools of monument making and memorialising and commemoration, we will be able to do what many have not been able to do, which is to give emotional heft to the truth of slavery in the UK historically and the possibility for a site of re-emotionalising, healing, and processing those complexities. This will not be an easy journey, but we take the task with great humility and seriousness.”

In response to the brief, the winning team will be focusing on the public realm (including a public art strategy), new bridges spanning from the Pump House to Mann Island, transformation of the two dry docks into an educational and cultural experience, and animation of the water.  The team identified in their submission that reconnection and accessible recreational routes will play a critical part in the development.  Recognising the different flows of people drawn from the city including the creative, cultural, knowledge, retail, and commercial quarters have all informed their response at site level. A site that was once used in the 18th century for fitting out, cleaning, and repairing ships, including those used in the transatlantic slave trade, needs to be approached with sensitivity – linking the past with the present. The team presented ideas and creative solutions that will build upon the significance of the area through a thoughtful and engaging response to both the history of the site and its future potential.

This timely transformation is not just for Liverpool, but for the whole of the UK. NML will work collaboratively with the design team to build on strengths, respond to challenges and opportunities and be a catalyst for social improvements and creating space for people and communities. This project allows the space to redefine its identity beyond its core role as NML’s arrival gateway, and something that benefits its many visitors.

The Design Competition was made possible by funding from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. NML are working to secure funds to realise the project. This includes a bid that was submitted by Liverpool City Council to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to which the outcome will be announced this Autumn.

-ENDS-

FURTHER INFORMATION

Sahar Beyad

PR and Communications Officer

Sahar.Beyad@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk / 07935 009 883

#NMLWaterfront @SlaveryMuseum @NMLMuse

NOTES TO EDITOR

National Museums Liverpool

National Museums Liverpool (NML) comprises seven venues, including some of the most visited museums in England outside of London. Our collections are among the most important and varied in Europe and contain everything from Impressionist paintings and rare beetles to a lifejacket from the Titanic. We attracted more than 3 million visitors in 2019. Our venues are Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, Walker Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Sudley House and Lady Lever Art Gallery. National Museums Liverpool is regulated by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Colander Associates 

In December 2020, National Museums Liverpool appointed Colander Associates to be the design competition providers. They will work closely with NML to articulate the ambitions for an enlarged and enhanced waterfront visitor destination. The competition will be launched in March 2021 and will be officially advertised on the Government’s e-notification service, Find A Tender. Details of the competition will also be published and promoted through NML’s and Colander’s website and social media channels. A dedicated portal for competitors will be established on the Colander website. www.colander.co.uk   

Asif Khan Studio

Asif Khan MBE leads a London-based architecture studio designing buildings, landscapes, exhibitions, and installations internationally. Khan’s practice explores how material and social innovations can fundamentally alter the way we experience and shape our environment. Current projects include the New Museum of London, the public realm for Dubai Expo 2020, and the Tselinny Centre for Contemporary Culture in Almaty. Asif Khan received an MBE for services to architecture in 2017 and serves as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Design Museum, London.

David Adjaye

Sir David Adjaye OBE is a Ghanaian-British architect who has received international acclaim for his impact on the field. In 2000, he founded Adjaye Associates, which today operates globally, with studios in Accra, London, and New York and projects spanning across the globe. Adjaye’s most well-known project to date, The National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC opened in 2016. In 2017, Adjaye was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME Magazine and was announced the winner of the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

Mariam Kamara

Mariam Kamara is a Nigerien architect who founded atelier masōmī in 2014. The firm tackles public, cultural, residential, commercial and urban design projects. Kamara champions collaboration in her work and has won several awards including a gold and silver LafargeHolcim Award for Sustainable Architecture for the Hikma Religious and Secular complex. In 2020, The New York Times named her as one of 15 Creative Women of Our Time. The firm made its debut on the 2021 AD100 list.

Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates is an internationally acclaimed artist and social innovator who lives and works in Chicago. His works engage with space theory, land development, sculpture and performance. In 2010, Gates created the Rebuild Foundation, a nonprofit platform for art, cultural development, and neighborhood transformation that supports artists and strengthens communities through free arts programming and innovative cultural amenities on Chicago’s South Side. In 2020, Gates received the Crystal Award for his leadership in creating sustainable communities. He has received the Artes Mundi 6 prize, the Légion d'Honneur in 2017, and was awarded the Nasher Prize for Sculpture 2018. Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and serves as the Senior Advisor for Cultural Innovation and Advisor to the Dean at the Harris School of Public Policy. 

Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021

Shared Intelligence: IQD