Archive photographs of The Africa Centre at 38 King Street.

Archive photographs of The Africa Centre at 38 King Street.

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Regular meetings with the Sounding Board were held to define design principles for the project.

The Africa Centre

Freehaus have completed the transformation of The Africa Centre’s new Southwark home. Chosen from a pool of more than 60 architects and appointed in 2019, we took on the multi-faceted challenge of intelligently representing the diverse cultures and heritages that make up modern Africa, while also creating a forward-looking space that maintained a connection to The Africa Centre’s six-decade history.

Key to the brief was for The Africa Centre’s new headquarters to be unmistakably African. Given the breadth of diversity on the continent and among the diaspora, we were keen to avoid stereotypes and well-trodden aesthetic tropes. At the same time, we wanted to avoid continent-sweeping generalisations. ‘Africa isn’t a country’ is a familiar response, often born of frustration at the dismissal understanding of the breadth in peoples, cultures and traditions that span the African continent. We wanted to turn this misnomer into a strength and envisage what an embassy for a continent might look like in the 21st century; a space that demonstrates what connects us and binds us to one another, while celebrating the dynamism of the continent.

To achieve this, we undertook an extensive research process in order to identify a series of overarching design departure points that reflected shared traditions across the African continent and global diaspora. Rather than focusing on particular motifs or patterns, Freehaus identified specific areas and themes, encompassing expressed thresholds, tactile surfaces, quality of light and practices of reuse and appropriation.

Informed by these, we chose eight themes to underpin a design direction, including themes with a focus on the collective, and on design approaches that exhibit reverence to ancestry and tradition. As well as steering Freehaus’s approach, these themes were also adopted and developed by the project’s other design collaborators – including interior designer Tola Ojuolape and brand designer, Mam’gobozi Design Factory.

The development of the building design was highly collaborative, speaking to the desire of both architect and client for the new headquarters to be informed by multiple voices and perspectives. The developing design was informed throughout by a programme of public conversations and events, including a London Design Festival discussion, and steered by a sounding board created at the project’s outset to include staff, board members, young Africa Centre trustees, and users of The Africa Centre. Visits to comparable institutions, including cultural and arts spaces as well as members’ clubs, helped to underpin their approach to core elements such as ethos, function and approach to welcome.

The overarching goal was to consider and communicate the ambassadorial role that The Africa Centre plays in representing and celebrating pan-African culture on the world stage – a forum for ideas, a platform for exchange and an embassy of optimism.

Press

The Guardian – ‘An embassy of optimism’: the legendary Africa Centre rises again
The Architect’s Journal – AJ Retrofit Awards 2023 winners revealed
RIBA Journal – Freehaus helps Africa take root in Southwark
Wallpaper* – The Africa Centre reopens to celebrate culture and community
Dezeen – The Africa Centre finds new home inside former office building in London
Elle Decoration – Designed By Freehaus, The Africa Centre Opens Its New Southwark Home
Hypebeast – 'The Africa Centre' by Freehaus Opens its Doors in London
Architectural Record – Freehaus Completes Africa Center in London
Recessed Space – The Africa Centre: carefully unchoreographed architecture
Enki Magazine – The Africa Centre reopens to inspire cultural exchange
Mix Interiors - Freehaus celebrates Africa’s heritage and diversity at The Africa Centre’s new home
MSN – The Newly Reopened Africa Centre Celebrates the Continent's Culture

Awards

Winner – AJ Retrofit Award 2023 – Health & Community
Shortlisted - RIBA London Award 2024
Shortlisted – New London Awards 2022 – Culture
Shortlisted – Frame Awards 2022

Tags: Community, Commercial, Heritage

 

As part of the community engagement strategy, a group of local students and artist created an intervention for the building’s hoarding.

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“The result of Freehaus’ intuitive ability to capture the essence of what was a multi-layered and complex brief is a building which, on its various floors, will provide opportunities for learning, relaxing, eating and holding business meetings, in equal measure, an environment which will be relaxed, welcoming and uniquely Pan-African.”

Oba Nsugbe QC, SAN (Chair of The Africa Centre)

Ground Floor – Restaurant and Welcome Area

Ground Floor – Restaurant and Welcome Area

 

The launch of the new Africa Centre’s headquarters.

The Africa Centre was awarded the Health and Community award at this year's Architects’ Journal Retrofit Awards!

The Africa Centre featured in The Guardian.

 
First Floor – Bar and Performance Space

First Floor – Bar and Performance Space Concept Visualisation

The Africa Centre featured on the front cover of RIBA J.

 
 

The Africa Centre featured in Wallpaper*

 
 

Architectural tour of the building as part of the launch events programme.

 

Client
The Africa Centre

Architect and Lead Designer
Freehaus

Project Manager
Cambridge CCM

Structural and Civil Engineer
Price & Myers

MEP Engineer
OR Consulting

Quantity Surveyor
Metric CCM

Acoustician
Hann Tucker

Interior Designer
Tola Ojuolape

Bespoke Joinery
Studio Propolis

Kitchen Designer
Advance Catering

Enabling Works Contractor
Tower Demolition

Main Works Contractor
QOB

Principal Designer
Freehaus

Approved Building Inspector
Quadrant AI

Local Authority
London Borough of Southwark

Photography
Taran Wilkhu

Status
Completed

With thanks to the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund

 
 

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