Press & Publications

At night, the Mansa Floating Hub dazzles. The mix of disco and neon lights kissing the Atlantic and then back to shore adds to the glamour and life at the hub. Situated in the beautiful bay of Mindelo, on São Vicente Island in Cape Verde, Mansa is a hub for creatives, artists, and activists. Its… Continue reading AfricaNews | August 2021

Mansa Floating Hub whose construction begun last year in Porto Grande Bay (also known as Mindelo Bay), north coast of the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde, has finally opened its door for people to attend musical festivities, book for private events, or just go to experience its scenery, views, and hospitality offering. Designed… Continue reading Construction Review Online | August 2021

Kunlé Adeyemi’s Floating Music Hub kicks off the party in Cape Verde The Floating Music Hub in Cape Verde, by NLÉ, opens to the public offering a cultural venue like no other

The West African island of São Vicente, Cape Verde, has vibrant musical and cultural scenes, which with the opening of the new Floating Music Hub now extend to the bay of Mindelo, its capital city. This project from architect and designer Kunlé Adeyemi consists of three separate but linked timber pavilions: a recording studio; a… Continue reading World’s Greatest Places – Time Magazine | JULY 2021

As climate change accelerates, one of the many contributing factors is the built environment — that is, the structures people havecreated over eons, including buildings and infrastructure like bridges and roads.Increasingly — although perhaps not quite fast enough — people are thinking about how to do less harm and how to build moresustainably, how to… Continue reading NEW YORK TIMES | JUNE 2021

Architecture, Interior Design, Product Design: Visionary projects, collaborations, innovative new products, and design for global good. Featuring Joost Baker, Mario Cucinella, Female Design Council, Suzanne Vetillart, Jamie Wolfond, Werewool, Kunlé Adeyemi, Vanessa Eckstein, Muriel Solomon, Natalie Telewiak, Count Benedikt Bolza + MORE

How Africa’s largest city is staying afloat

The transformative buildings set to shape the world in 2021

Introducing the February Issue: Wallpaper* Design Awards 2021

NLÉ’s Floating Music Hub in Cape Verde is one of Africa’s most anticipated architecture projects – CNN

The World in 2050 Challenge recognizes the best startups, research, inventions, and organizations tackling the world’s most intractable challenges in seven categories. Each of the seven clusters represent a major trend that will be transformative for our long-term future. Nominations are accepted on a rolling basis and winners are announced quarterly. Applications are also reviewed… Continue reading NLÉ WINS WORLD IN 2050 CHALLENGE

nternational design practice NLÉ has unveiled its designs for the MFS IV, a prefabricated Floating Music Hub for the port city of Mindelo in Cape Verde. Developed as the fourth prototype of the firm’s Makoko Floating System, the project is the first in the series to be built in the Atlantic Ocean. The prefabricated floating… Continue reading INHABITAT | JULY 2020

Our Virtual Design Festival collaboration with The World Around for Earth Day kicks off with a series of conversations with designers including Nelly Ben Hayoun and Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi.

NLÉ and Kunlé Adeyemi have designed the prefabricated floating music hub currently in construction off the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde

Floating music venue will celebrate African culture: Longtime readers may remember NLÉ’s floating school, which was completed in 2013. The firm, led by Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi, is now working on another floating architecture project with a very similar design that will serve as a music and cultural venue.

Black Rhino Academy is a primary and secondary international boarding school conceived as an immersive environment for learning from nature. Situated on a very hilly site just outside Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and the breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater, the school is surrounded by rich natural vegetation and abundant wildlife. Save this picture!

With a play on architecture, our design aims to fulfil the simple primary purpose of a Summer House: a space for shelter and relaxation. The design is based on projecting an inverse replica of the historic Queen Caroline’s Temple a tribute to its robust form, space and material, recomposed into a new architectural language.

NLÉ, the architecture, design, and urbanism practice led by kunlé adeyemi, has begun constructing a floating music hub in cape verde, a country in the central atlantic ocean. located in mindelo bay on the island of são vicente, the project is set to open to the public in december 2020. once complete, the project will… Continue reading Designboom | July 2020

Though installations like the Serpentine Pavilion are called off for now, their architects are looking toward the future

Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi is founder of architecture, design and urbanism practice NLÉ.

Architects look to floating cities as sea levels rise

Nigerian Kunle Adeyemi says he doesn’t aspire to create beautiful buildings but instead focuses on “tackling problems, providing solutions and harnessing opportunities”. This ethos is manifested in the Makoko Floating School, a wooden, floating school and community center he built on a lagoon in Lagos in 2012. Adeyemi designed the structure to provide a prototype… Continue reading CHINA DAILY Hong Kong | JANUARY 2019

On this issue: – KUNLÉ ADEYEMI; – THE VERTICAL CAMPUS – OPEN ARCHI TECTURE; – TAKE A BREATH – VECTOR ARCHITECTS; – URBAN CARPETS – ORAZIO CARPENZANO; – SAN DOMENICO – PIETRO CARLO PELLEGRINI, PORTOGHESI, CASAMONTI, CUCURULLO, NICOSIA;

Black Rhino Academy is one of Metropolis’s Best Buildings of 2018

As part of a collaboration between the Centre Pompidou and the Mao Jihong Arts Foundation, the Cosmopolis #1.5: ‘Enlarged Intelligence’ exhibition features the developments of NLÉ Architects’ Makoko Floating School. The Minjiang Floating System (MFS IIIx3), the fourth prototype and the third iteration of the prefabricated self-built system for water, investigates methods to counter the… Continue reading ARCHDAILY – NOVEMBER 2018

NLÉ — the architecture, design, and urbanism practice led by kunlé adeyemi — has revealed its fourth prototype and third iteration of the makoko floating school. first presented in 2013, and relaunched for the 2016 venice biennale, the project is a prefabricated self-built system for water that explores the challenges and opportunities of urbanization and… Continue reading DESIGNBOOM – NOVEMBER 2018

“Centre Pompidou in Chengdu?” I wondered as I boarded my third flight, bleary eyed and bloated after travelling from Berlin through Frankfurt and Beijing to reach the Sichuan Province’s capital city, and eating too much aeroplane rice en route. Having launched a platform in 2016 devoted to research-based practices across Asia, Africa, South America and… Continue reading ELEPHANT – NOVEMBER 2018

Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence opens today in Chengdu, China, presenting artworks and programs by almost 60 artists and groups envisioning how we may draw on intelligent technologies, as well as on ecological intelligence, to advance social values, rather than leaving capital to largely define the uses of these techniques and knowledge systems. The project is… Continue reading E-FLUX Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence – NOVEMBER 2018

Set Alongside a Lush Crater, Kunlé Adeyemi’s New School Plants Deep Roots in Tanzania. Adeyemi and his team from NLÉ draw from the verdant local landscape and age-old building traditions for the design of the Black Rhino Academy.

NLÉ designs brick classrooms and dormitories for a boarding school in Tanzania

NLÉ’s masterplan sees the school program divided into three clusters: the ‘live island’, where comfortable dormitories with common lounge areas are oriented to face the rising sun; the ‘learn island’, which comprises classroom blocks and a school hall situated in a grid on the sloping landscape; and the ‘play island’, which will include a sports field located on the only flat part of the site. the clusters are interconnected by a pathway, which establishes a safe yet open environment protected from and yet within the wildlife.

Flex and Flexibility: A Prelude to the Shed

Al 70.000 bezoekers voor drijvende school.

The medieval city of Bruges is known for its canals, but now the Belgian city’s connection to water is being explored in a whole new way.

Meet the Nigerian Architect Who Built a Transformative Arts Center in the Middle of NYC.

The city is a year away from the opening of the Shed, a multipurpose arts-and-entertainment space currently under construction where the High Line and Hudson Yards meet.

The Shed, DS+R and the Rockwell Group’s slick ETFE-padded arts building in Hudson Yards is a solid year away from hosting performances. In the meantime, The Shed’s curators are teasing the public with Prelude to The Shed—Prelude, for short—a temporary pavilion for dance, theater, and art right across the street from its still-under-construction sibling. Today… Continue reading Modern Architecture Journal – May 2018

Seven of the best pavilions to see at the Bruges architecture triennale

Bruges Triennial 2018: floating pavilions and a concrete gateway to the afterlife

We gaan samen met fotograaf Iwan Baan naar de Floating School in Brugge, een onderdeel van de Triënnale dit jaar. De fotograaf kent de architect van het kunstwerk en vertelt ons meer over het concept.

MFS III – Minne Floating School is de derde versie van de drijvende school. Ze dient als prototype van een constructie die voldoet aan onze fysieke en sociale behoeften in het licht van de almaar groeiende uitdagingen waarvoor de klimaatverandering ons stelt.

The Shed, the new cross-disciplinary arts center planned for the Far West Side of Manhattan, is still a hard-hat construction site, with an opening date of next spring. But starting on Tuesday, its creators will serve up two free weeks of arts events as an amuse-bouche, hoping to entice New Yorkers with an early look… Continue reading New York Times – May 2018

Prelude to the Shed’s free art fortnight is a utopian breath of fresh air.

The artists enlisted for A Prelude to The Shed do not need to share the stage with anyone. The impressive roster of this free two-week teaser for the behemoth cultural centre to open next spring includes avant-garde ballet choreographer William Forsythe, R&B headliner Abra, social-interaction orchestrator Tino Sehgal, the Dream Ring of flex dancers, and… Continue reading Financial Times – May 2018

Interview by Ibai Rigby for urbanNext, at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, after receiving the Silver Lion Award, May 2016

The Shed Hosts Pre-Opening Event at an Off-Site Location in Manhattan The 12-day event opens May 1 at 10th Avenue and West 30th St., one block from where the Shed will stand.

In choosing this year’s theme, Alejandro Aravena shone a spotlight on unsung heroes, peripheral communities and no-frills architecture, showing a widening gap between big-name starchitects and emerging, socially-minded practices.

Before it officially opens in spring 2019, The Shed, a new multi-disciplinary cultural centre under construction on the far west side of Manhattan, will host a 12-day arts festival this May.

One year before opening, NYC’s new multi-medium arts and concerts venue The Shed will present a free, 12-day multi-discipline event on an undeveloped lot at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in Manhattan, one block away from its permanent home on the West Side. Dubbed Prelude, the temporary event space is set to preview the venue… Continue reading BILLBOARD – February 2018

The LafargeHolcim Awards jury for region Middle East Africa met at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt in May 2017 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Marc Angélil (Switzerland), Joe Osae-Addo, (Ghana), Meisa Batayneh Maani (Jordan), Nagwa Sherif (Egypt, Head of Jury), Mohsen Ech (Lebanon/France), Howayda Al-Harithy (Lebanon), Fasil… Continue reading LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 Middle East Africa

The July-August issue comes with two supplements, Future African Cities and The New Train Station of Napoli Afragola. The first one announces the born of Domus Africa, strenghtening the international character of the magazine. It deals with urbanization, resilience, design and politics, young people and innovation. Through the analysis of six cities – Gaborone, Port… Continue reading DOMUS – July 2017

A new museum of contemporary African art could be coming to Miami. Looking to add another perspective to the Miami art scene, a local foundation is picking up support for a new museum that would showcase art of the African diaspora. The Miami-Dade North Arts and Humanities Foundation plans to establish the Miami Museum of… Continue reading Miami Herald – January 2017

Water and the City is a comprehensive publication documenting parts of the ongoing research project African Water Cities, a unique and innovative body of work initiated by architect, designer, and urbanist Kunlé Adeyemi, in 2011.

‘Op zondag 10 juli 2011 reed ik door Lagos, de economische hoofdstad van Nigeria. Ik was met de broer van een klant van me, een kunstenaar, onderweg naar een plek om een woning en atelier voor hem te bouwen. Ik ben architect en was net mijn eigen bureau in Amsterdam begonnen: NLÉ, dat ‘thuis’ betekent… Continue reading Financiele Dagblad – January 2017

De vijftiende editie van de Biënnale Architectuur in Venetië is afgelopen zaterdag officieel geopend. Daarbij zijn Gouden Leeuwen uitgereikt aan het Spaanse paviljoen en aan Gabinete de Arquitectura; het Nederlands-Nigeriaanse bureau NLÉ kreeg een Zilveren Leeuw

Kunlé Adeyemi #60 in de duurzame top 100. ‘Adeyemi komt uit Nigeria, studeerde daar ook architectuur, en werkt, deels, in Nederland. Hij was zo’n tien jaar verbonden aan het Rotterdamse Office for Metropolitan Architecture (Oma) waar hij samenwerkte met Rem Koolhaas. In Amsterdam richtte hij het architectenkantoor NLÉ op. De nieuwkomer op de lijst ziet… Continue reading TROUW – OCTOBER 2016

Africa Rising calls stereotypes and archaic clichés into question. A comprehensive portrait of Africa manifests from marrying Peter Mabeo’s furniture made from indigenous wood or Nobukho Nqaba’s body of photographic work that handles the themes of migration and foreignness through the clever use of every day objects or the publicly-minded architecture of David Adjaye with… Continue reading AFRICA RISING

Jocks&Nerds is a quarterly men’s style magazine founded in 2010. It is recognised for its documentary style photography and journalistic integrity, claiming a roster of well-respected cultural writers, stylists and photographers amongst its staff and contributors. Kunlé Adeyemi was interviewed for their Lagos special issue.

“Adeyemi’s is the strongest of the lot, a mocking mirror reinterpreting Kent’s classical tripartite composition in the form of oversized stone-clad blocks with a soft white lining, arranged in a manner that is already tempting passing families and dogs to clamber across it. Its sense of ruination feels particularly apt, somehow marking the end of… Continue reading GUARDIAN – JUNE 2016

Deze week zijn in Londen het Serpentine Pavilion en vier Summer Houses geopend voor het publiek. Het paviljoen, de zestiende in de serie, is ontworpen door BIG. Het Nederlands-Nigeriaanse bureau Kunlé Adeyemi – NLÉ ontwierp een van de geabstraheerde zomerhuisjes.

Initiated by outgoing gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones, the Serpentine Gallery’s programme of pavilion building began at the turn of the century with a tensile structure by the late Zaha Hadid. Sixteen years later, and the pavilion is a highlight of the summer calendar, both in terms of its creative direction and as a venue for… Continue reading WALLPAPER – JUNE 2016

in addition to the 16th annual pavilion designed by bjarke ingels, four summer houses realized by kunlé adeyemi, barkow leibinger, yona friedman, and asif khan form part of 2016’s ‘serpentine architecture programme’. the temporary structures are inspired by queen caroline’s temple, a nearby classical style summer house built in 1734. rather than using models, drawings,… Continue reading DESIGNBOOM – JUNE 2016

Makoko Floating School shortlisted for Aga Khan Award for Architecture. An alternative building system that provides space for education and cultural programmes in Africa’s coastal regions. Some 80,000 people reside in Makoko, in a stilt settlement south of Lagos, built over water, served by only one English-speaking primary school on reclaimed land susceptible to flooding.… Continue reading Aga Khan Development Framework – May 2016

There is always much to make one feel angry and discouraged and the Venice Architecture Biennale (more on that later). But then something unexpected and magical happens to save the day and remind us why this event (and city) is so special and worth coming to every year. NLÉ‘s Makoko Floating School project is well… Continue reading The Architects Newspaper – May 2016

Beguiling images of the Makoko Floating School in Lagos, Nigeria, have been a ubiquitous presence on design blogs of late. But Lagos is not easy to get to, and here, Aravena has made it possible for the Biennale’s many visitors to explore this modest structure at first hand. He tapped Kunlé Adeyemi and his firm,… Continue reading ARTNET NEWS – MAY 2016

During the venice architecture biennale, the silver lion for a promising young participant was awarded to NLÉ works (kunlé adeyemi) for the ‘makoko floating school’ ‘for a powerful demonstration, be it in lagos or in venice, that architecture, at once iconic and pragmatic, can amplify the importance of education.’

NLÉ received the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition Reporting From the Front for his Makoko Floating School. The jury cited, “a powerful demonstration, be it in Lagos or in Venice, that architecture, at once iconic and pragmatic, can amplify the importance of education.”

Venice Architecture Biennale 2016: Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi has been awarded the Silver Lion for bringing his floating school to the Venice Biennale, as part of his ongoing research into building for flood-prone regions.

CCTV Africa visit Makoko Floating School to speak to the headmaster Noah Shemede and his students about their experiences since attending class there.

Thomson Reuters capture some candid photographs of a typical day at Makoko Floating School

An aid-funded floating school is a beacon of hope for the Makoko fishing community in Nigeria.

Instead of simply building flood defences, designers are beginning to create structures and buildings that embrace water.

‘Lagos shows how a city can recover from a deep, deep pit’: Rem Koolhaas talks to Kunlé Adeyemi In 1997 two architects set out to rethink Lagos, an African megacity that had been largely abandoned by the state. Amid the apparent chaos and crime, they discovered remarkable patterns of organisation. Two decades later, Rem Koolhaas… Continue reading THE GUARDIAN – FEBRUARY 2016

Earlier this month, news of the expanded Serpentine Pavilion sent ripples of excitement through the capital, and now we’ve been granted a first look at the main pavilion and accompanying four Summer Houses taking shape this summer.

unveiled at the same time as this year’s serpentine pavilion design by bjarke ingels group (BIG), four other architects have been commissioned to present their version of a summer house/folly. the expanded program intends to introduce contemporary architecture to a wider audience with the design of a summer house which references a classical building by… Continue reading Designboom – February 2016

Climate change, urbanization and floodings: the aquatic city of Makoko, Nigeria.

In a village stricken with poverty, the Makoko Floating School in Lagos serves as an educational model of how to build prosperous communities on the water.

In tandem with the 16th Pavilion in 2016, the Serpentine Galleries has expanded its internationally acclaimed programme of exhibiting architecture in a built form by commissioning four architects to each design a 25sqm Summer House. The four Summer Houses are inspired by the nearby Queen Caroline’s Temple, a classical style summer house, built in 1734… Continue reading SERPENTINE GALLERY – FEBRUARY 2016

7 Architects Bridging Cultures “Doing architecture is listening.” Some of the greatest architects of our time – from Peter Zumthor to Jean Nouvel and Diébédo Francis Kéré – here share their inspirational thoughts on what it is that makes global architecture work.

A major new prize aimed to discover the best new buildings from around the globe is being unveiled today (8 December) by the RIBA, and proudly partnered with Wallpaper*. The 2016 RIBA International Prize will honour a building which exemplifies design excellence and architectural ambition, and delivers meaningful social impact.
On the prestigious judging panel, chaired by Richard Rogers, is Nigerian-born Kunle Adeyemi, an inspiring young architect, whose firm NLÉ is based in Amsterdam.

A floating school is giving the children of a fishing community in Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria, the chance of a better life. The BBC’s Martin Patience went to speak to some of the pupils about their aspirations.

They are buildings in which to teach and learn – but they can be magnificent too. Jonathan Glancey discusses some of the most stunning seats of learning.

When architect Kunlé Adeyemi designed a floating school in Lagos, Nigeria – which captured global attention – it was a sort of homecoming for him. He began life near water, nearly 800km north of Lagos in Kaduna, which means crocodile in the Hausa language, as the river running through his home city was indeed dotted with lounging reptiles.

Rising sea levels in some of Africa’s largest cities are leaving water slum residents vulnerable to flooding, this is according to Kunle Adeyemi, developer of the Makoko Floating School, an innovative new form of architecture that could revolutionise water communities in Nigeria.

The final lakefront kiosk, titled “Rock” and designed by Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi in association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has unmistakable echoes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater house. Among them is a platform that will cantilever over protective rock walls at Lincoln Park’s Montrose Beach.