Archival Urge: Collecting Histories of Architecture

26th May 2022 | Birkbeck, University of London | Online Event

Archival Urge: Collecting Histories of Architecture from Africa and Diasporas

About the Symposium

Symposium celebrating three projects that 'collect' histories of architecture in different ways and exploring the diverse formats of archive-making.

'Archival Urge' is the second part of the symposium 'Document Fever' organised by the Architectural Association in collaboration with the Architecture Space & Society Centre, Birkbeck School of Arts on 25 February 2022. This time in partnership with KNUST, this panel aims to celebrate three projects that 'collect' histories of architecture in very different ways. We will think, amongst other questions, about the archival impulse/fever that made these projects coincide in time and space; the archival need to collect histories that are missing in architectural history; and the diverse formats of archive-making that these projects have taken or are taking.


1. Aalii to Zygomorphic (2020) by Rexford Assasie Oppong (KNUST)
2. Accra Architecture Archive (ongoing) led by Kuukuwa Manful (SOAS)
3. Sub-Saharan Africa: Architectural Guide (2021) Edited by Philipp Meuser and Adil Dalbai, with Livingstone Mukasa.