The renovation of the Africa Hall building in Addis Ababa, carried out by the Australian studio Architectus, reported the Dezeen.
Photo: Rory Gardiner
The ten-year restoration was completed in 2024. The building, which opened in 1961, was designed by Italian architect Arturo Mezzedimi as the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Architectus’ task was to preserve key elements of the modernist structure while adapting it to the modern needs of a diplomatic center.
Photo: Rory Gardiner
As part of the restoration, experts reinforced the concrete structures, restored the mosaic surfaces, and restored the stained glass windows created by Ethiopian artist Afewek Tekle. They also restored more than 500 original pieces of furniture designed by Metzedimi.
The building's interiors, decorated with Carrara marble and local Ethiopian stone, have important historical significance: it was here that the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union, was founded in 1963.
Photo: Rory Gardiner
"Africa Hall is one of the most important monuments of modernist architecture on the continent. It combined international architectural ideas with local identity at a key moment of decolonization and the emergence of national autonomy," said jury chairman Barry Bergdoll, a professor at Columbia University.
According to him, the restoration has restored the clarity of Mezzedimi's design, re-emphasizing the ambition, craftsmanship, and symbolic power of this building as an iconic space of African diplomacy.
Photo: Rory Gardiner
Africa Hall became the first building on the African continent to win this award.
The award ceremony will take place on February 18 during Modernism Week in Palm Springs, USA. The award was established in 2008 as part of the World Monuments Fund's Modernism Program to recognize exemplary practices in the preservation of modernist heritage.
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