2015
Edited by Manuel Herz

12.6 x 9.25 inches
640 pages, 963 illustrations
hardcover

The late 1950s and early 1960s saw a large number of central and sub-Saharan African countries gaining independence, and one of the key ways in which they expressed their newly established national identity was through distinctive architecture. Parliament buildings, stadiums, universities, central banks, convention centers, and other major public buildings and housing projects were built in daring, even heroic designs—markers of the bright future these nations envisioned after independence.

African Modernism is the first book to take a close look at the relationship between these cutting-edge architectural projects and the processes of nation building in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zambia. Presenting some seven hundred color photographs by celebrated photographers Iwan Baan and Alexia Webster and insightful analyses of the interactions of architectural innovation and developing national political and social cultures, African Modernism will be of interest to historians of architecture and Africa alike.