There’s a new kid on the festival block; the Pan-African Architecture Biennale will launch its inaugural edition in Nairobi, Kenya, on 1 September 2026, it has just been announced. The event – the first of its kind – is set to serve as an important platform for discourse and experimentation in the African continent, and is curated by Somali-Italian architect Omar Degan (whose past works include Arbe, a Somali café for the community in Mogadishu) and spearheaded by the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) and its president, architect George A Ndege.
What to expect at the Pan-African architecture biennale in 2026
The event will be held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). It is ‘a deeply symbolic site, built in the early years of Kenya’s independence and long associated with pan-African unity’, Degan flags. ‘Just as symbolic is the fact that Kenya now allows citizens of nearly all African nations to visit without prior authorisation,’ he continues. ‘Unlike many international events, where African participants are shut out by visa regimes, this biennale guarantees African access. And that matters.’
Degan is keen to create a biennale that ‘belongs to all of Africa’. We caught up with him to find out more about his vision, the event’s wider mission, and what we can expect to see there.
Discussing the Pan-African architecture biennale 2026 with curator Omar Degan
Wallpaper*: Talk to us about the theme and main concept for the biennale.
Omar Degan: The title of this Biennale is: ‘Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience’. This is not just a curatorial line – it’s a political position. It challenges the outdated global lens that sees Africa as fragile, passive, or dependent. In truth, Africa is not developing. Africa is recovering – from centuries of extraction, colonial violence, and deliberate marginalisation. This biennale is an act of re-centring, a call to reclaim space, and a declaration that Africa’s architectural knowledge, cities, and technologies are not just relevant – they are essential. It is time the world stopped looking at Africa as a place to help and started learning from it.
W*: Why is this event important at this point in time? What is its significance?
OD: Because Africa is the future – and yet the world continues to treat it as a footnote. This contradiction is no longer sustainable. Africa is the cradle of humanity, the source of ancient knowledge systems, and the engine of tomorrow’s global growth. It holds the youngest population on Earth and will account for half of the world’s population increase by 2050. Its cities – Lagos, Kinshasa, Nairobi, Dakar – are expanding faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. Its lands fuel the green transition, rich in cobalt, lithium, rare earths, water, and arable soil. And yet, Africa is still depicted as behind. This is not underdevelopment – it is misrepresentation. A false narrative, deliberately crafted to sustain centuries of exploitation and silence. Architecture is no exception. Global discourse continues to sideline African design unless it conforms to Western fantasies: decorative, nostalgic, exotic.
Read the full article here: Wallpaper
