In 2019, Studio Contra was engaged to design an iconic new building to house the Institute of Contemporary African Art & Film in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State in North Central Nigeria. The government-backed project is intended as a catalyst for cultural production in Kwara and has now reached practical completion. The site will eventually be, fully landscaped, the interiors fitted out and the building opened to the public with active exhibitions, events and workshops.
A collection of modular volumes rather than a single mass, the building has multiple interior courtyards which bring light and air deep into the plan and collect rainwater from the swooping roofs for use in the landscape. The shape of the roof, derived from the pointed arch, is typical of much of the Islamic architecture found in this region of Nigeria. A recognisable signifier of 'civicness' and the public realm, the arch has been applied, in a contemporised fashion, to the porticoes around the building and inverted to form the roof curvature in patterns of repetition.
The spaces have been photographed in their 'low energy mode', with natural lighting throughout and the option of natural cross ventilation from high clerestory windows to low courtyard glazing; this was key to enabling a relatively modest cost of operation.
We look forward to seeing the spaces filled with art, screenings and other activities in the near future.
[Photographs by Tolulope Sanusi]
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