PODCASTS > Arcat Detailed Podcast Episode

135: Rammed Earth Construction | Museum of West African Art (MOWAA)

59m 41s |

In this episode, Cherise is joined by Ken Faulkner, Associate Principal at Adjaye Associates in their Accra, Ghana office. Adjaye has offices in New York, London, and Accra. They discuss the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Nigeria.

Tucked within the historic moats of Benin City, Nigeria, the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) Institute emerges as a contemporary landmark deeply grounded in tradition. Built from rammed earth and other locally sourced materials, this low-lying, thoughtfully designed structure marks the first chapter of MOWAA’s ambitious Creative Campus. It stands as both a pioneering example of sustainable architecture and a tribute to the cultural legacy of the Benin Kingdom.

Ken Faulkner, Associate Principal, Adjaye Associates

Ken is an Associate Principal at Adjaye Associates, where he currently oversees projects throughout Africa after initially joining the London studio.

With over 30 years of experience in designing and delivering complex international projects, Ken previously served as a director at both Kohn Pederson Fox and Foster + Partners.

He is Adjaye Associates expert on rammed earth construction and has worked on some of the most innovative uses of the technique around the world, including the King Salman Park Visitor Centre, Riyadh; the Barbados National Heritage District, and the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria.

Project Name and Location: Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria.

The Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) Institute is an impressive single-storey rammed-earth building in Benin City, Nigeria.

The first phase of the MOWAA campus to be constructed, the building will provide around 4,000 square metres of state-of-the-art facilities for archaeological research conservation and public programming.

At its heart will be the atrium exhibition gallery, with views into the collection study area. Other areas include a 100-seat auditorium, conference rooms, conservation laboratories, a library, and an outdoor amphitheatre.

Set within the ancient moats of the Benin Kingdom, the rammed-earth construction links the building to the West African heritage that will be honored by MOWAA throughout the Creative Campus.

The building also serves as a model for the care and preservation of the many other mud-wall structures in Benin City and meets global standards of sustainability.

A building made of the earth, using as many locally sourced materials as possible

Rammed earth is used for load bearing walls which is (we think) unprecedented at this scale

High performance building

Green roof, low energy lighting, skylights for natural light, low carbon concrete, external louvres, high performance double glazing, PVs on the roof, grey water collection, roof overhang for passive shading, rammed earth walls for reduced embodied carbon and for thermal mass temperature control, biodiverse landscaping.

The new MOWAA draws inspiration from its historical architectural typologies and establishes its own courtyard in the form of a public garden, exhibiting a variety of indigenous flora and a canopy that offers shade â a welcoming green environment suitable for gatherings, ceremonies and events.
The galleries float above the gardens and are articulated by a series of elevated volumes â an inversion of the courtyard typology â within each of which sit pavilions which take their form from fragments of reconstructed historic compounds.

These fragments allow the objects themselves to be arranged in their pre-colonial context and offer visitors the opportunity to better understand the true significance of these artefacts within the traditions, political economy and rituals enshrined within the culture of Benin City.

A new dedicated space, MOWAA will contain the rich, regal and sacred objects of Beninâs past, in a way that allows visitors not just the possibility of "looking in" but "looking out" into the visual landscape of imagining the once historic borders of a restored ancient kingdom.