One of Ghana’s most important architects confirms participation as speaker of the 6th Brazil Africa Forum. Joseph Osae-Addo (a.k.a. Joe Addo) trained at the Architectural Association in London. He worked in Finland, the UK and the USA, setting up his practice in Los Angeles in 1991. He is a founding partner in the A + D Museum, Los Angeles, whose mission is to advance knowledge and to enable people to appreciate and understand architecture and design. Joe ran his studio in Los Angeles until he moved back to his native country. He is currently the CEO of Constructs R&D, an design firm based in Accra and Chairman of ArchiAfrika Foundation, an organization that aims to revitalize degraded urban areas on the African continent, starting with Accra.
He believes that architecture needs to engage beyond the narrow definition of “building”, with a results-driven approach. So, created the expression “inno-native” for an approach he is trying to apply to condo projects and low-cost housing elsewhere across Ghana. Combining the terms “innovative” and “native”, the “inno-native” architecture of the projects undertaken by Constructs pay special attention to what is important to local communities and how site, climate, materials, and weather interact to create designs and architectures that are suited to native conditions of the project.