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Architects of Liberation: Modernism’s Transformation of Western Africa

A new exhibition at MoMA celebrates the visionary buildings that defined an era of independence across Western Africa, from Lagos to Abidjan, revealing how modernist architects shaped the optimism of newly liberated nations.

By Peter LynchSaturday, 7th of November 20262 min read
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Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground
The Museum of Modern Art (@themuseumofmodernart)

Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa captures a transformative moment when buildings became manifestos. On the Museum of Modern Art’s third floor through January 2, 2027, curators Martino Stierli and Mallory Cohen have assembled seven projects that frame the architectural ambitions of newly independent nations, each one a bold statement in concrete, steel and glass.

Installation view of Architects of Liberation exhibition showing ochre and cream coloured display cases containing architectural models and archival photographs on the Museum's third floor, with images projected on the upper wall

The exhibition opens a conversation rarely centred in Western discourse: how African modernism drew from local traditions whilst embracing international idiom, creating something entirely distinct. These were not imported aesthetics applied wholesale, but rather a synthesis born from the urgency of nation building. Architects working across Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal designed libraries, civic centres and residential towers that spoke to their own contexts and futures.

Black and white exterior photograph of La Pyramide in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a distinctive stepped pyramidal modernist tower with horizontal striations, surrounded by other commercial buildings and city streets, designed by Rinaldo Olivieri, 1968 to 1973

La Pyramide in Abidjan, designed by Italian architect Rinaldo Olivieri and completed between 1968 and 1973, stands as perhaps the most visually audacious of these structures. Its stepped pyramidal form simultaneously evokes ancient Egypt and the thatched dwellings of the Senufo people, a gesture towards both heritage and modernity. Within its geometric envelope lay apartments, offices, shops and a panoramic restaurant: a microcosm of urban life during the Ivorian economic boom.

Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground

The curation is meticulous, grounded in archival photography, architectural drawings and models that reveal the hand of the designer and the specificity of each commission. The exhibition space itself, with its ochre and cream tones, holds the material culture of modernist aspiration: blueprints, renderings, and documentary images that speak to a moment when African cities looked forward with unmistakable confidence.

Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground

This is scholarship made visible, and it matters. For too long, modernism has been narrated as a European and American story. Architects of Liberation corrects that perspective with grace and rigour, restoring to view the vision of architects whose work shaped the skylines of their nations and deserves recognition in the global architectural canon.

Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground

Imagery courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art (@themuseumofmodernart).

Installation view of Architects of Liberation exhibition showing ochre and cream coloured display cases containing architectural models and archival photographs on the Museum's third floor, with images projected on the upper wall
Black and white exterior photograph of La Pyramide in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a distinctive stepped pyramidal modernist tower with horizontal striations, surrounded by other commercial buildings and city streets, designed by Rinaldo Olivieri, 1968 to 1973
Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground
Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground
Black and white photograph of the Central Library at the University of Ife, Nigeria, designed by Harold Rubin, showing modernist concrete forms with a distinctive circular opening and horizontal bands, two figures walking on a wide plaza in the foreground

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