The Ngarannam Revival

Tosin Oshinowo has rebuilt a Nigerian village destroyed by Boko Haram: a project imagined with the community, who wants to return to live there.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Nigerian government have identified the reconstruction of the village of Ngarannam, in the north of the country, as the pivot of the project to resettle an area devastated by the attacks of Boko Haram in 2015 The plan to rebuild more than 500 houses, a school, a market and a clinic has been entrusted to the Nigerian Tosin Oshinowo, recently named curator of the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial. a sustainable and adaptable design, she has worked with local communities to come up with buildings that respect the culture of the Kanouri people. Built in a radial pattern around the public buildings, the individual houses were equipped with a zaure, a room that separates the private and public spaces of the dwelling. The roofs are a mixture of earth, to reduce costs and ensure better maintenance by the inhabitants. The palette of the project, from the ocher walls to the green and yellow roofs of the future market and agora, was agreed with the locals, in order to make it as welcoming as possible in the eyes of the displaced, who wish to return to the region.