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In September 2026, Nairobi will become the epicenter of a major event for African architecture. From September 7, 2026, the iconic Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) will host the inaugural Pan-African Architecture Biennale (PAB 2026), the first continental biennale dedicated to architecture across Africa’s 54 countries.
Curated by architect Omar Degan (Somali-Italian and founder of DO Architecture Group), the biennale is titled “Shifting the Center: From Fragility to Resilience”. This theme represents a radical act of repositioning: moving from narratives that have portrayed Africa as a periphery or a space of “fragility” to a continent that recognizes itself as a center of spatial intelligence, ecological knowledge, innovation, and future-making.
According to Degan and the organizers, the biennale seeks to reclaim authorship, visibility, and agency for African architects in the global discourse. It is not just about showcasing projects, but about challenging inherited narratives of colonization and building a decolonized perspective led from Africa. The event will bring together voices from across the continent and its diaspora to discuss urgent issues such as climate change, vernacular intelligence, reparative practices, and collectively imagined African futures.
The inaugural week’s program will include exhibitions, installations, keynote dialogues, assemblies, public encounters, and satellite events throughout the city. Among the confirmed participants are studios and architects from countries such as Angola (Banga Coletivo), Senegal (Worofila Collective), Rwanda (MASS Design), South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Morocco, and many others, representing a wide geographical and cultural diversity.
This first edition not only marks a milestone, but also lays the foundation for a rotating biennale that will be held in different African countries in future editions. As the official organization states: “Africa builds, thinks, and leads, and always has. This is not just about architecture. It is about who has the right to define the future.”
The KICC, an emblematic modernist building from the 1970s, serves as a particularly symbolic venue: a space born from post-independence optimism that now hosts the moment when Africa recenters its own architectural narrative.
If you are interested in architecture that transcends the formal to become a tool for critical thinking, identity, and resilience, the Pan-African Architecture Biennale 2026 promises to be one of the most important events of the next decade.
