Aziza Chaouni Projects

The architectural practice of Aziza Chaouni Projects has evolved around the conservation and adaptive reuse of three publicly owned modernist buildings from West Africa’s post-independence era: The Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Station (Morocco, 1960–1965), La Maison du Peuple (Burkina Faso, 1965), and Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal (1974).
The complexity of each site necessitated a methodology based on listening and exchange, and a commitment to collaborative design with owners, operators, and communities. Modern West Africa: Recorded reveals each site through stakeholder testimonies, understanding the past and present in order to speculate on the future. International conservation movements have decentred African modernism, with no works appearing on the UNESCO World Heritage List, leaving them unprotected and underfunded. Recognising these histories is key at a moment when Africa faces change.

Team
Dana Salama, Madeline August, Aahd Benchaouch
Authorial collaborators
Aissatou Diallo, Babacar Sene, Cheikh Amar, Dahouda Ouedroago, Jean Francois Lamoureux, Jean-Louis Marin, Madame Zahra, Michel Faublée, Mourtada Gueye, Zineb Tazi, Clementine Braud, Harouna Ramde, Hermann Yempabou, Josepha Safiatou Wendlamita, Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, Zahra Sadok, Driss Sadok, Boutaina Sadok
Technical collaborators
Amélie Essesse, Andreea Muscurel, Arnaud Lambert, Elyse Fitte-Duval, Mourtada Gueye, Nelson Roubert, Rosine Arzoumpoko Kiéma, Saiba Baguian, Serge Herbert Ilboudo, Seyni Ba, Zineb Tazi, Makhfou, Mamounata Nikiema, Mousa Mohamed Ouedraogo, Blanchard Ramde, Saidou Derra, Jupiter Sodre
With the additional support of
The Getty Conservation Institute (Antoine Wilmering, Senior Program Officer), World Monuments Fund (Project Directors Javier Ors Ausín, Stephen Battle), The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, African Futures Institute