AIST-Abuja Campus
African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST)
Abuja, Nigeria
2006
Client: Nelson Mandela Institute
Total Area: 240,000 m²
Architect: Massimilano Fuksas
Consultants: Arup Italia
The African Institute of Science and Technology has as its main inspiration principle the effort to foster Africa’s economic, social and political growth and development through the promotion of excellence in education. The Institute will address all the requirements of a modern world class academic centre, including teaching buildings, research facilities, residential space, a hotel, sport facilities and the associated infrastructure.
The site is on a green field plot between the city of Abuja and Nnamdi Asikiwe International Airport, with a design aspiring to wisely combine African tradition and cultural values with innovation applied to construction and cutting edge building management.
The buildings are organised along the main pedestrian axis, which crosses Nelson Mandela Square. The paved areas on the square are engraved with Mandela’s words to inspire new generations to build the peaceful common future of Africa.
“…Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor; that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine; that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
The Architecture adapts to the geography as a patchwork of African weavings.
The campus is arranged around a central axis which points to Aso Rock. Aso, means “victorious” in the language of the (now displaced) Asokoro (“the people of victory”). A visual axis towards the holy rock, a path that will drive students to their individual “victories”, to become the outstanding professionals who will use their knowledge and leadership to transform local communities and improve the human condition across the African continent.
Constructed from local timber, stone and brick, campus buildings will incorporate sustainable technologies, such as water harvesting and photovoltaic technology. Traditional textile patterns and African “red earth” structures inspired Fuksas’s design: In plan view, residential quarters are designed as long, sinuous interconnecting shapes. Individual faculty complexes, each one different from the other, comprise buildings grouped around internal streets and courtyards. Vertical openings in the buildings’ timber skin will filter light and promote natural ventilation.
