Baba Oladeji

Nigeria

Recognised by Conde Nast as one of the ‘5 Nigerian Architects You Should Know’, Anthony Baba- Oladeji is an architect who is interested in documenting, rebuilding and restoring communities for over 133 million poor Nigerians who are constantly at risk of displacement due to gentrification, environmental disasters, armed conflict, and terrorism.

After receiving his architectural education at Nigeria’s University of Lagos and University of Brighton (UK), he started Design Party, an alternative, architecture-led political agency, intervening in politics of the day via varied modes of architectural production. Fela Memorial Force HQ Obalende (2016) and Stomach Infrastructure Bank (2018) - were the products of this brief exploration.

As Director at Ministry of Architecture, he pursues a teaching hospital model to make live architectural projects into sites of inquiry for students of architecture. Ongoing projects include Displo, a portable housing prototype designed to be airlifted for disaster – prone communities in Northern Nigeria and Abeokuta 155 - a proposed agile community of 155 houses for a middle-class cooperative in Abeokuta, SW Nigeria.

He was Artistic Director of Revolving Art Incubator (RAI) in 2019 and has been invited to speak at MIT Architecture, British Council Lagos, and Open House Lagos.

Alongside architectural practice, he is the Founder of A3: Archives of African Architectures project, documenting the built environment in Africa for today and future generations of architects where they formed a knowledge joint venture with Archnet, Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT Libraries (AKDC @ MIT).