Design
Award-winning architecture firm travels to the megaliths of Senegal
Atelier masōmī was chosen from four African architect firms to design a museum that aims to be a centre of repatriated African art and community development
The award-winning architecture firm atelier masōmī, has been selected by a jury to lead the design of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Le Korsa cultural centre and museum in Koalack, Senegal. Bët-bi, a space of community, culture, and knowledge, is based in the historic city and will comprise exhibition and events spaces, community rooms and a library.
Founder of atelier masōmī Mariam Issoufou Kamara is an architect from Niger and was chosen from a shortlist of four African architectural firms, which included Aziza Chaouni Projects (Fez and Toronto), MASS Design Group (Rwanda and global) and Meskerem Assegued and Elias Sime (Addis Ababa). Bët-bi, meaning “the eye” in Wolof will be a 1,000m2 space built in Koalack in the Senegambia region of West Africa, which is renowned for four Unesco World Heritage sites and remarkable ancient stone megaliths.
“It is a great honour and a privilege to be selected to lead the design of Bët-bi. For far too long our region has been a place where cultural wealth is pillaged to profit museum collections. This project is an opportunity to design a new type of space that is inspired by the roots and spiritual legacy of the region. It is a chance to push the boundaries of what defines a museum in the 21st century,” said Kamara.
Nicholas Fox Weber, executive director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and founder and president of Le Korsa says: “Bët-bi will be an institution where everyone, regardless of background, can celebrate and experience the unequalled wonders of visual art. People who may never before have entered a museum as well as international visitors will have the chance to enjoy art that relates to the culture of the Sahel and to experience it as an essential respite from life's inevitable hardships. The universality of great art — whether ancient, contemporary, local to Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Diaspora, or from entirely different cultures — will be celebrated in a milieu that is inviting, friendly, and accessible to all. We are thrilled with Mariam Kamara as the unanimous choice of our distinguished architectural jury. Her profound respect for local traditions, keen awareness and knowledge of environmental impact, and an eye for visual beauty will result in a building sure to help revitalise the economy of the region, providing the benefits well demonstrated from other new cultural institutions in locations with minimal previous tourism. Bët-bi will demonstrate Josef Albers’s maxim of ‘minimal means for maximum effect’ and Anni Albers's faith in ‘art that is universal and timeless’.”