A traveling exhibition opening next week at Chicago's Graham Foundation shines a big spotlight on design in Africa. Architecture of Independence: African Modernism (opening January 29) documents more than 50 experimental buildings, in Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, through which emerging nations expressed their national identities after their independence in the 1960s. The show, which premiered at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, was curated by architect and author Manuel Herz and includes photographs by Iwan Baan. Click through our slideshow to view a sampling of the work in the exhibition.
Exhibition Gives New Perspective to African Design
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/1.jpg?t=1465999898&width=1080)
Hotel Ivoire, Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), by Heinz Fenchel and Thomas Leiterdorf, 1962-1970
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/2.jpg?t=1453414964&width=1080)
La Pyramide, Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), by Rinaldo Olivieri, 1973
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/3.jpg?t=1453414990&width=1080)
Hotel Independence, Dakar (Senegal), by Henri Chomette and Roland Depret, 1973-1978
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/4.jpg?t=1453415045&width=1080)
FIDAK - Foire Internationale de Dakar, Dakar (Senegal), by Jean Francois Lamoureux & Jean-Louis Marin, 1974
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/5.jpg?t=1453415010&width=1080)
University of Zambia - UNZA, Lusaka (Zambia),by Julian Elliott, 1965-1970
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/6.jpg?t=1453415065&width=1080)
Mfantsipim School (Ausschnitt), Cape Coast (Ghana), by Fry, Drew and Partners, 1958
Photo © Manuel Herz
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/7.jpg?t=1453415086&width=1080)
Independence Arch, Accra (Ghana) by the Public Works Departments, 1961
Photo © Manuel Herz
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/8.jpg?t=1453415105&width=1080)
Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi (Kenya), by Karl Henrik Nostvik, 1967-1973
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/9.jpg?t=1453415132&width=1080)
Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi (Kenya), by Karl Henrik Nostvik, 1967-1973
Photo © Iwan Baan
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/10.jpg?t=1453415149&width=1080)
School of Engineering at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), Kumasi (Ghana), by James Cubitt, 1956
Photo © Alexia Webster
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/11.jpg?t=1453415169&width=1080)
Stadium at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), Kumasi (Ghana), by KNUST Development Office, 1964-1967
Photo © Alexia Webster
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