Two exhibitions currently on view at the Vitra Design Museum shine a big spotlight on design in Africa. One explores the present: how design is promoting political and economic change through every medium from graphic design to architecture. Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design (through September 9, 2015) features the architecture of Francis Kéré, objects by Cheik Diallo, and work from designers of many disciplines.The other traces the past. Architecture of Independence: African Modernism (through May 31, 2015) 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 exhibition was curated by architect and author Manuel Herz and includes photographs by Iwan Baan. Click through the slideshow to view a sampling of the work in the two exhibitions.
Two Exhibitions Give 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
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/12.jpg?height=720&t=1457118337)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/13.jpg?height=720&t=1457118328)
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![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/16.jpg?t=1457118601&width=1080)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/17.jpg?t=1457118459&width=1080)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/18.jpg?t=1457118470&width=1080)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/19.jpg?height=720&t=1457118482)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/20.jpg?t=1457118493&width=1080)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/21.jpg?height=720&t=1457118503)
![Architecture of Independence: African Modernism](https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/news/2015/03/images/slideshow/150317/22.jpg?height=720&t=1457118514)