“Afrocentric Architecture - Introduction Importance and Impact”
David Hughes - Professor at Kent State University
Nmadili Okwumabua - Principal of DHC Architects, Founder of CPDI Africa Global Studio
Nmadili Okwumabua is a Professor of African Architecture and Urban Design and the founder of the Community Planning and Design Initiative Africa (CPDI Africa). Her passion for design is rooted in a vision where communities in Africa and the Diaspora are developed with new architectural languages that are culturally and are environmentally sustainable. Nmadili attended the University of Tennessee and Georgia State University, where she pursued her undergraduate studies in architecture and urban studies. She holds a Masters degree in African Studies from Clark Atlanta University, where her research focused on the evolution of Nigerian modern vernacular architecture in the works of master builder Demas Nwoko. She is a licensed Realtor in the state of Georgia and Certified Property Manager with Broll CBRE South Africa.
In 1999, she founded Southern Sahara USA, a design consultancy service specializing in the research and development of this new architecture. In 2013, she launched CPDI Africa, the culture-inspired initiative that promotes these new architectural languages though design competitions, lecture series, workshops, architecture exhibitions and international global studios for teaching African centered architecture. Cultivating a built environment career that has spanned over 25 years, Nmadili Okwumabua lives in Atlanta Georgia and Abuja Nigeria, where she continues to offer international consultancy services in urban design and real estate asset management.
David Hughes studied at Columbia University at the School of Architecture (Bachelor of Architecture), the City University of New York at the School of Architecture (Masters of Urban Planning), at Princeton University School of Architecture and Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs (Graduate Fellow). Professor Hughes has traveled to architectural sites throughout the world, including Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Beijing, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and many more over 54 years. His first trip to Africa, including Egypt culminated in a ten-venue lecture tour through Nigeria and Cameroon in 2019.
He maintains an independent practice, having completed over 50 built projects. He has been a faculty member at Kent State University since 1985 and was promoted to full professor in 1999. He has taught, lectured and researched Architecture on five continents and continues in academia. Professor Hughes received a Fulbright Scholar Award for Research and Teaching in Africa, 1990-1992. He established a theory – Afrocentric Architecture and has authored, Afrocentric Architecture: A Design Primer, Greyden Press, Columbus, Ohio 1994. Professor Hughes is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and advanced to the Council in 2018. He has been a member of the American Institute of Architects, since 1979 and was elevated to the College of Fellows in 2017.
