The flagship
Fragility
Fragility is not weakness. It is the condition most of the world builds in: after war, under climate stress, with little money and a great deal of memory. From the Horn of Africa to South America and South Asia, my architecture starts there.
Six conditions
Climate
Heat, drought, flood and the sea. Building with climate, not against it.
The Wave House of Hargeisa · Villa la Bianca
Conflict
What war breaks, and what a building can hold together after it.
Memorial 14 October
Memory
Heritage erased by war, kept alive in form, material and craft.
Salsabiil · Dabayl Complex · Memorial 14 October
Scarcity
Little money, few materials, urgent need. Dignity anyway.
Portable Clinic · Maternity Ward · House 0
Displacement
People who move, return or wait. Housing that travels with them.
Wadajir, with Forterra
Reconstruction
Cities rebuilding at speed. Public space, identity, the long view.
Arbe Cafe · Public Library, Las Anod · G-Complex
“Africa is not developing; Africa is recovering.”
Omar Degan, on the Pan-African Biennale, 2025
Three ways I work on it
Buildings in Somalia and Kenya; slum upgrading in Buenos Aires and Hong Kong; housing prototypes in Seattle. Each answers a fragile condition.
Fragility IndexCoastal resilience with Maryland Sea Grant, policy guidance for architecture in states of emergency, and the work of FragilityLab.
ResearchThe Pan-African Biennale. Edition I, Nairobi 2026: Shifting the Center, From Fragility to Resilience.
The Biennale