Tosin Oshinowo
Director, cmdesign Atelier
FOR HELPING A COMMUNITY RETURN HOME IN OCTOBER 2022, THE PEOPLE OF the northern Nigerian community of Ngarannam moved back to their village after a long, forced exile at the hands of the violent insurgent group Boko Haram, which attacked the village with machetes and machine guns in 2015, driving residents away. What they found upon their Un-aided return was both familiar and unexpected: a modest grid of homes for hundreds of families built from local materials and in the vernacular style, but all brand new and with the comfort and amenities of 21st-century buildings, including ventilation and solar power.
The design, by Lagos-based architect Tosin Oshinowo and her small firm cmdesign Atelier, is seen by the UN’S Development Programme as a model for restoring villages destroyed by the insurgency. Oshinowo’s approach focused on re-creating the homes the agrarian villagers knew while learning what else they needed to thrive, both inside their homes and out in the community. In the savanna of Ngarannam, that’s resulted in dozens of blocks of walled homes oriented around a central shaded gathering space and market. About 350 families have moved in so far, and more than 100 others will soon.
Oshinowo, who had previously focused mainly on private residences and commercial spaces, approached the Ngarannam village project in the same way as she would a beach house or a retailer’s flagship store—by learning as much as possible about the lives of the people who would use it. She met with the village’s men first, per the Muslim community’s customs, and then the women. “I spent a lot of time just observing and asking questions, which I think is very important as an architect,” she says. Her design reflects their needs, from spaces where fishermen can sell their fresh catches to the walled homes with small reception rooms on the periphery to receive nonfamily guests. Ultimately, Oshinowo says, it was about enabling “life to continue as it would have if not for the insurgency.”