Open call: the inside track on RIBA International Prize with Kunle Adeyemi

A major new prize aimed to discover the best new buildings from around the globe is being unveiled today (8 December) by the RIBA, and proudly partnered with Wallpaper*. The 2016 RIBA International Prize will honour a building which exemplifies design excellence and architectural ambition, and delivers meaningful social impact.
On the prestigious judging panel, chaired by Richard Rogers, is Nigerian-born Kunle Adeyemi, an inspiring young architect, whose firm NLÉ is based in Amsterdam.
Adeyemi's work and outlook epitomise the new award's ambitions. 'Social impact is an important aspect of architecture today,' he says, 'because it addresses some of the critical issues of our time: urbanisation and globalisation.'
NLÉ's ground-breaking Makoko Floating School floats on the lagoon in the Nigerian city Lagos, where Adeyemi studied architecture. He is now looking to expand that project with recreational and commercial infrastructures 'to enhance and improve the living conditions on the waterfront.'
Other urban and architecture projects in Africa include the Chicoco Radio Media Centre, an amphibious building in the Nigerian Delta city of Port Harcourt. 'As well as a radio station, there will be an amphitheatre, which will act as a public space to be used for cinema or a market,' he says, 'a structure that brings people together.'
Adeyemi's previous experience at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture will also stand him in good stead as a judge. He led a number of significant OMA projects, including China's Shenzhen Stock Exchange tower.
The RIBA International Prize jury is on the hunt for projects that stretch the boundaries of architecture, regardless of style, complexity or size. 'For me, size is not about direct physical scale, it's about the quality and impact of the work and the thought that's been put into it,' says Adeyemi. 'It's important to rethink the criteria for excellence in these critical times.'
The 2016 RIBA International Prize opens for entries today, while more the names of the remaining jury panel members will be unveiled in January 2016.
The kiosk design, named Rock, was created in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The architect’s projects in Africa include the Chicoco Radio Media Centre, an amphibious building in the Nigerian Delta city of Port Harcourt.
The scheme is designed to host a radio station, but also can become an open air amphitheatre and public space for cinema or a market.
NLÉ’s ground-breaking Makoko Floating School can be found on the lagoon in the Nigerian city of Lagos.
Built for the coastal water community of Makoko, the structure draws on local vernacular and units raised on stilts.
Working with Lagos’ local, tropical climate, Adeyemi and his team suggest an alternative approach to the traditional division between public and private functions.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
The prototype floating structure will primarily serve as a school.
Adeyemi is now looking to expand that project with recreational and commercial infrastructures.
Credit Direct Limited is one of the fastest growing microfinance banks in Nigeria and NLÉ worked on the proposal for their new headquarters.
The design creates a building that brings together all the bank’s functions but also becomes a building that is open and approachable to the public.
INFORMATION
For more information on NLÉ visit the website
Images by NLÉ
Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.
-
Inside MAZE Design Basel the city's new design fair
With only 11 exhibitors and the backdrop of a Swiss Gothic Revival church, MAZE Design Basel is a new intimate art fair for those in the know
-
A contemporary concrete and glass Belgian house is intertwined with its forested site
A new Belgian house, Govaert-Vanhoutte Architecten’s Residence SAB, brings refined modernist design into a sylvan setting, cleverly threading a multilayered new home between existing trees
-
The Grand Palais is a Parisian architectural feast, emerging from a mammoth restoration project
The Grand Palais reopens, unfurling its spectacular architectural splendour, meticulously restored by Chatillon Architectes – take a tour
-
A new London exhibition explores the legacy of Centre Pompidou architect Richard Rogers
‘Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings’ – opening tomorrow at Sir John Soane’s Museum – examines Rogers’ high-tech icons, which proposed a democratic future for architecture
-
The 2025 Obel Award is scooped not by an architect or building, but by a movement
HouseEurope! has won the 2025 Obel Award; the non-profit organisation has been advocating for ecological and social transformation in the built environment
-
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa on harmony, nature and their RIBA gong
The SANAA duo are celebrating their RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 in London today, and talked to us about self-reflection, the year ahead, and the need to create harmony in our environment
-
Liu Jiakun wins 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize: explore the Chinese architect's work
Liu Jiakun, 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, is celebrated for his 'deep coherence', quality and transcendent architecture
-
Young Climate Prize 2025 winners: the creatives designing for a better tomorrow
The winners for the Young Climate Prize 2025 cycle by The World Around have been announced, crowning a new generation of changemakers; we go behind the scenes and reveal the process and winners
-
And the RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 goes to... SANAA!
The RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2025 winner is announced – Japanese studio SANAA scoops the prestigious architecture industry accolade
-
The RIBA House of the Year 2024 winner is a delightful work in progress
The winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2024 is Six Columns in south London – the home of architect and 31/44 studio co-founder William Burges
-
RIBA International Prize 2024 goes to 'radical housing' in Barcelona
RIBA International Prize 2024 has been announced, and the winner is Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing in Cornellà, designed by Peris + Toral Arquitectes in Barcelona