African Design Magazine ADM #42 July 2018 | Page 48

ARCHITECT PROFILE
The World Innovation Awards 2018/
Le Monde Smart Cities with the
Lagos Wooden Tower in the Housing
& Urban Planning Category. The
same project scooped a number
of awards that included: Winner:
‘Architecture/Interior Category’ at
the Creative Conscience Awards; a
finalist at the Plan Awards (Future
Housing Category), Insipreli Awards
(Vision Category) and the MIPIM/
AR Future Project Awards (Future
Residential Category).
The company was shortlisted for the
WA Awards 27th cycle competition
with its Fine Flower- Heart of
Dubai design. This design was for
a complex of buildings related to
three important themes in Dubai as
the centre of a growing international
culture. Fine Flower was envisaged
as a series of flower skyscrapers
connected with a large heart and
exploring the relationship between
humanity, water, air and earth.
Kamte himself is the recipient
of several international awards
including being a finalist in the
World Architecture Festival 2017,
and winner in the Cultural Identity
category at the inaugural WAFX
competition. He exhibited his
research project ‘Lagos’s Wooden
Tower’ in London from 9 February
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AFRICAN DESIGN MAGAZINE © | JULY 2018
to 19 May 2018 at the Roca London
Gallery under the theme: Timber
Rising, as one of the new generation
pioneering wooden structures.
Kampte also delivered a keynote
talk at Architecture ZA (AZA) 2018,
organised by the South African
Institute of Architect, University of
Pretoria and Tshwane University
of Technology in Pretoria under
the Theme: ‘We The City: Memory
and Resilience’. He was also one of
the international judges at the PPC
Imaginarium Awards 2018, the most
prestigious student design prize in
southern Africa.
Kamte points out that the company
is not restricted to specific market
sectors but is open to trying its hand
in various modalities. Successful
projects underline this attitude
and include ‘The forgotten - dead
or alive’ - Lake Chad Resurgence
Humanitarian Research in
Cameroon; an affordable house
design for the homeless for Social
Re-Connection in Chicago, USA;
a Traditional Spline School for
Community Humanitarian Research
in Fachi, Niger; and a hybrid wooden
structure for ‘Smart Buildings For
Resilient Cities’ in Cameroon.
Article by Allyson Koekhoven