Nubuke Wa

[A]FA was tasked with responding to the long-term vision of the Nubuke Foundation, based in Accra and Wa, Ghana, by proposing new programs, scenarios, and physical manifestations on the site of the foundation in Wa. This task was approached in a two-part lab on site.

Nubuke Foundation Wa records, preserves, and promotes the arts, culture, and heritage of Ghana. The Foundation is a center that facilitates interdisciplinary, inter-regional, and continental dialogues, exchanges, and interactions within the arts. In Wa, the Nubuke Foundation promotes existing cultural expressions and provides a meeting place for local inhabitants and people from other parts of the country and abroad. 

Processes and networks were investigated through mappings in the first week. These individual works were developed from the students' own interests and research that was done before arriving in Wa. Topics and media varied within the team and were developed through hands-on research in the region surrounding Wa and the existing or potential networks of Nubuke. 

Responding to this research, the team designed concepts, formats, forms, envelopes, scenarios, and spaces on the Nubuke Wa site. Individual projects by the interdisciplinary team of architects and artists focused on the site of the foundation, its ecologies, and landscapes, but also the weaving culture of Wa and its surroundings. In addition, a site plan suggesting programming and user paths throughout the buildings and landscapes of Nubuke Wa was developed to support the foundation.