The task of designing the development of Africa is of an extraordinary scale, thwart with obstacles and challenges. Kunle Adeyemi is not only actively looking at the entire continent, his built work has already started to address some of the most important regional and global issues of our time.

The focus on climate change with an emphasis on the current and projected impact of its consequences was a welcome message for all environmentally-conscious members of the audience who sat biting their nails through the opening lecture, presented by Sou Fujimoto. Kunle’s acknowledgement of shifts in temperature and the increasingly unpredictable weather transitions is critical to the global context he is trying to address. The intensity of this context is heightened by the instability of infrastructure in developing countries which is mitigated by chaotic and complex networks of informal systems. Lagos, Nigeria, is an exceptional example of such an urban context and the origin of Kunle Adeyemi’s architectural career.

Studying architecture at the University of Lagos, Adayemi would meet one of the architecture world’s pivotal figures. Drawn to the city for its complex cultural and logistical fabric, Rem Koolhaas and a student design team from Harvard University clinically analyzed the fascinating and tormented city of Lagos with Adeyemi operating as one of the few local architects within the group.

Originally from Kwara State, the journey to the capital Lagos projected Adayemi into an international career with the Office of Metropolitan Architecture before establishing his own firm NLE which operates primarily between Amsterdam and Lagos. The team’s early success with the Lagos water project has created an important platform for international recognition and a can-do reputation. But how can KN continue to be financially sustainable, suffering from the common growing pains of young sensational firms with portfolios of renders and a very small amount of built work?

Recent research of the firm outlining the statistical make up of the African continent is the ground work for a regional strategy to find areas of interest and potential for designed development. The NLE research and recent international exposure sets Adeyemi on a similar trajectory to David Adjaye who has also produced research on the African continent and established himself as a key figure in the future of architecture. These two young African architects are key agents for a new diverse generation of architects to confront the gauntlet of stardom and producing meaningful built work.