Moe + Art Architecture

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

AFRICA FINTECH FOUNDRY HEADQUARTERS

MOE+ Art Architecture

ARCHITECTS
MOE+ Art Architecture: Papa Omotayo, Olayinka Dosekun, Hussein Jimoh

CITY
Lagos

COUNTRY
Nigeria

CATEGORY
Headquarters

PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT
Papa Omotayo

PROJECT LEAD
Olayinka Dosekun

DESIGN
Papa Omotayo, Olayinka Dosekun, Hussein Jimoh

YEAR
2017

AREA
550.0 m2

MANUFACTURERS
Alucobond, AmorThane ®, Elastospray ®

PHOTOGRAPHS
Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

IMPLEMENTATION
Ade Shokunbi, Samson Akpuru, Edwin Amilegbe, Adekunle Muyibi, Frederick Ememu, Sunday Nwaozuru, Lekan Odejimi, Dapo Mebude, Alhaji Boytech, Christy Nsikan Umoh, Arsene Dansou, Ayo Sorunke

Text description provided by architect.

This project is a technology accelerator and co-working space in Lagos, Nigeria. During the summer of 2016 a competition was launched to design a building for a team of software developers and system architects at the African Fintech Foundry.

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

The brief was a contemporary and stimulating workspace for fostering innovation through the collaborative production and incubation of ideas. Also important was that the building be rapidly deployable and have a feeling of non-permanence.

Lagos is a place where new technologies are being shaped, designed for the African consumer and the African marketplace within a burgeoning economy of over 22 million. The African Fintech Foundry has its headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos where it is at the epicentre of a search for innovation in financial technology and e-commerce.

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

Lagos is also a regional port city, historically connected to major trade routes and heavily engaged with traditional forms of commerce; thousands of new and secondhand shipping containers reach its port every day and are used and reused for decades, denting, scarring and rusting over time.

We have designed a compact and spatially efficient building from strategically stacking locally-sourced, old shipping containers. 

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

The project was executed in 3 months; through the aggregation of a simple base unit the structure and internal spaces were created with a narrow triple height atrium formed in the centre which terminates in an elongated skylight.

On a constrained site the shifting containers result in overhangs which shade the ground floor exterior spaces and high level terraces for miniature gardens and outdoor sitting space.

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte

Glassy, bright interiors encourage the play of light within a restrained material palette of soft and dark greys while the central staircase, balustrades and entrance aim to communicate some of the vibrancy of the wider city in the distinctive yellow of Lagos’ “Danfo” buses and public taxis.

MOE+ Art Architecture is an office of urbanists, architects, artists, interiors + product designers based in Lagos. The office work is programmed along creative thinking, urban engagement, civic interventions, sustainability, exploration, collaboration and locally implemented solutions. We are driven by the collaboration between Art and Design.

Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
© Medina Dugger and Deji Atte


Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
Ground floor plan
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
Roof plan
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
First floor plan
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
Second floor plan


Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
Axonometric Section
Africa Fintech Foundry Headquarters
Gif. Image Courtesy of MOE+ Art Architecture

Moe + Art Architecture
T +234 1 4544665
Moe + Art Architecture
59 Raymond Njoku St, Ikoyi, Lagos 106104, Lagos, Nigeria