Restoration of Africa Hall in Ethiopia wins WMF modernism prize
The renovation of Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Australian studio Architectus has been awarded the 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize.
Architectus completed a 10-year restoration of the building, which was originally designed by Italian architect Arturo Mezzedimi as the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in 2024.
The studio aiming to retain the core elements of the building, which opened in 1961, while making it better suited to today's needs as a diplomatic institution.
The studio will be awarded the 2026 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize at a ceremony during Modernism Week in Palm Springs on 18 February.
Forming part of the World Monuments Fund's Modernism Program, the prize was founded in 2008 with the aim of celebrating innovative efforts to protect modernist architecture.
Africa Hall is the first building on the African continent to have won the award.
"Modern architecture captures some of the most ambitious ideas of the twentieth century, but its innovations also render these buildings vulnerable to the passage of time," said World Monuments Fund CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur.
"Our Modernism Program and the World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize were created to bring attention to these challenges and highlight exemplary preservation efforts around the world," he continued.
"The renewal of Africa Hall by Architectus embodies this mission, honouring the original architect's vision while ensuring the building can continue to serve as a vital place for cultural exchange and African unity."
As part of the restoration, Architectus reinforced Africa Hall's concrete structure, reinstated mosaic surfaces, and restored stained-glass windows designed by Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle.
Over five hundred bespoke furniture pieces designed by Mezzedimi were also restored.
Featuring interiors lined in Carrara marble and local Ethiopian stone, Africa Hall is renowned as the place where the predecessor to the African Union, the Organization of African Unity, was established in 1963.
“Africa Hall stands as one of the most important expressions of modern architecture on the continent, a building that brought together international ideas and local identity at a pivotal moment in the region's history of decolonisation and national autonomy," said jury chairman Barry Bergdoll, who is a professor at Columbia University.
"From its placement at one of the most prominent sites in the capital of Ethiopia – the only African country never to have been colonised – the architecture combined a functionalist rationality of structure and purpose with the aura of modernism's optimism in the future," he continued.
"The recent restoration has allowed the clarity of Messedimi's design to speak again, revealing the ambition, craftsmanship, and symbolic power that have made the building a landmark of modernism and a continuing stage for African diplomacy."
The prize's jury also announced Umbrella House in Sarasota, Florida, as the winner of the inaugural Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes, which aims to shine a light on homeowners and designers who carefully conserve modernist residences.
Hall Architects updated and reconstructed a former shading structure at the home, which was originally designed by American architect Paul Rudolph in 1953.
Other stories on modernist architecture that have recently been featured on Dezeen include an exploration into the traditional-versus-modernist style debate among the public and the saving of American architect Victor Lundy's personal residence by local preservationists.
The photography is by Rory Gardiner.
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