NLÉ Works

The following firm biography comes from the NLÉ Works website.

“NLÉ means ‘at home’ in Yoruba, the language of Africa’s first truly urbanized population. From the 11th century onwards, the Yoruba lived in a network of West African cities characterized by sophisticated commercial and governing structures.

But within NLÉ’s philosophy, the home is much more than walls, floors and ceilings. Instead, it refers to the fundamental building blocks of the city, to everyday life and the uses of public space in the emerging and endlessly complex urbanisms of developing regions.

Due to rapid urbanization and the forces of globalization, the people in such cities have redefined our understanding of cities through their innovative and economical appropriation of spaces, materials and infrastructure. The environment streets, bridges, side walks, raw materials and junk are acquired, cultivated and reconstituted to achieve maximum necessities through minimum means. This creates unique organizations and advanced social structures in which people live, work, trade and play in ways that are now rarely seen in the ‘developed worlds’ which are now ironically the ‘less developing world’.

We believe that these colorful and seemingly chaotic worlds hold some of the solutions to the problems faced by cities in this century of mega needs. Our aim is to work with, and be inspired by, these worlds so that we create more eco-nomical and responsible interventions for/with the people who have made them home. In doing so, we explore the infusion of relevant global ideas and advanced technologies that add sustainable values to architecture, urbanism and everyday products.

Our international network of experts and creatives from diverse fields contribute to this process. In this way, NLÉ is a new language for shaping and advancing the multiple physical and human architectures of the megacentury.“