Buildings for the future: Africa’s most anticipated architecture projects

The National Cathedral of Ghana, Accra, Ghana -- A truly monumental design, the National Cathedral of Ghana will cover 750,000 square feet and be situated in 14 acres of landscaped gardens in central Accra. Adjaye Associates, headed up by Ghanaian-British architect and recent RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner David Adjaye, has created a design that will include a 5,000-seat auditorium, chapels, an art gallery and Africa's first Bible museum. Loaded with iconography blending Christianity and traditional Ghanaian heritage, its curved roof evokes tented canopies and the Golden Stool, the royal throne of the Asante people.

The National Cathedral of Ghana, Accra, Ghana -- The state-backed cathedral will be linked via ceremonial routes to other key landmarks in the city. The project has sparked debate in Ghana and further afield around the mixing of state and religion. Adjaye Associates have not announced an estimated completion date.

Gouna Conference and Culture Centre, El Gouna, Egypt -- Comprising a 600-seat concert hall and 2,000-seat conference center, this project from Studio Seilern Architects completed its first phase of construction in January 2020. The new cultural hub in El Gouna, a resort town on the coast of the Red Sea, is based around a large artificial lagoon and features magnificent arched colonnades made from precast concrete.

Gouna Conference and Culture Centre, El Gouna, Egypt -- Its architects say the 30,000 square-meter complex uses a gravity-based system and existing wells to supply its lagoons and doesn't rely on mechanical pumps. Phase two of construction will include the concert hall within the colonnades, which will have capacity for a 120-piece orchestra. The project aims to be complete by the end 2023.

Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt -- Nearly two decades in the making (about the same time it took to build the Great Pyramid of Giza), the Grand Egyptian Museum is a billion-dollar investment in the nation's ancient heritage. Designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, it overlooks the Giza Necropolis some two kilometers away and makes use of copious amounts of glass to draw museum and pyramids together and, fittingly, leans heavy on triangular forms.

Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt -- The museum will bring together tens of thousands of artifacts, from a colossal, 83-ton granite statue of Rameses the Great to over 5,000 objects belonging to Tutankhamun -- the first time the complete contents of the pharaoh's tomb will be displayed together since it was discovered in 1922. Pandemic-related setbacks have pushed the grand opening of the museum to 2021.

Floating Music Hub, São Vincente, Cape Verde -- NLÉ, founded by Kunlé Adeyemi, has won and been nominated for a slew of awards for its "Makoko Floating System" (MFS), which began life as a floating timber school in Lagos, Nigeria in 2013. This floating music hub in São Vincente, Cape Verde, is the fourth iteration of the system. Lightweight, prefabricated and modular, NLÉ says it's a fast way to build -- and disassemble -- on water.

Floating Music Hub, São Vincente, Cape Verde -- The three structures will house a live performance hall, a recording studio and a bar, connected by a floating plaza. It's the first time an MFS structure has been built in the Atlantic Ocean and will be completed later this year, says NLÉ.

Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Musanze, Rwanda -- Disappearing into the stunning landscape in which it sits, the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Musanze District, Rwanda, aims for minimal visual disruption and maximum scientific impact. MASS Design Group created the concept in 2018 and construction broke ground last year on what will be the conservation group's first permanent headquarters in Rwanda in 53 years.

Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, Musanze, Rwanda -- The 4,500 square meter campus adjacent to Volcanoes National Park will contain a research center, educational outreach center and conservation gallery, along with housing for students, staff and researchers to live on site. The center was made possible when Portia de Rossi, wife of DeGeneres, donated to the Fossey Fund in the TV star's name as a 60th birthday present (Fossey was a childhood hero of DeGeneres). The campus is expected to be completed in summer or fall 2021.

Le Memorial des Martyrs, Niamey, Niger -- A newly released design from Adjaye Associates finds a solid and somber way to memorialize the lives lost in the fight against terrorism on Niger's southern and western borders. "Absences and voids" are at the heart of the space, says Adjaye Associates, with light and darkness in interplay throughout the day and into the night, as the pillars project shafts of light up into the sky.

Le Memorial des Martyrs, Niamey, Niger -- The Martyrs Memorial will be built in the center of Niamey on a raised triangular plot bordered by tree groves; concrete pillars representing the dead rise 20 meters from the platform and root themselves in a labyrinth underneath where visitors can find shelter from the heat.

New Redemption Hospital, Caldwell, Liberia -- In recent years, US nonprofit organization MASS Design Group has been envisaging medical institutions across Africa. The New Redemption Hospital in Caldwell, Liberia, may be its best received to date. Winner of a European Healthcare Design Award earlier this year, the 35-acre complex is under construction, with phase one -- a two story, 155-bed facility equipped for pediatrics and maternity services -- scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.

New Redemption Hospital, Caldwell, Liberia -- The hospital, commissioned by the Liberian Ministry of Health, has efficiency measures including solar chimneys (a passive form of air ventilation and cooling) and uses ultraviolet light to disinfect the air. Waiting areas are all in exterior spaces to reduce the transmission of airborne infections, while the hospital itself sits among restored wetland.

The Mohammed VI Tower, Rabat, Morocco -- The Mohammed VI Tower (previously the Bank of Africa Tower) is rising from the ground in Rabat, Morocco and could surpass The Leonardo in Johannesburg as the tallest skyscraper in the continent upon completion. Designed by architects Rafael de la Hoz and Hakim Benjelloun and due for completion in 2022, the 250-meter (820 foot), 55-floor tower will contain a luxury hotel, apartments and office space, as well as a viewing terrace at the top.

The Mohammed VI Tower, Rabat, Morocco -- The tower will include a south façade covered in solar panels and incorporate rainwater recovery and waste water recycling in its design. It is part of a cultural development program in the city and will sit alongside institutions including the Zaha Hadid-designed Grand Theatre of Rabat on the banks of the Bouregreg River.

Niamey Cultural Center, Niamey, Niger -- The Niamey Cultural Center in the Gounti Yenna Valley aims to meet cultural needs not otherwise fulfilled by Niger's capital, according to architects Atelier Masomi. Lead architect Mariam Kamara developed the center under the mentorship of David Adjaye, and draws on traditional Hausa and Songhai architecture for its monolithic form.

Niamey Cultural Center, Niamey, Niger -- Inside, there will be a gallery space and a concert auditorium. The center will be constructed using local materials and will use solar energy, as well as harvesting rainwater. The start of construction has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Atelier Masomi tells CNN.

The Grand Theatre of Rabat, Rabat, Morocco -- One of the last designs by Zaha Hadid that is still to be completed, the Grand Theatre of Rabat has all the panache one expects from the "queen of the curve," who died in 2016. Sitting on a 55,000 square meter site and featuring an 1,800-seat theater and 7,000-person amphitheater, the center's fluid design was inspired by the Bouregreg River that runs alongside it.

Inside the theater, Hadid and her successor Patrik Schumacher take Moroccan muqarnas -- ornamental vaulted ceilings in Islamic architecture -- and translate them with a contemporary eye, creating geometry akin to desert rose crystals. Situated between the ancient cities of Rabat and Salé, the theater has been a decade in the making but is receiving its final touches.