Tropical Modern Architect

Abstract

Professor John Owusu Addo is a Ghanaian tropical modern architect and a pioneer in architectural education and practice in the nation-building of Ghana and other Commonwealth countries. His contributions to the modern architecture discourse seem to be overshadowed by the cohort of architects of both Western and Socialist origin who practiced in Africa during the decolonization era. The Community Center at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus in Kumasi-Ghana was designed by him; it represents a classic example of ‘unknown’ heritage within the narrative. This short essay examines both primary and secondary data, including unpublished interviews, master series events, articles, and papers to contextualize Prof. Owusu Addo as an exemplary protagonist to be explored for the benefit of tropical modern architects, especially in African settings.