Location: Architecture Building Auditorium
This Craig and Mimi Spangler Lecture is part of the Spring 2026 Architecture Lecture series.
"Designing with Scarcity in Africa" by
Aziza Chaouni
Founding Principal,
Aziza Chaouni Projects
About the lecture:
This lecture explores how scarcity—of materials, infrastructure, energy, and capital—can become a generative force for architectural innovation in Africa. Drawing on built work, research, and post-crisis interventions across the continent, Prof. Aziza Chaouni reframes constraint as a catalyst for climate-responsive design, social equity, and cultural continuity. The talk examines low-carbon construction, bio-sourced materials, adaptive reuse, and participatory processes that leverage local knowledge and crafts. Rather than importing extractive models, the lecture argues for context-driven design methodologies that transform scarcity into resilience, affordability, and long-term environmental stewardship.
About the speaker:
Aziza Chaouni is the Founding Principal of the design practice Aziza Chaouni Projects (ACP) based in Fez, Morocco, and an Assistant professor of Architecture at EPFL where she directs the South-North Lab for Sustainable Construction and Conservation. Chaouni has rehabilitated several heritage buildings, including the Qarawiyine library, the oldest library in the Middle East. She is responsible for the construction management plans for the Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex and for the International Fair of Dakar (with Mourtada Gueye), both supported by the Keeping it Modern grant of the Getty Foundation. Chaouni is also collaborating with the World Monuments Fund on the Future of Ontario Place project and the rehabilitation of the oldest university in West Africa Old Fourah Bay College.
Chaouni's design work has been recognized with top awards for both the Global and Regional Africa and the Middle East competition from the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction; the Architectural League of New York Young Architects Award; Environmental Design Research Association Great Places Award; the American Society of Landscape Architects Design Awards; the ACSA Collaboration Award among others. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally, including the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam; INDEX: Design to Improve Life in Copenhagen; and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT) World Urban Forum; the Venice Architecture Biennale; and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen.
Chaouni holds a Masters of Architecture with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Civil Engineering from Columbia University.