New V&A show examines Tropical Modernism's legacy across West Africa

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is set to open an exhibition on the modernist architectural style that emerged in 1940s West Africa. Titled Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence and located at the V&A South Kensington, the examination will reflect on how the hot, humid climates of countries such as India and Ghana merged with newfound independence to give rise to a contemporary architectural language.

The show follows on from a V&A contribution to the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Power in West Africa. Both exhibitions explore how new independent countries across West Africa sought to adopt the modernist style as a “symbol of modernity and progressiveness, distinct from colonial culture.”

“In the late 1940s, in the context of British West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, and Sierra Leone), British architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew developed the tools of Tropical Modernism,” co-curator of the Venice exhibition Christopher Turner explained in a May 2023 article. “Rapid development made the region an experimental laboratory for colonial architects, presenting them with opportunities and commissions they would not have had in Britain.”

“The couple’s distinctive scientifically-informed language of climate control — adjustable louvers, wide eaves, and brises soleils that mitigated against the tropical climate — attracted international attention,” Turner added. “They propagated it through their influential book, Tropical Architecture (1956) and the Department of Tropical Architecture they established in 1954 at the Architectural Association (AA), where they taught European architects to work in the colonies. Tropical Modernism in West Africa was designed to provide comfort, mainly to colonial administrators, and Fry and Drew’s schools and other public buildings were intended to create a more productive colonial subject and offset calls for independence.”

In the context of climate change, the Venice exhibition also asked how Tropical Modernism’s principles of passive cooling could be revisited and re-examined, while also highlighting the value of saving significant examples of Tropical Modernism that are currently at risk of redevelopment and decay.

The new exhibition will open on Saturday, March 2nd, at the V&A South Kensington.