The cave – both as a physical space and a metaphor – is a provocation to test the limits of contem- porary architecture. It invites new thinking about how architecture can adapt to a more community- focused, ecologically sensitive, low-carbon future. This publication and the accompanying sixth exhibition in The Architect’s Studio series at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art are dedicated to the Kenyan architects Cave_bureau. Stella Mutegi and Kabage Karanja from Cave_bureau describe eight of their projects. Stunning visuals are accompanied by essays poignantly asking questions about the future of architecture in the age of the Anthropocene, the effects of colonial extraction and erasure on African architecture as well as the specificity of each continent and each geographic space.
CAVE_BUREAU is a Nairobi-based bureau of architects and researchers founded in 2014 by Stella Mutegi and Kabage Karanja. The bureau charts explorations into architecture and urbanism within nature. Its work addresses the anthropological and geological context of the African city as a means to confront the complexities of our contemporary rural and urban lives.