Studio Contra

Studio Contra’s EBI Tower has been awarded the 2026 AR Future Projects Award in the 'Tall Buildings' category by @thearchitecturalreview . Shaped by Lagos's climate and energy, EBI Tower is designed as an open, breathable vertical campus. To keep the interior comfortable, the 20-storey scheme relies on fully operable glazing and shading made from repurposed utility wood. At its base, a publicly accessible podium and an elevated, naturally ventilated garden terrace are designed to pull the rhythm of the street life upward, proposing a model for how a commercial high-rise can remain an active part of the city's civic life. A privilege to celebrate this milestone alongside our peers in Milan. Explore the full vision for the EBI Tower at /projects/ebi-tower. #StudioContra #ARFutureProjects #SustainableDesign #EBITower #TheArchitecturalReview

We are pleased to announce the official launch of this year's session and the opening of Expressions of Interest for the Ranch Residencies 2026 in rural Northeast Lithuania. From rom 16th - 26th July 2026 There are still a few spaces left. Apply before March 31st to participate in a multi-disciplinary making, inhabiting, and being session in a rural landscape. (Details of how to apply are below.) ABOUT: The LT Ranch is a non-profit rural art & architecture space in NE Lithuania hosting seasonal invited sessions, providing a facility for research, experimentation, and cultural events related to art, architecture, film, and landscape within the encountered landscape and the everyday of being. These sessions are in slow time, exploring and testing a ‘project’, an insertion, a gesture in a specific location—sometimes a usable piece of infrastructure or expanding an experience of a necessity for the everyday and the spirit of the particular group which gathers. Sessions are of a collective nature. Projects can be done in groups and/or individually and are open to all spatial thinkers, activists, artists, and makers in the broadest sense. APPLY: Email: [email protected] OR Message us on Instagram: @lt_ranch_space (Tell us a bit about yourself, including what interests you about joining.)

Studio Contra is pleased to show design images from our project in Ghana. This six-level mixed-use building in Accra, Ghana, combines a public-facing creative workplace with compact urban housing above. The ground floor accommodates a creative office and café, while the upper levels house a mix of two- and three-bedroom residential units. Shared amenities and utilities are consolidated at roof level. The building is conceived as a direct expression of its construction. A reinforced concrete frame is paired with double brick walls that contribute to the structural strategy. Locally made bricks (to be laid by specially trained Ghanaian masons) are left unfinished internally and externally, celebrating the texture and craft of the material. Brickwork is also used to form vaulted ceilings at the ground floor, giving the public spaces a distinct spatial character. Designed for Ghana’s tropical climate, the architecture prioritises shade, ventilation, and durability. Deep verandahs and overhangs reduce solar gain, while louvred openings and cross-ventilation support passive cooling. The emphasis is on exposed, local, rather than imported materials with roof-level solar infrastructure reinforcing the project’s low-maintenance and climate-responsive approach. On a modest urban site, parking is accommodated in a half-basement to free the ground plane for greenery and permeable cobblestone surfaces. This landscape strategy improves drainage, supports a cooler microclimate, and creates a shared outdoor community space. The street boundary remains visually open, allowing the ground floor to read as public and welcoming rather than sealed off. #architecturedesign #architecture #studiocontra #ghana

🎥 Winner Interview: Brookside Secondary School Architecture Hunter speaks with Olayinka Dosekun-Adjei of Studio Contra about Brookside Secondary School, recognized as a Regional Winner at the Holcim Foundation Awards 2025. This project is a secondary school on about 22 hectares of land in Delta State, southeast Nigeria. In this conversation, Olayinka shares insights into how the project redefines educational infrastructure through sustainable, culturally rooted design. When visiting the site, the team discovered a brook bordering the property—which gave rise to the name Brookside—and excellent clay deposits nearby, forming the decision to build the school out of clay bricks made close to the site, engaging local industry and the community in this new material economy. _prize: Holcim Foundation Awards Africa Middle East Regional Winner _project location: Asaba, Nigeria _project team: Studio Contra _client: Fidelis Oditah 👉 Learn more about the project at awards.holcimfoundation.org

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s @Holcim_Foundation Awards – the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design and construction competition.    This year, 20 winners have been recognised from around the world, including Brookside Secondary School in Asaba, Nigeria by @studio_contra_ , which achieves ultra-low carbon status, in part by utilising a concrete frame, infilled with locally crafted bricks.    Visit @holcim_foundation to discover more about the winners

Brookside Secondary School by Studio Contra has won a Holcim Foundation Award 2025—congratulations! The Holcim Foundation Awards are among the world's most significant honors in sustainable design & construction. This year's 20 winners were selected by a world-class panel of 34 independent juries led by Sou Fujimoto, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Sandra Barclay, Lina Ghotmeh, and Jeanne Gang. 📅 Save the Date: November 20, 2025 at 15:00 UTC Join us for the Awards Ceremony in Venice, livestreamed globally. Five Regional Grand Prize winners (USD 80,000 each) will be announced. 👉 Meet all 20 winners: [link in bio] 📺 RSVP for the livestream: [link in bio] Follow along as we unveil all winners over the coming weeks! _project location: Asaba, Nigeria _project team: @studio_contra_ _client: Fidelis Oditah

Designing for Innovation in Africa Studio Contra is excited to be leading the design of the UNDP Anambra Makerspace in Awka, a bold new hub for learning, innovation, and creativity in Nigeria. Set within the historic Kenneth Dike Library, our design transforms the existing spaces into a modern centre where knowledge and making come together. The makerspace will feature: - A flexible auditorium for events and collaboration - A vibrant cafeteria and social areas - A library and reading hub woven into the design - Robotics & electronics labs - Textile and wood fabrication workshops - Secure locker and maker spaces Now at the tender stage, this project is well on its way to becoming a reality. This project represents context-driven, future-facing African architecture, empowering people and sparking new possibilities. At Studio Contra, we believe architecture is more than buildings; it’s about shaping environments where ideas can grow and futures can be built. #StudioContra #AfricanArchitecture #UNDPMakerspace #designforimpact #sustainablearchitecture #InnovationThroughDesign #ArchitectureInNigeria

Come away with us to a recently completed private beach house at Ishahayi Beach, a quiet and largely untouched landscape of palm groves and expansive Atlantic coastline located some 45mins from Lagos Island by boat and dotted with small village communities. The house and its surroundings have been captured in stunning clarity by Tolulope Sanusi ( @rubyspolaroid ). For photographs and conceptual sketches of this project, and many others, visit / Architecture & Project Management- Studio Contra Interiors & Finishes - Design Dot MEP Engineering - Stepris Structural Engineering - Etcurt Solutions General Contractor- Vincent Boom Photography & Videography - @rubyspolaroid #africandesign #africanarchitecture #lagos #beachhouse

Come away with us to a recently completed private beach house at Ishahayi Beach, a quiet and largely untouched landscape of palm groves and expansive Atlantic coastline located some 45mins from Lagos Island by boat and dotted with small village communities. The house and its surroundings have been captured in stunning clarity by Tolulope Sanusi ( @rubyspolaroid ). For photographs and conceptual sketches of this project, and many others, visit / Architecture & Project Management- Studio Contra Interiors & Finishes - Design Dot MEP Engineering - Stepris Structural Engineering - Etcurt Solutions General Contractor- Vincent Boom Photography & Videography - @rubyspolaroid #africandesign #africanarchitecture #lagos #beachhouse

We are pleased to share a few 'work in progress' photos from our project site in Accra; Quartey Residence. The project (set to reach completion later this year) is a single family home in load-bearing artisanal half-fired “green” bricks handmade in Kumasi featuring crafted custom timber and metalwork. Quartey Residence is a deeply personal home which we have been working on in close conversation with the Client. Head over to our website for more details on this and other projects. #sustainability #africanarchitecture #architecture #accra

In 2019, Studio Contra was engaged to design an iconic new building to house the Institute of Contemporary African Art & Film in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State in North Central Nigeria. The government-backed project is intended as a catalyst for cultural production in Kwara and has now reached practical completion. The site will eventually be fully landscaped, the interiors fitted out and the building opened to the public with active exhibitions, events and workshops. We are pleased to share some moments captured by Tolulope Sanusi @rubyspolaroid taken last month. Find out more about this project, including plans and sections, on our website.

Plantation Road Residence We are pleased to share a recently completed project. Plantation Road, designed in collaboration with TOKITU Studio (@tokitustudio ), is a large private residence in Ilorin, Nigeria accommodating several user groups: intimate family, extended family, temporary guests and staff, and a private prayer space. Head over to our website for more information () Project Description In an attempt to break down the barriers that are generated by the typical layout of a luxury villa (house surrounded by a garden), the proposal divides up the single volume, integrating it with the landscape and creating a series of courtyards that respond to the different users of the property and their needs. This architectural typology allows us to play with the various levels of privacy and permeability that were especially important to this client. There is a formal entrance courtyard, an informal courtyard that provides discreet access to the main house, and a private patio with a pool and garden. Each courtyard is individually treated with a different landscaping concept. In addition, we include water as an element seen and heard, which helps create a fresh and fragrant microclimate in each outdoor space. (The project was built by Karakas Development and Properties Ltd and photographed by Tolu Sanusi - @rubyspolaroid )