About

A pinpoint is a tiny point, speck, dot or light that is generally very precise, and is used to indicate accuracy. Synonyms include “identify”, “discover”, “determine”, “distinguish”, “locate” or “detect.” Over the next three months, the AFI’s Pinpoint Research Team will be pinpointing new talent to be compiled in an archive of the most innovative and provocative African and African Diaspora practitioners, whose work engages with the twin issues of decarbonisation and decolonisation. The archive will encompass practicing architects, graduates, academics, activists, as well as built environment professionals (landscape, urbanists, interiors, developers).  

The research project implies a closer and more targeted search, not just scanning the continent, but applying a level of criticality and alternative ways of “looking” or “searching” in order to find new talent. 

The team is actively and intentionally expanding the term ‘African’, and is interested in sensibilities that go beyond the nation state, beyond race and skin colour, beyond disciplinary boundaries, beyond language. The archive will highlight a ‘new’ African architect — someone who works in complex, often contradictory, circumstances, whose work challenges stereotypes and traditional understandings of architecture. We are at the dawn of a ‘new’ cultural and creative era, where imagination, generosity, care and compassion take centre stage, not just in Africa, but globally. The archive is an invitation to take a closer look at what’s happening in our corner of the globe.