North Africa

TAFEPX_cape_to_cairo_roads_ar_architectural_reivew_-748x499.webp

Cape to Cairo: the making and unmaking of colonial road networks

Egypt’s completion of its section of the Cairo–Cape Town Highway reflects a neoliberal project that undermines the anticolonial ambitions preceding it, writes Sara...

MAMMA_Villa-Zevaco_plan-rdc_Casablanca-Ref-JFZ-05-171029-01_TC2-FEATURED-748x499.jpg

An oculus: Villa Zevaco by Jean‑François Zevaco

[caption id="attachment_347560" align="alignnone" width="1600"] The Moroccan-French architect Jean‑François Zevaco designed a house for ...

Workers shovel sand into the back of trucks at a beach on Hamilton Beach, Sierra Leone. The sand will be used for concrete, a subject of discussion in Alia Bengana’s new graphic novel

Interview with Alia Bengana
Contest site: Moroccan Oasis Retreat

Competition: Fes home and retreat, Morocco
Abdel-Moneim-Mustafa-Architectural-Review-Reputations-Isabel-Albertos-Illustration-492x328.jpg

Abdel Moneim Mustafa (1930–)
2WXW5HP_TC_new_administrative_capital_egypt_architectural_review_democracy_-492x328.jpg

Centre of power: Egypt’s New Administrative Capital
Res-Al-Hekma-Architectural-Review-Outrage-custom-492x328.jpg

Outrage: Rampant coastal development in Egypt
P05861_TUN_TR_007_TC_rachid_koraichi_mediterranean_jardin_d_afrique_architectural_review-492x328.jpg

Lay to rest: Jardin d’Afrique in Zarzis, Tunisia by Rachid Koraïchi
Bodleian-Library-MS-Arab-c-90_00058_fols-30b-and-31a_TC_architectural_review_mediterranean_keynote-492x328.jpg

The Mediterranean hypersea: mapping troubled waters
kader_attia_repair_architectural_review_ar_featured-492x328.jpg

Interview with Kader Attia
ANDR3110_aziza_chaouni_deserts_architecrural_review_morocco-492x328.jpg

In practice: Aziza Chaouni on preserving Morocco’s cultural heritage
A 1375 atlas of the mediterannean region, drawn in colour on parchment

Experimental Saharanism: exploiting desert environments
cairo_demo_featured-492x328.jpg

Cairo: demolition postcard
2P92Y75_mohamed_elshahed_architectural_review_museums_grand_egyptian_museum-492x328.jpg

Monument to Egyptology
INDEX

Competition results: Carthage National Museum winner revealed
Competition results: Great Green Wall affordable housing winners revealed

Competition results: Great Green Wall affordable housing winners revealed
20220914_120225-492x328.jpg

Retrospective: Salima Naji
GettyImages-sahara_algeria_nuclear_testing_france_architectural_review_general-492x328.jpg

Nuclear powers: France’s atomic bomb tests in the Algerian Sahara
architectural-review-stone-womens-house-morocco-THOMAS_NOCETO_WomenHouse_300dpi_print_01-492x328.jpg

Women’s house in Ouled Merzoug, Morocco by Building Beyond Borders + BC Architects and Studies

 and
climat-de-france-fernand-pouillon-revisit-architectural-review-leo-fabrizio-1-492x328.jpg

Revisit: Climat de France in Algiers by Fernand Pouillon

 and
koshary-abou-tarek-cairo-egypt-trevor-james-index-492x328.jpg

Trading recipes: Egyptian kushari
cairo-urbanism-architectural-review-index-492x328.jpg

Housing Cairo: self-initiated urbanism
02 casbah algiers architectural review

Cultural capital: the ongoing regeneration of Algiers’ Casbah
Musee yves saint laurent studio ko architectural review 101 copy

All about Yves: Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakesh, Morocco by Studio KO
3 (1)

​Cairo’s Downtown: Omar Nagati on renegotiating Cairo through design
Taroudant_University

Taroudant University in Morocco by Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani and Mohamed Amine Siana
The architecture of volumes interspersed with patios and courtyards is based on the Moroccan archetypes of the rural ksar and the urban madrasa

Training Centre for Sustainability by Anna Heringer, Chwiter, Morocco
Art Deco City hall by Enrique Nieto, Melilla, Spain

The North African city of Melilla is a surprising and ornate melange of Spanish colonial heritage
Characteristic timber buttresses on a typical Casbah townhouse

The Casbah in context: World Heritage Site under threat
Hassan fathy obituary jan p9

Reinterpreting tradition: Hassan Fathy
A postage stamp of the Great Pyramids of Giza

The Great Pyramid, Reassessed
P99 new gourna

A model village in Upper Egypt by Hassan Fathy

More essays and buildings in Africa

Since 1896, The Architectural Review has scoured the globe for architecture that challenges and inspires. Buildings old and new are chosen as prisms through which arguments and broader narratives are constructed. In their fearless storytelling, independent critical voices explore the forces that shape the homes, cities and places we inhabit.

Subscribe Now

Join the conversation online

© 2026 EMAP Publishing Limited