News

The Backyard Community Club is awarded Best Public Building of the Year at the Africa International Design Awards 2026.

Presented by Gagosian, the exhibition conceived by DeRoche Projects unfolds through a series of works thoughtfully integrated into the historic fabric of Museo di Palazzo Grimani.

The Backyard Community Club has received the Monocle Design Award. Presented by Monocle, the award recognises the project for its considered architectural design and its contribution to the surrounding community.

20 Years of Sustainable Construction Awards edited by The Holcim Foundation traces the evolution of the Awards through eight narrative chapters. It explores the growing centrality of social equity in design, scarcity as a driver of innovation, adaptive reuse as a climate strategy, and the rise of nature-positive and regenerative approaches. We are honoured that Surf Ghana Collective in Busua, Ghana is featured among these exceptional projects, having received the Holcim Awards 2023 Gold for the Middle East & Africa region.

STIR speaks with Amoako Boafo and Glenn DeRoche about their evolving collaboration across a four-part exhibition series.

Glenn DeRoche will open the Soil Sisters Spring lecture series on Tuesday, February 3, in the BEEM Lab at the Yale School of Architecture.

On January 30, 2026, Glenn DeRoche will present the 2026 Richard F. Hansen Lecture in Architecture at Iowa State University. He will also serve as a guest juror for the Richard F. Hansen Prize, established in 2004 by Iowa State alumni Richard F. and Barbara E. Hansen, which is awarded annually to the winner(s) of a student design competition held in conjunction with the lecture.

I Bring Home with Me, an exhibition of new work by Amoako Boafo set within a full-scale recreation of the artist’s studio by DeRoche Projects, opens in Los Angeles.

Architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki picks the top 10 architecture moments of 2025, to recount, remember and reassess.

Speaking with STIR, Glenn DeRoche discusses the intention of abstracting personal memories to invite shared experiences in his works.

Melissa Makele, Anh-Linh Ngo: When viewed from the West, Africa shrinks—a continent nearly three times the size of Europe collapses into a surface of projections. Narratives of lack, “backwardness,” or simplicity obscure the historical depth, epistemic complexity, and diversity of cultural, social, and ecological forms of knowledge that shape the continent.

The Backyard Community Club is featured in Sportscapes, the second issue of About, exploring the ties between body, sport, and space – deconstructing the obsession with standards and rethinking architecture as a performative, inclusive, and political tool.

DeRoche Projects is nominated for the AR Emerging Awards – an international prize established by The Architectural Review “to grant early recognition to young designers and celebrate the architectural stars of tomorrow.”

Backyard Community Club, a community sports facility centered on a tennis court, opens in Accra.

Michele Woodger in Conversation with Glenn DeRoche on Exhibition Design and the Awulai Ashia & Nkyinkyim at Gagosian, London.

The Wooyang Art Museum unveils the Nsaa Pavilion at ‘I Have Been Here Before,’ Amoako Boafo’s inaugural institutional solo exhibition in Asia.

Gagosian is pleased to announce 'I Do Not Come to You by Chance,' an exhibition of new work by Amoako Boafo. Titled after Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s 2009 novel, it marks the artist’s debut at Gagosian London and his first solo presentation in the United Kingdom. The exhibition incorporates paintings into a transformative and involving design conceived by the artist in collaboration with architect and designer Glenn DeRoche of DeRoche Projects, who previously worked with Boafo on dot.ateliers | Ogbojo, the writers’ and curators’ residency program he established in Ogbojo, Ghana, in 2024, and extends his exploration of space and community.

Glenn DeRoche and Juergen Strohmayer use local and low-carbon materials to transform the home of a youth empowerment organisation in Busua. Busua is well known for its waves. Located in the Western Region of Ghana, the long stretches of sandy beaches with point breaks that suit different levels of skill continue to attract the country’s growing surfing community. One organisation that has gathered at its edges is Surf Ghana, a youth empowerment group founded in 2017 by Sandy Alibo. The organisation began in a small single-room building located on the beach, but it quickly became unfit for their large membership, and so Alibo reached out to two Ghana-based architects, Glenn DeRoché and Juergen Strohmayer, to see if they would be interested in taking on the project. ‘It’s a small creative scene in the area,’ says DeRoché. ‘Sandy was aware of our individual work in Ghana and was interested in inviting us to work on the re-design together.’

Plugin Busua juxtaposes architectural fragments with contextual film footage and sound to translate the spatial effects of an existing community surf lodge in Busua, Ghana. The installation examines the interplay between architectural tectonics and community inhabitation; the urban and ecological scenarios that unfold, catalysed through architectural forms. Largescale fragments of the built form are hung to create an immersive spatial installation that communicates the tectonics of the architectural realisation. A screen is suspended between the monolithic fragments, showing moments of activity, quotidian scenarios, and community inhabitation of the structure. Through the visual layering of physical fragments and film, and the use of site-specific sound, the work translocates the effects of the architectural adaptive reuse project into the exhibition – providing visitors with an abstract, yet descriptive, experience specific to the place.

Surf Ghana Collective repurposes an existing building to create a dynamic community space which empowers youth in Busua, a small town and surfing hotspot on Ghana’s western coast. The community-run enterprise plugs into a network of surf schools and oceanfront lodges. The adapted single-room structure is used flexibly throughout the year and provides the first hangout spot for local youth. For large surf events, the room acts as a classroom and dormitory for visiting surfers. In off seasons, the building is rented out to cover running costs. The co-operative encourages community collaboration, self-reliance, and entrepreneurship.