Africa Hall wins prestigious international award from Chicago Athenaeum

Africa Hall has received its first international award, winning in the ‘Restoration/Renovation’ category at the prestigious 2025 International Architecture Awards.

The annual awards program is run by the Chicago Athenaeum – an architecture and design museum in the US aiming to advance public understanding of the value of good design – together with the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press. The program’s international jury singles out excellence in architecture and urbanism from a global point-of-view and pays tribute to new developments in design.

Originally designed by Italian architect Arturo Mezzèdimi, Africa Hall has played an important role in shaping modern African history. Located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the building was the meeting place for the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

First opened in 1961, Africa Hall required significant intervention some 50 years later, leading to a decade-long investment in its restoration.

Our design team took on the complex and challenging task, which required a delicate balance between preservation and innovation. They wanted to uphold the spirit of the original design by Mezzèdimi, a young, self-taught architect whose architectural solution, along with the Hall’s embedded artworks, fully embodied the Pan-African vision and ideals of the time.

At this year’s awards, the AMRF Second Building also received an honorable mention in the ‘Government Buildings’ category.

It’s fulfilling to see our work earn international acclaim, alongside many other outstanding projects in the International Architecture Awards program.