Anthony Baba-Oladeji is a development architect in Nigeria whose work explores culture as a driver of urban transformation and economic growth in African cities. He believes digital systems can support urban change, while living cultural heritage sustains cities through rapid transition.
He is Principal Investigator of A3: Archives of African Architectures, a research and practice initiative documenting and activating Africa’s built heritage through participatory and digital methods. Since 2019, A3 has partnered with the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT to contribute Nigerian architectural records to Archnet.org, expanding archives from preservation tools into living design systems.
Through CoDesign Collective, his design-led practice reinterprets African cultural and material language by reviving courtyards, reimagining traditional roofing systems, and redefining African development aesthetics within youth-driven innovation spaces. His work addresses rapid urbanisation while keeping cities culturally rooted and future-ready.
He collaborates with artists, digital archivists, architects, and communities to develop scalable systems for documenting and shaping Africa’s built environment. He has been recognised as one of the “7 Phenomenal West African Architects You Should Know” by The Folklore and has spoken at MIT Architecture, SOAS London, and the British Council Lagos.