Images courtesy of OAU Ife Architecture Students’ Association
Every year, the Ife Architecture Students’ Association of the Department of Architecture, Obafemi Awolowo University, holds what has become one of the most anticipated student-led architecture events in Nigeria. This year, ArchiWeek 2026 was different; not just in scale, but in intention.
The theme, Oríl̀ẹ: Forging Roots and Routes, was not chosen arbitrarily. It was the result of a deliberate decision by the current executive council, The Forge Administration, to dedicate this year’s ArchiWeek to the work and legacy of Professor C.O. Osasona, whose lifelong commitment to vernacular architecture has demonstrated, with quiet but undeniable force, that the future of Nigerian architecture lies in a deep and honest reading of place, climate, culture, craft, and community. To honor her work was to ask the question this theme poses to every architect: where are you building from?
The answer to that question played out across seven days, seven events, and one extraordinary week.
Prince (Arc.) Akinlusi Adeniyi, Arc. Eruke Pamela, and Rufus Nwoko alongside the current Executive Council of the Ife Architecture Students’ Association (The Forge) just after the Ife Architecture Summit 3.0
Day 1: Sports Fest
Friday, 6th June
ArchiWeek ’26 opened not with a lecture, but with a track. The Sports Fest brought students together across four houses; and by the end of a day filled with table tennis, football, 100m and 400m sprints, relay races, mixed relay, and more, Yellow House emerged as champions. It was the kind of opening that reminded everyone that this week was going to ask something of them; body, mind, and spirit.
Arc. Eromosele Anetor, the Principal Architect and Founder of Anetor Plus, speaking at the inaugural Breakfast with an Alumnus event held as part of ArchiWeek 2026, organized by the Ife Architecture Students’ Association
Day 2: IFASA National Design Competition
Monday, 8th June
If the Sports Fest opened the week with energy, the National Design Competition opened it with rigour.
Themed Architectural Palimpsest, a concept introduced by juror Prince Arc. Akinlusi, whose insight gave the competition a critical vocabulary that has since earned the event recognition in the wider Nigerian design community, the competition drew 17 teams from institutions across the country, including OAU, UNN, UNILORIN, Bowen University, FUTA, FUTMINNA, and LAUTECH. Seven teams were shortlisted for the final jury presentation.
The results were as follows:
- 🥇 1st Place — Team Ireti (OAU)
- 🥈 2nd Place — Team Ladipo (LAUTECH)
- 🥉 3rd Place — Team Irii (FUTMINNA)
In a gesture that speaks to the values of this administration, thanks to our sponsors and partners, the remaining four shortlisted teams did not leave empty-handed; 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams each received ₦50,000, while 7th place received ₦25,000. Participation, in IFASA’s view, is never without value.
Art Exhibition Talk on the theme, ”Where/What Do We Call Home?,” curated by Ezekiel Osunlana
Day 3: Origin of Flavors: Cooking Competition and Trivia
Tuesday, 9th June
Day three asked a quieter but equally important question: what does your culture taste like?
The cooking competition invited students to step away from the studio briefly and into the kitchen; preparing local dishes rooted in the theme of the week. Alongside it, the Architectural Trivia proved that IFASA’s students carry their knowledge with both depth and confidence. It was a day that celebrated the fullness of who architects are; beyond their drawings.
Day 4: Ife Architecture Summit 3.0
Wednesday, 10th June
Now in its third edition, the Ife Architecture Summit returned this year to a deliberate choice of venue; the M.Sc. Studio of the Department of Architecture. For a week themed around forging roots and routes, there was no more fitting room to have the conversation.
The summit featured Arc. Ẹrukẹ Pamela and Olayiwola Papa Omotayo as speakers, with Ofununochukwu Rufus Nwoko joining as panelist. The sessions were as follows:
- Keynote Address by Papa Omotayo: From Roots to Routes: How African Architecture Travels and Returns
- Speaker Session by Arc. Ẹrukẹ Pamela: Building Systems That Scale: Architecture as Strategy in the Nigerian Context
- Panel Session: African Architecture and Heritage: Where Do We Go From Here?
The room left with more questions than it arrived with; which is, perhaps, exactly what a summit should do.
Arc, Eruke Oyinvwin Pamela, Papa Omotayo, and Rufus Nwoko during the Ife Architecture Summit 3.0 hosted by the Ife Architecture Students’ Association at the Department of Architecture, Obafemi Awolowo University.
Day 5: Art, Fashion Exhibition and Trade Fair
Thursday, 11th June
Themed Where/What Do We Call Home?, the Art & Fashion Exhibition and Trade Fair transformed the Department of Architecture into a space of culture, craft, and creative expression. Fashion, food, jewellery, accessories, and live cooking filled the corridors; but the defining moment of the day came from an unlikely group.
Six secondary school students from OAU International School exhibited their artworks alongside university-level creative; a quiet but powerful statement about how early the conversation around identity, place, and belonging can begin.
Day 6: Breakfast with an Alumnus
Friday, 12th June
The week closed, or rather, began something new, with the inaugural edition of Breakfast with an Alumnus.
IFASA welcomed Arc. Eromosele Anetor, FNIA, Principal Architect and Founder of Anetorplus, back to the department he graduated from. Over an intimate morning of storytelling, mentorship, and honest conversation, final year B.Sc. and M.Sc. students sat across from someone who had walked the same corridors and gone on to build a career of nearly three decades in practice.
The morning was designed to be felt, and from the accounts of those who attended, it was: “Eye-opening.”
“Thought-provoking. The service was good as well.”
Presentation of the Haske Award to Team Iranti, winners of the First Prize in the IFASA National Design Competition at ArchiWeek 2026. (L-R): Ogunlana Klistiyon, Yusuf Teslim, Omojowo Blessing, Arc. Mgbemena Emeka, Prof. C. O. Osasona, Timothy Ojo-Ibukun, Fadele Adewunmi, Prince (Arc.) Akinlusi Adeniyi, Akinniyi Sekinah, John Adewuyi Ojo, and Igbinlola Ebenezer.
“The breakfast was pretty good, the options were a plus.”
“It was beautiful.”
Breakfast with an Alumnus is not a one-off event. It is a series; one that this administration has planted as a seed, with the quiet confidence that future editions will water it into something far larger than this first morning. Every alumnus gathering that follows will trace its beginning back here. And those who were in that room on June 12th will always be able to say they were present for the first chapter.
ArchiWeek 2026 was a week built with intention; from the theme that honored a professor, to the competition that rewarded participation, to the summit that brought the conversation home, to the breakfast that started a tradition.
The Forge Administration set out to forge something this year. Looking back at the week that was, it is difficult to argue that they did not.
Oríl̀ẹ: Forging Roots and Routes.
The roots have been laid. The routes are only beginning. 🌱
