CO-FOUNDER
Emmanuel Kusi OFORI-SARPONG is a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where he completed Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees. He subsequently served as teaching assistant in the same department for design studio and architecture theory courses. Subsequently, he worked with Low design office as a design associate on the Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform project. Here he played a vital role in setting up the platform, to rethink the future of the Agbogbloshie ewaste ecosystem. He has delivered occasional lectures at Central University and design seminars at KNUST.
Emmanuel is interested in expanding modes of architectural practice and collaboration, future cities, biomimicry and low high tech. He helped organize TEDxKNUST and participated in the Kumasi, Bantama research initiative with Columbia University GSAPP and ArchiCamp at the Woelab hackerspace in Lome, Togo. Since January 2015, he has been working as design strategist at Design Research workshop, where he is co- founder. Here, most of his work focuses on exploring the relationship between spatial, product and furniture design.
CO-FOUNDER
Kuukuwa O. MANFUL has two great architectural passions – social architecture, and African architectural history. Her dissertation for her MSc African Studies from the University of Oxford tells the story of the ways in which Ghanaian architects positioned themselves in the global modernist movements. Her Master of Architecture thesis from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology which resulted in a talk at TEDxKNUST explored the essence of historical Asante architecture to inform the design of contemporary urban arenas in the city; and her BSc dissertation from the same institution examined the issue of social acceptance of earth building in Ghana.
Professionally, she has worked as a design associate with the Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform project in Accra where she worked on mapping e-waste activities in the area; and as the West African Design Fellow for ARCHIVEGlobal in Yaounde, building malaria prevention. Prior to that, she was the Program Assistant of the ArchiAfrika Foundation. She has also worked as a teaching assistant at the KNUST Department of Architecture.
DESIGN LEAD
Lois Naa Kwaale QUARTEY has been with sociarchi since September 2015. She holds BSc Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees from KNUST and is interested in functional and pragmatic dimensions of urban design and how these can can help solve the problems of African city dwellers.
Her undergraduate dissertation topic was “An Assessment of Environmental Noise Exposure in Community Schools in the Kumasi Metropolitan Area” and her ‘mini thesis’ examined “Home Based Small-Scale Industries”. Her masters thesis explored the notion of urban catalysts and how these could help transform the Cape Coast –Elmina shoreline.
DESIGN FELLOW
Sampson Wolanyo DEKLU has been with sociarchi since June 2016, graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with both Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees. His Master of architecture thesis focused on play as a discovery learning strategy for the developing child within the urban environment. His BSc dissertation examined the daylight levels in basic schools in Kumasi to inform the design and choice of fenestration in the design of classrooms. He has worked with the University of Health and Allied Science as an assistant architect on projects for the institution.
Sampson is interested in architecture for children and the exploration of playground activities for child development. He participated the 2016 international workshop LaNCOR+ which was aimed at creating a playground for the Appiadu Community in Kumasi. He helped organize the first edition ArchiAfrik Design Competition Exhibition (Archigineer) in Ghana in 2013 and currently the representative for Ghana. He participated in TEDxKNUST and has several student exhibitions at the KNUST Department of Architecture.
sociarchi 