AIDA Awards × ARCHI-TALK X™ 2026: From Local Intelligence to Regional Industry
AIDA Awards is proud to partner with ARCHI-TALK X™, the conference that wants Africa’s built environment to stop talking about solutions and start building them. The 10th edition takes place on 6 and 7 November 2026 at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Organised by Chorus Architecture and partners under the patronage of Cameroon’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINHDU), ARCHI-TALK X™ has grown over nearly a decade from an annual conversation into something closer to a working ecosystem, one built around research, experimentation, collaboration and, crucially, getting African solutions for the built environment to market. This year’s theme, From Local Intelligence to Regional Industry, sums up the ambition neatly: to turn African resources, knowledge and innovation into credible solutions, tested, specified by professionals and produced at regional scale.
Two days, from conversation to action
Friday, 6 November, is dedicated to research, industrialisation, financing, materials and innovation, bringing architects, engineers, researchers, manufacturers and financial institutions into the same room to work out how good ideas become viable products.
Saturday, 7 November, turns to emerging talent, the ATX Working Lab, healthy buildings and the transformation of construction practice. The day closes with the Great Conversation, from 4 pm to 6 pm Cameroon time, around a question that feels more urgent with every passing year: What must Africa build differently, starting now?
Alongside the talks, the Living Materials Lab™ has been running ahead of the event, developing materials, prototypes, design workshops and demonstrators. Partners INODA Industries, focused on technical solutions and material treatment and finishing, and MOO Terracotta, which champions terracotta and materials drawn from local resources, bring that hands-on, test-it-first approach to the programme.
A wide network around the table
ARCHI-TALK X™ draws on an impressive circle of collaborators, from the Ordre National des Architectes du Cameroun (ONAC), APIC and professional bodies across the subregion, to the University of Ebolowa, PAID Summit, VAL Interiors, CMA and the Lagon Hotel. Regional and international support comes from the national representation of CEMAC, the Fondation Jacques Rougerie – Académie des beaux-arts, the Fédération des Architectes Francophones d’Afrique (FAFA) and NEGIA, with AIDA Awards joining as a partner of the ARCHI-TALK X™ ecosystem.
For AIDA, the partnership is a natural fit. Our awards exist to recognise design excellence across Africa and its diaspora, while ARCHI-TALK X™ works to connect that kind of talent with industry, research and real opportunities on the ground. As ARCHI-TALK founder and AIDA Jury Board member Cédrix Tsambang puts it, the aim is to move “from recognition to connection, from conversation to impact.”
Event details
Dates: 6–7 November 2026
Venue: Palais des Congrès, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Register: archi-talk-x.vercel.app/fr/index.html
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