People

DK OSSEO-ASARE : co-lead : is Principal and Co-Founder of Low Design Office (LOWDO), an architecture studio based in San Antonio, Texas and Tema, Ghana. Fulbright Scholar and Global TED Fellow, DK received both an A.B. in Engineering Design and an M.Arch from Harvard University, where he studied kinetic architecture and network power. His research spans design innovation, open-source urbanism, informal and digital fabrication. He has presented his work at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Smart Cities Expo, TED Global and on the BBC. DK led urban design for the Anam City and Koumbi City new town projects in Nigeria and Ghana.

Dr. Yasmine ABBAS : co-lead : is a French certified architect and Professeur Associé at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA) in Paris, who works internationally across the fields of art and architecture, business ethnography and sustainability. Dr. Abbas holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT (SMArchS 2001) and a Doctor of Design from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (DDes 2006). She is founding director of Panurban Intelligence, a global strategic design consultancy that leverages design research to generate business intelligence and drive urban innovation, and is the author of Le néo-nomadisme: Mobilités. Partage. Transformations identitaires et urbaines (FYP, 2011). Her design research includes projects for companies like Orange, Steelcase, and as Environmental Sociologist for Masdar City.

Kwabena ACHEAMPONG : field agent : trained originally as a mechanic before working with the late architect-builder Alero Olympio and for the past eight years as a construction supervisor and research assistant with Ghana office of LOWDO. “Kay” coordinates activities of field and community agents on the ground in Agbogbloshie e-waste dump as well as off-site processing areas.

Ivy ASUO : materials scientist : has Bachelors of Science and Engineering degree from the University of Cape Coast, Masters of Science from the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja, Nigeria and a joint FAME Masters degree as an Erasmus Mundus Scholar at the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in France and Augsburg University in Germany, in Materials Science and Engineering. Her research interests include solar technology and hybrid and advanced materials.

Emmanuel Kusi OFORI-SARPONG : design associate : 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, and has delivered occasional lectures at both KNUST and Central University. Ofori-Sarpong 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.

Kuukuwa Manful has a Masters degree in Architecture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Her interests are in social architecture and in the architectural history and identity of Africa. She has worked as a designer on a malaria-prevention social housing project in Cameroon with ARCHIVEGlobal and with ArchiAfrika Foundation in Accra.

AMPQAMP: Design & maker sessions at Hub Accra and Kokrobitey Institute, Ghana,  Summer 2014

Makers & Development (M&D) design research seminar at l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, Fall 2015: ABDELKADOUS, Mouna + BONGARD, Tomas + BUREL, Clara + CANADAS, MEGIA Pilar + El SOKARY, Amin + FICINI, Elisa + GUIRARD, Vincent + JIAZHEN, Lin + KENNEDY, Laura + KIERZKWOWSKA-KLYS, Maria + KSIKES, Amine + LEFEBVRE, Isabelle + Le NAY, Erwan + ORTEGA, Carla + MIYAJI, Karin + MORBELLI, Delna + POUMAILLEUX, Alexis + SORTES, Thibault + STEPHENS, Amanda + TIBOURKI, Al Mahdi

Makers & Development (M&D) design research seminar at l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, Spring 2015: BASTIAN, Hadrien + CHAOUKI, Sarah + CHEHAB, Hussein + DIENG,  Dior + ESPEJO FERNANDEZ, Adrien, HABIS, Tara + HENRY, Arthur + KHOURY-KLINK, Monica + KOMAR,  Anna + LETINTURIER, Mathieu + PEYRICHOU Ségolène + SKIBINSKI, Dominik + SOUNIGO, Eliott + VINCENT, Marine

Makers & Development (M&D) design research seminar at l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, Fall 2014: COLOMB, Gilles + MARION-ARDALAN, Cyrus + TOSTIVINT, Théo; SEBBAN, Julien; GHABRA, Hania; BALAS, Léonard + WOLF-HANSEL, Ginosar; HIGA, Akemi; KIM, Joongi + KIM, Yongyeob + KWON, Seulkee; ABREO, Daniel; VILLALBA, Joaquin

Makers & Development (M&D) design research seminar at  l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, Spring 2014: Oscar AGUILA, Nicolas BENMUSSA, Charles CLEMENT, Vlad DARABAN, Diana DURAND-RUEL, Sibylle PERRIER, Gautier PIECHOTTA, Edouard REGNIER Maryam SAAD, Ferdinand SIMON

Makers & Development (M&D) design research seminar at  l’Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture, Fall 2013: Asaf Cem ASFUROGLU, Félix CHICOTEAU, Quentin DEJONGHE, Clément FOREST, Thomas GIROUD, Nolwenn MONTAGNY, Thomas ROBIN

Recent graduate Tangi DEFACHELLES who explored the subject of e-waste and Agbogbloshie for his diploma