Johannesburg architects

Archigram 1 is the first built intervention in the Afrigram series by A4AC Architects, a project exploring speculative African urbanism through mobile, culturally rooted architecture.

For this iteration, we collaborated directly with local street artists in Johannesburg and commissioned a beadwork artist to “dress” a 3D-printed scale model of an existing city building. The beadwork transformed the façade into a tactile, pattern-rich skin — a literal cultural overlay onto Johannesburg’s built fabric.

This handcrafted object was then 3D scanned and digitally composited into a photogrammetry model of Johannesburg, allowing the team to visualize how traditional African craftsmanship can co-exist with and reshape high-density urban contexts.

Archigram 1 embodies A4AC’s broader design ethos:

• Architecture as storytelling

• Craft as data

• Cities as living, mobile, layered identities

It also showcases our use of advanced digital workflows, including:

• Hand-crafted collaboration with local artisans

• 3D printing

• High-resolution LiDAR and 3D scanning

• Digital photogrammetry

• AI-generated visual augmentation

This work sits at the intersection of public art, urban memory, and future mobility.

🔗 ← Back to Afrigram Overview
🔗 Visit A4AC Architects – Architects Johannesburg