"The CICES at Dusk" by Mohamed Fakhry, ,

The CICES is a commercial center located in Dakar, Senegal. Every two years, the CICES host the FIDAK(Dakar International Fair), one of Africa biggest economic convention complemented by many trade events throughout the year, to showcase senegal's and Africa's diverse and rich cultures. Built in the early 1970s by French architects Jean-François Lamoureux and Jean-Louis Marin, the center includes 7 triangular pavilions in Senegalese Art deco style. Since each pavilion represents one region of Senegal, materials characteristic of each region were used on the facade through craftwork by local artists. The facade's red stone called laterite and a fresco made of sand and concrete highlight Senegal's vernacular artistry at the intersection between architecture and Modernism.This photograph of the CICES captured at dusk reminds me that the world we live in is heterogeneous. However, the possibilities to create an architecture that genuinely reflects a given place at its core, are limitless!