→ Yussef Agbo-Ola

Yussef Agbo-Ola, founder of Olaniyi Studio, is an architect and artist living between London and the Amazon Forest. Born in rural Virginia in a multi-heritage Nigerian, African American, and Cherokee household, his work reflects hybrid identities and relationships to different landscapes, ecologies, and cultural rituals. He aims to use diverse multidisciplinary research methods and design components to reinterpret local knowledge and its environmental importance cross-culturally. His research outcomes manifest through architectural temples, photographic journalism, material alchemy, interactive performance, experimental sound design, and conceptual writing. Agbo-Ola studied at the University of the Arts and the Royal College of Art in London. He has led art and architectural commissions for the United Nations, Institute of Contemporary Art (London), Serpentine Gallery London, TEDx East End, BBC Arts, Venice Architectural Biennials, and Palais de Tokyo, among others. Agbo-Ola is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia GSAPP where he directs an experimental design studio within the Advanced Architectural Design program.