Oba Akenzua II Cultural Centre

Nwoko drew this building in 1972 as a theatre for the University of Benin. It was eventually built with government money and opened in 1993 as a civic cultural centre, a few streets from the Oba's palace. Two things about it are deliberately local. The colour is the red earth of Benin City itself, obtained not by paint but by casting the walls in Nwoko's sandcrete mix of cement, sand and pebble-filled lateritic soil. And the surface is worked in continuous horizontal ridges, quoting the ridged wall finish that in Benin is a royal privilege the Oba grants to chiefs. The plan, however, departs sharply from Edo precedent: instead of the rectilinear courtyard compound, a half-circle whose curve is set by the rake of the auditorium seating behind it.