ECOWAS Commission Headquarters, Abuja

Commissioned work

The case study

The brief

The ECOWAS Commission asked for a design language for its headquarters that expresses unity among member states, rather than the identity of any one country. Outtabox bid for the work and was awarded the commission.

The insight

Unity reads best through shared material and pattern, not through national symbols placed side by side. The work also had to be produced and installed inside a live institutional building, with its own access rules, security and daily use, so installation planning was as important as the design itself.

Our response

Outtabox developed the design direction and the artwork, expressed through decorative panels in the conference centre. The panels were set out, fabricated and installed by our own team, working around the building's access arrangements and the people using it. The site photographs record that installation. A separate architectural visualisation shows a design proposal for a conference hall waiting area and is labelled as a visualisation, not completed work.

Scope

Design direction, artwork, decorative panel design, fabrication and on-site installation by the Outtabox team, with documented scope, change control and reporting.

What the work resolves

The decorative panels are installed at the headquarters, expressing the shared identity the brief asked for. A museum for ECOWAS is also being developed with us. That work is ongoing.