World Cultures, World Arts Series: Nation-Building Across Borders: Chinese-Guinean Tropical Forms and Afro-Asian Architecture

What can a building reveal about the connections between countries, cultures, and political movements? This lecture explores the surprising story of the Palais du Peuple, a monumental public building in Conakry, Guinea, completed in 1967. Designed and built by Chinese architects and engineers shortly after Guinea gained independence from France, the Palais offers a window onto a world shaped by decolonization, the Cold War, and new forms of Afro-Asian solidarity. Rather than tracing architecture as a purely national expression, this lecture follows the ideas, people, technologies, and visual forms that crossed borders to produce the Palais. We will consider how Chinese architects drew simultaneously on international modernism, colonial-era ideas about tropical architecture, experiences from socialist China, and their encounters with Guinean climate and culture. The building also raises broader questions: What does it mean to create a modern national identity after colonialism? Can architecture foster collaboration across unequal histories and geopolitical divides? By tracing one building's global journey, this lecture introduces students to architecture as a site where artistic experimentation, political imagination, and cross-border exchange intersect. The World Cultures, World Arts Series bridges the gap between the business education of a Baruch student and the cultural and artistic world. In each session, an artist or art historian presents a detailed look at a piece of artwork, its context and its relevance for today. We will connect world cultures with the fine arts, to see if we can find an alternate way to become globally-accomplished students. The Baruch community is invited to attend this free online lecture. Learn more about the series at https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/globalstudentcertificate/world-cultures-world-arts-series/.