Design Week Lagos

Lagos is flooding again. And once again, we’re reminded that the way this city moves through water isn’t optional design, it’s survival.

Last year, Design Week Lagos asked young designers to imagine Built in Africa: The Future of Marine Mobility. Three teams rose to the challenge.

Taking 1st place, Osunlana Ezekiel Atodeji and Alao Michael Olayinka of Team Danfo Ferry, reimagined Lagos’ iconic danfo bus culture as a water transit system.

In 2nd place, Team Flow, Alake Olumide, Taiwo John and Williams Motolani, designed an electric hydrofoil ferry shaped by the rhythm of the water itself, layered with colors and symbols pulled straight from Lagos’ cultural identity.

And in 3rd place, Olumide-Soetan Omololu.

As one of the team members put it, this experience showed that design is a powerful problem solving tool, one that can promote culture, build national identity and drive real global change.

That’s the whole point of this competition. Real students. Real ideas. Real solutions to what’s happening around us right now.

This year, we’re moving forward. The theme is The Circular Energy Innovation & Experience Center, a campus where research, education, industry and community meet, anchored by a signature Energy Beacon built to symbolize Africa’s energy future.

Open to undergraduates, graduate students and recent NYSC graduates. Solo or in teams of up to five.

Submissions close August 31, 2026.

Link in bio to enter.