Studio.
An indigenous practice working from Ibadan. We design buildings with cultural fluency, local material, and a long working relationship with the site — a discipline inherited from our founder and applied to every commission.
To make buildings that are modern and Nigerian — and to show that those two things are not in conflict.
The practice spans architectural design, interior design, design-build, facilities management, and property development. All work is carried from first brief through handover by the same senior team — not handed off to a back-office at the critical moment. Every building we put our name on is expected to outlast its brief.
What we stand for
Innovative Design Solutions
Each project starts from its place, its climate, and its people — not a catalogue. We treat originality as discipline: solve the real problem, then draw.
Sustainable Practices
Laterite, timber, stone, air, light. We build with materials the site can carry and systems the building can hold open over decades of use.
Tailored Solutions
No two briefs are equal. We design the process to the commission, whether that is a family residence, a civic hall, or a forty-year institutional campus.
Expert Team
Architects, interior designers, structural consultants, and site craftspeople, assembled around the specific demands of the work. Seniority stays close to the drawing.
Comprehensive Services
Design, design-build, facilities management, and property development, held inside one practice. Clients move through a single line of responsibility from brief to handover.
Commitment to Excellence
Every drawing is checked. Every spec is justified. Every site visit is logged. The quality of the finished work is the only measure that survives.
How we workFive stages
Brief
We sit with the client, the site, and the programme. Budget band, timeline, and working constraints are written down before a single line is drawn.
Concept
Sketch studies, massing options, and a written design intent. The concept stage ends with one scheme the client has signed off on — and a short list of what it will cost to deliver.
Development
The scheme is pulled into full architectural, structural, and services coordination. Materials are specified, finishes are sampled, and the drawing set moves from concept to tender-ready.
Documentation
Construction drawings, schedules, and specifications. The document set is the contract — every trade on site should be able to build from it without guessing.
Delivery
On-site administration through to handover. Regular site visits, instructions logged, snags closed out, as-built drawings issued. The building is handed over in working order.
The teamLeadership
Artist, architect, and founder of the practice. His buildings — the Dominican Chapel in Ibadan, New Culture Studios, the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre — set the terms the studio still works by: cultural fluency, local material, and a long working relationship with the site.
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Arc. Ugbodaga leads the firm day to day, from brief to handover. Her practice sits between the drawing board and the boardroom — every commission carries her signature on both the design and the delivery.
Ashim directs projects across the studio, holding design intent through the detail set, the procurement file, and the site. Clients work with him from the first concept meeting until the building is in use.
Francis runs the studio's digital infrastructure: BIM, project archives, document control, and the systems that keep drawings coordinated across offices and consultants. His work is invisible when it is working well.
An associate partner with over a decade in the practice, Usiobaifo leads interior and institutional work. She is the studio's closest reader of materials, finishes, and the way a space performs once it is occupied.
The full story of Demas Nwoko and the founding of the practice — including the Dominican Chapel, the Venice Golden Lion, and what came before.
Read the legacy