Omar Degan is a Somali-Italian architect, curator, and academic born in Italy in 1990. Growing up between cultures, he developed an early interest in how identity, place, and architecture are connected. He studied at the Politecnico di Torino and later at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he focused on sustainable design and the challenges facing rapidly growing and unequal cities.
After working on projects in informal settlements in places like Buenos Aires and Hong Kong, he moved to Mogadishu in 2017, driven by a desire to contribute to rebuilding Somalia. There, he founded DO Architecture Group, a studio that works in crisis-affected regions. His approach is grounded in working closely with communities and using local materials and traditions, creating buildings that are not only practical but also meaningful to the people who use them. For Degan, architecture is not just about construction—it’s about restoring dignity, identity, and a sense of belonging.
Alongside his design work, he writes and teaches, sharing ideas about African cities, heritage, and resilience. He is also the founder and curator of the Pan-African Biennale, an initiative that brings together architects and thinkers from across the continent and diaspora, with its first edition planned in Nairobi in 2026. In 2022, his work was recognized internationally when he became a fellow of the Obama Foundation.
Some of his key contributions include the Salsabiil multifunctional building and restaurant in Mogadishu, which celebrates Somali culture through design; a portable rural clinic developed in Somalia in 2021 to improve access to healthcare in remote areas; and a widely discussed proposal for a memorial to the victims of the 14 October 2017 Mogadishu bombings. He also documented the city’s architecture in his 2020 book Mogadishu Through the Eyes of an Architect, and continues to shape conversations about architecture in Africa through both his projects and the Pan-African Biennale in Nairobi, Kenya.