The connections that sparked the creation of this Toshiko Mori building are rich and varied. It is hard to imagine, for instance, what factors might unite the Japanese-American architect based in New York, Bauhaus émigrés Josef and Anni Albers, or at least their living representative, and a remote village in eastern Senegal. Yet this unlikely alliance, forged through a series of chance encounters, has resulted in an extraordinary building: a cultural centre for the Senegalese community of Sinthian, where a whole range of functions and activities are combined under one roof. Its name, appropriately, is Thread.
From Dakar, it’s a seven-hour drive to Sinthian, which sits close to the banks of the River Gambia. It’s a trip that the Mori, has undertaken a number of times. ‘You have to weave around cattle, sheep, donkeys and people on bicycles,’ says Mori. ‘When you arrive, you see that the region is one of flat grasslands and very beautiful. The locals are incredibly poor. They are impeccably dressed and wonderful people but they have to do their best with very limited resources.’
