Joe Osae-Addo was born in Ghana, West Africa, and trained at the Architectural Association in London. He worked in Finland, the UK and the USA, setting up his practice in Los Angeles in 1991. His work has been influenced by ‘genus-loci’, and how architecture can/should respond to this in creating pieces which are both site specific and meet the needs of people who will interact with it. He is a founding partner in the A + D Museum, Los Angeles, whose mission is to advance knowledge and to enable people to appreciate and understand architecture and design. He moved back to his native country Ghana in 2004 and is currently the CEO of Constructs LLC, an ‘inno-native’ design firm based in Accra and Tamale in Ghana, West Africa. Constructs LLC is currently working on several projects as both developer and architect, with a primary focus on developing manufacturing, using and promoting indegenous materials and technology for construction, in a contemporary way. The firm has expanded is mandate to become a think tank of sorts, to engage in the discourse of economic development in Ghana and Africa as a whole. They have become self described ‘DESIGN- SOCIO-ECONOMISTS’, using architecture as a platform to engage in Projects ranging from re-branding of Towns and Cities, Product design (as an economic empowerment tool) to targetted urban planning initiatives.