Digital Fabrication and Architectural Practice Transformation: A Theory of Technology-Mediated Design Agency in African Contexts

Digital fabrication technologies including parametric design, computer numerically controlled manufacturing, and additive construction are reshaping architectural design agency globally, yet the conditions under which these technologies can be appropriated, adapted, and deployed to expand rather than further concentrate architectural capability in African contexts remain theoretically underdeveloped. This dissertation develops an original theory of technology-mediated design agency for digital fabrication in African architectural contexts, using Nigerian practice as the primary empirical domain. The theoretical contribution constructs a framework that accounts for the differential conditions of technological access, skill formation, material availability, and construction market structure in Nigerian architectural practice, arguing that a naive technology transfer model neither describes actual appropriation patterns nor generates useful prescriptions for expanding the design possibilities of African architects and communities. Original theoretical components include a conditional appropriation model that identifies the institutional, economic, and skill preconditions for genuine design agency enhancement through digital fabrication in resource-constrained contexts; a material localisation theory examining how global digital design tools are adapted to locally available construction materials through parametric calibration; and a hybrid fabrication practice theory describing the combinations of digital and manual making that constitute productive technology integration in Nigerian workshop conditions. Empirical evidence is generated from ethnographic research in four architectural workshops and fabrication studios in Lagos, Abuja, and Kaduna that have engaged with digital fabrication, supplemented by structured interviews with twenty-eight Nigerian architectural practitioners. Design experiments testing the theoretical framework are documented as demonstrations of expanded design agency. Keywords: digital fabrication, architectural practice, design agency, technology appropriation, African architecture.