John Able Kwanu Nutsugah was born in Keta, Ghana in 1937 and educated at the Roman Catholic School, in Tiko, Cameroon, followed by Keta Secondary School (1954-57). He studied architecture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) from 1958-1961 and after graduating worked for the Chief Architect’s Office of the Ghana National Construction Corporation, in Accra. A role within the Architect’s Branch of the Volta River Authority followed in 1963. In September of the same year, Nutsugah entered the Third-Year cohort of the Architectural Association’s (AA), five-year Diploma course, in London, UK. He was part of a group students selected as an exchange programme between KNUST, and the AA - the two institutions having entered a contract to work together to develop the architecture programme at KNUST. As part of John’s Fifth-Year, in 1965-66, he elected to join the programme of the AA’s Department of Tropical Studies, where he was to complete his final thesis ‘The significance of the Ghanaian Compound House.’ During his early days in London, John lived at the AA’s student hostel at 113 Stapleton Hall Road, Stroud Green, alongside fellow Ghanaian students, Samuel Larbi, Christopher Mensah and Francis Segbedzi - later moving to another address at Tooting Bec, with his young family. Following completion of his studies in 1966 and receipt of the AA Diploma and Certificate in Tropical Studies, Nutsugah gained a position at the practice of Guy Morgan and Partners, London, in 1966-67, followed by a role with the Research and Development Group of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, London (1967-68). He then returned to Ghana, where he was employed as Senior Research Officer and Head of the Architectural Section within the Building and Road Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in Kumasi (1969). He was involved a number of major projects, including the CSIR Secretariat’s Housing Loans Scheme, and served as the consultant for the Scientific Instrumentation Centre and the new Library Complex. Other significant schemes he worked upon, as a design consultant, are the University of the North, at Nyankpala, and the CSIR Savannah Agricultural Research Institute. Alongside his office work, Nutsugah also served as a part time lecturer and external examiner for the departments of Architecture and Building Technology at KNUST. His continuing concerns with topics and issues raised during his time at the AA’s Department of Tropical Studies is evidenced by his work as the editor for the proceedings of an international symposium on ‘Environmental Design for Tropical Climates’, organised by the CSIR in 1973, in Kumasi. Nutsugah was to subsequently establish his own private practice. ‘Architectural Design Studio’ (ADS), in 1977. Initially based in Kumasi (he was to open a branch in Accra in the early 1990s), the practice was responsible for a number of significant local landmarks including the Ghana Commercial Bank, in the Suame district, and the Renewable Natural Resources Institute. John wound up ADS in 1995 and founded AEPEX (Architectural Engineering and Planning Experts), amongst his projects being the Social Security Bank building at Adum-Kumasi, the Tertiary Institutes at KNUST and Kumasi Polytechic and staff housing for the Ministry of Works and Housing at East Cantonments, Accra. Nutsugah was also committed to serving his profession and was instrumental in rallying colleagues to form the Northern Chapter of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), subsequently becoming the chapter’s first President. He also played a key role in the founding of a students’ chapter of the GIA, in 1988, and was formally elected as a Fellow of the Institute in 1994.
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