Architecture firm, France and West Africa The Bureaux d’Etudes Henri Chomette were architectural firms created in 1949 by Henri Chomette, a French-born architect who established himself in Africa ten years before the independence achievements. Active in Africa from 1949 until 1993 and concentrated in Francophone West Africa (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo) and central Africa (Cameroon and Gabon), the Bureaux d’Etudes Henri Chomette in 50 years gained a sustained reputation based on the contribution of African architects, engineers, craftsmen, and artists in the building of modern African states. Born in Saint-Etienne (a city near Lyon), Henri Chomette (1921–95) developed early a passion for architecture. A student of Tony Garnier in Lyon (1941–45), Othello Zavaronni, and Gustave Perret at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1945–46), Chomette earned his degree in architecture in 1946. An admirer of Le Corbusier and intern in his atelier de la rue de Sèvres 35 in Par...