Emerging Ghana Affordable Housing Concept.....

I stumbled across the following piece about eco/sustainable housing in Ghana via http://inhabitat.com/architecture/ and had to share.. Not only do I want this house but I would love to see more of this type of eco-friendly/environmentally sound/sustainable homes in Ghana… It truly blows my mind that we have all this sun but no solar powered houses in Ghana -I’m I missing something??? The piece is dated 06/29/10 -and I have no idea if this innovative house was ever built.. If you have more information -do get in touch. Thanks…





The winner of the Open Source House Ghanaian competition which will be built as a pilot project in Ghana and the start of the great challenge that Open Source House provides.

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Title: Local, Modular and Efficient Eco-Affordable Housing For Ghana

By Bridgette Meihold -Dated: 06/29/10

A lot of concept houses come across our desk here at Inhabitat, but we were really impressed with this design for eco-housing in Ghana. Designed by Lisbon-based Blaanc in collaboration with Architect João Caeiro, Emerging Ghana is a plan for an eco-affordable single family house for the emerging middle class of Ghana. The design recently won first place in the international design competition Open Source House, a non-profit organization that aims to provide better, more sustainable housing in low-income countries. Emerging Ghana is modular single-family home design to be built with local materials, local labor, and with all the best sustainable design strategies you can imagine, all for a low cost of about $12,500 USD.

The Open Source House competition challenged architects to design an affordable, flexible and sustainable house that will be made available to people living in poor housing conditions. Blaanc and João Caeiro responded with their completely practical and well-considered concept for a single-family home based on the Ashanti compound, a courtyard building with a deep structure and large overhangs that encourage natural ventilation. Modular by nature, the home can grow as funds allow and as the family expands. Construction materials are all locally sourced – rammed earth walls, dahoma wood, and bamboo can all be found nearby to construct the home. Meanwhile, local people would be taught how to build the homes, giving them a new skill set and boosting the economy.

Energy efficiency was a primary design goal to improve the home’s overall sustainability, but more importantly to create a more comfortable living environment with minimal costs. Low-tech energy solutions would be capitalized on to minimize energy use and maximize comfort. Solar passive design with a south-facing structure and large overhangs provides shade for the interior. A solar hot water tank on the large roof provides hot water for the kitchen and bathroom. Orientation of the home improves natural ventilation, while rain water is collected for use within the home and for the garden in the courtyard, which helps provide some of the family’s food. A small scale septic tank manages the household’s waste, while organic waste is composted in the yard. The concept will be built sometime in 2010.
http://inhabitat.com/architecture/
http://www.blaanc.com/

Text & Images credit: http://inhabitat.com/local-modular-and-efficient-eco-affordable-housing-for-ghana/ 

Architecture: Lesley Lokko and Joe Osae-Addo

**I had no idea author Lesley Lokko is also an architect -did you? I guess there’s no end to her talents. I found the following via http://www.afrikamuseum.nl/

Lesley Naa Norle Lokko is an architect, academic and novelist. She grew up in Ghana, West Africa and was educated in Ghana and the UK. She completed her architectural training at the ULC Bartlett School of Architecture and holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of London. She has taught in the UK, the USA and South Africa and is currently a Visiting Professor of Architecture at Westminster University. She has lectured and published widely on the subject of race, cultural identity and their relationship to architecture and is the editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000). Being the owner of a design firm, Lokko Associates in Accra, Ghana, she completed several residential projects in Accra and Akosombo, Ghana. She is currently a member of the African Centre for Cities, which looks critically at the challenges and opportunities facing African cities in the near and longterm future. Her second career, as a novelist, has seen the publication of five novels, three of which have been UK bestsellers. She currently divides her time between Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana and London, UK..**For more information about Lesley Lokko visit: http://www.lesleylokko.com/

I also found the following about fellow Ghanaian architect, Joe Osae-Addo, new to Ghana Rising’s radar -and I’m sooo pleased as he’s an incredibly talented individual -and we are happy to celebrate him.

Joe Osae – Addo was born in Ghana, West Africa, and was educated 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 the role it pplayed in creating architecture. In his work, he searched for a way to create pieces which are site specific and at the same time 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.Joe Osae-Addo is a member of Jury Africa Middle East of the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Design and has been member of the World Economic Forum in 2009. He is, among many other projects, working on the Make It Right project in New Orleans, initiated by Brad Pitt after the Katrina disaster. He is also involved in a 1000 unit affordable housing project in Monrovia, Liberia. Since 2010 he has been chair of the Board of the ArchiAfrika foundation.

Random: Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Accra, Ghana

I love the desgin of the Dutch embassy building in Accra, -it is both [very] African and contemporay -the way forward [me thinks]. Architecture has come a long way in Ghana -fabulous!

Random: The Oldest Hotel in Accra -The Sea View Hotel

Is this historic hotel still standing? If so –we must try to conserve it by renovating it in a sympathetic manor….

Random: College of Physicians -Ghana