How do we resolve the tensions between imported Western imported styles and the notion of what is African? That tension between the courtyard and the balcony, the glass skin and the brise soleil; or the oft-derided eating habits not accommodated in the living room, or the abundantly ubiquitous zinc roofing sheets so often discarded or the coming to terms with crime-induced burglary and the esteeming of the kitchen entrance.
Through a series of charrettes, we are designing and building a series of inventive houses to make what was once backwater become mainstream. We want informality to become a legible design language on the continent. We want to start with a modular house in Alabata, an obscure community just 6 minutes from one of Nigeria’s newly built train stations.
