Handmade House Ghana


2015
Abetenim, Ghana


Handmade House Ghana was won at competition by Louis when he was studying his Part 1 at London Metropolitan University. Over the summer between Louis’ second and third years, Louis travelled to Ghana to build this project led by local craftsmen and alongside a team of international volunteers.

The aim of the project was simple: to design and build a residential home that tackled the growing stigma associated with using earth as a construction material in certain Northern Ghanaian villages.

In collaboration with the Earth Research Lab at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) the team utilised a once typical method of ‘Poured earth’. A cement-free liquid earth mixture was cast into reusable timber formwork — creating a system that could be replicated on future builds.

























All construction drawings were done by hand on site (using imperial), often as a group with no light. This approach allowed a healthy process of draw, mock up, refine, build. 













 

Though the outcome was a functioning home, the project’s greater value lay in its role as a series of built experiments — testing the limits and opportunities of vernacular, low-tech construction, both for the team involved and the wider community.







The site in progress, showing the range of material approaches used- Poured Earth, cob, and more standard timber joinery.




The upper floor and roof were constructed from timber sourced and milled on-site, then clad using recycled oil barrels.








The Poured Earth gave the compressive strength required for a two storey building- a feat nowadays more often found with concrete buildings.



















Handmade House on the opening night where the village came to celebrate completion. The double heighted space was filled with furniture and ideas of everyone involved in the build.



   
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