(April 18th) Bricks are Finished!

We woke up in the morning to discover that all the bricks had been finished! The landcrate bricks will take 4-5 days to dry, while the cement bricks take between 1-2 days. We sprinkle water on the cement bricks each evening to make them stronger.

(April 17th) Making Bricks

Fetching concrete from downtown Wiaga, before taking a tour of other flood adaptation projects aided by the local organization TAMAACHAAB.


Making bricks one by one with a mold.

(April 16th) Demolition Begins...

Gabriela demolishing a wall.
















Fetching water.
















Watering the sand for the bricks.

Flooding and the Local Vernacular

After breakfast on our first day in Wiaga we had a walking tour of nearby flood affected houses. Wiaga is a small town near Sandema, where we are staying at a Catholic Mission house with Father Isaac Akapata. During the tour Father Isaac explained to us how people were adapting the local vernacular with new building technologies, so as to survive the rains. He showed us where sand is collected during the dry season to be mixed with cement for water resistant foundation blocks. We also saw an area were people would excavate the surface of the ground to gather a darker earth to make lancrate blocks, for higher layers.

We visited a couple of different housing styles, a modern block construction and one in a more traditional style such as that of Mr. Akokorah Angachaab.

The Rains

The Rains began today(April 13th). We were lucky to escape them last night as we experienced roof sleeping for the first time, a part of the culture which we will consider in our design/build workshop very soon. We are beginning to think that the traditional mud hut workshop may need a few adjustments. Certainly, it would be sad to see our creation collapse in a few weeks.

Looking back on Old Fadama, Accra

This is our Architecture body report based on the observations inside Old Fadama, our primary site of focus in Accra. Its a compilation of the various materials used with basic details of construction techniques.

Easter Elephants

In a country where over eighty percent of the population is religious, we realize it does not make sense to schedule meetings or visit universities. So, we have shifted our plans, skipping the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi for now. Instead, we have spent the Easter weekend at Mole national part, since of course we cannot go to Ghana without seeing the elephants.