Bangladesh-based architecture firm Sheikh Ahsan Ullah Mojumder and Associates have recently won the World Earth Architecture competition with their design Abode+Adobe. The competition called for entrants to create an innovative design for modest, affordable housing for the arts that can be built with earth and other local materials in Ghana.
Ghanaian non-profit, Nka Foundation, which produces work that promotes the development of arts and architecture in rural Africa, ran the competition. The prototype will be built in the Abetenim Arts Village, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana from May 2016 to December 2017 by volunteers and local craftspeople.
The winning design boasts bamboo screen shutters to create privacy while maintaining ventilation in the building, flexible workspaces that can adapt to allow relaxation and a central hall for group activities. Abode+Adobe is also built around a central courtyard.
The budget for the prototype is $7 000 for materials and labour.
The building is designed for musicians, theatre artists, potters, sculptors, painters, textile artists, designers, writers, or media arts practitioners.
Other winners include eARThouse by Italian architect Lorenzo Conti in second place and American architects Eddie Winn and Samantha McPadden in third place with Weft Wall.
