Architects:DeRoché Strohmayer

Year:2023

Photographs:Julien Lanoo

Main Contractor:ALConstructs

Structural Engineer:Richard Ofori Addo

Sponsors:Vans, Chadi Dakmak, Neuce Ghana

Joinery:SDPS

Metalworks:MeCraft

City:Dixcove

Country:Ghana

Text description provided by the architects. Surf Ghana Collective creates a dynamic community space for youth in Busua, a surfing hotspot on Ghana’s western coast. The community-run lodge plugs into a network of surf schools and oceanfront lodges. The adapted single-room structure is used flexibly throughout the year and provides the first hangout spot for local youth, providing amenities such as wifi, a beach shower, and equipment storage. For large surf events, the room acts as a classroom and dormitory for visiting surfers. In the off-season, the building is rented out to cover running costs.

To improve the existing edifice, a new canopy replaced a leaking roof. The new structure spans over the existing room and creates social spaces above and below. An ocean-facing community terrace on the ground floor is constructed around two preserved Ficus trees. The new rooftop increases the club’s small preexisting footprint and provides a respite point that features pillars to hang hammocks and a new vantage point to observe surf swells.

The design uses passive cooling strategies, a double-roof design, and cross-ventilation. To reduce the use of cement, the mix-design substituted cement with a readily available laterite, resulting in reduced-carbon concrete. This was used to finish the existing structure’s plaster and cast low-maintenance and salt-resistant concrete elements. Local raffia substituted imported formwork. The resulting surface effect integrates into the region’s design language, as raffia palms clad many structures in Ghana’s Western Region, such as in the Nzulezu stilt village.

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Project location

Address:Dixcove, Ghana