On a tight urban plot in Accra, an architect's striking home

Black houses are unusual in Ghana. It’s a colour associated with death, melancholy and harshness, so Compact House, located on a sleepy, residential street in the capital city of Accra, naturally stands out. Still, it is a project that its author, architect Alice Asafu-Adjaye, has noticed stops people in their tracks – in a good way. ‘Black buildings, let alone houses, are pretty much unheard of in Ghana,’ she says. ‘People rarely dress all in black, unless in mourning.’ During construction, it became a talking point as workers on the estate would walk up to see the ‘black house’. Where the initial response was tinged with alarm and suspicion, they softened into curiosity and marvelling at how so much (pool, garden, parking) could be done on such a small plot size and still pack a punch in comparison to the larger houses on the estate.’

Asafu-Adjaye set up her studio, Mustard, in Accra in 2015, following training in the UK, and working both there (her experience includes a position at Foster + Partners) and in her home country of Ghana, where she moved with her daughter in 2012. The boutique practice now works across a range of residential, commercial and cultural projects, as well as installations such as her participation at the London Design Biennale in 2021, but Compact House, the architect’s own home, has a special place in her heart.

Inside the urban Compact House by Alice Asafu-Adjaye

The house is located in a development in the Tse Addo neighbourhood, not far from the city’s Cantonments district, an affluent part of town with a buzzy feel, where many embassies are located. Set in a gated community, the site would have typically been sold with a simple, ready-made home. Asafu-Adjaye, however, bought just the land – a narrow 40ft x 80ft plot – and decided to build her own design. ‘I wanted something small that would contain my life. I am a bit of a hoarder so I wanted it to fit my and my daughter’s lifestyle and hold all the things I have amassed over the years,’ she explains. ‘I also wanted it to be a bit of a case study to test out building small contemporary homes in Ghana.’

The traditional domestic compound in Ghana is built around a central open-air courtyard and often needs to accommodate extended family. So the housing market tends to offer either larger homes for multigenerational living or smaller cookie-cutter residences that are ready to buy. As lifestyles change, there is an opportunity, argues Asafu-Adjaye, to take a more design-led, customised approach to single-family housing. ‘What I wanted to do here is create a mini version of the courtyard compound typology that reflects both our environment and culture,’ she says.

Asafu-Adjaye’s daughter trained for years as a swimmer so a slim lap pool was the first thing the architect wanted to include. Placing the 2.5m x 15.5m pool against a boundary wall helped to define the house’s footprint. Carving out the volume, its relatively blank street façade was designed to be minimalist and provide a bit of mystery. The front door is discreetly placed at the side and visitors have to walk around a small patio to find it. A cantilever to the north and east, as well as recessed windows on the west side, ensure the interior is protected from rain.

The house has also been constructed to work with the local tropical climate and to avoid the use of artificial air-conditioning as much as possible – louvres incorporated into the façade and operable windows ensure a steady breeze runs through the rooms, cooling them down. Ventilation is aided by ceiling fans if required, although additional help is needed during the harmattan season, when the Saharan winds blow sand south, as the windows have to stay shut to ensure it doesn’t enter.

The volume is clad in black galvanised steel at the top and black porcelain tiles below, set on a concrete block construction (the region’s typical building method). Asafu-Adjaye hopes to install solar panels on the roof in the near future to take the house off the national grid, which suffers frequent power outages.

Spread over two storeys, the home has a high-ceilinged, open-plan ground level that accommodates the living spaces, while upstairs are three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small family room. The banister-free staircase, clad in walnut, adds warmth to the composition, while simultaneously acting as a piece of furniture (the absence of a handrail means that Asafu-Adjaye can use it as seating when guests come over). It also offers a great view of the small garden – the outdoor space on the ground level may be bijou, but it’s awash with greenery from potted plants (‘I am not much of a gardener,’ she admits, ‘but I have overloaded it with plants’).

Inside, a crisp grey colour palette forms a contemporary backdrop to all her furniture and objects – from a Norman Foster-designed ‘Nomos’ glass table and Arne Jacobsen chairs to a collection of vintage Asante objects, such as stools, and a chief’s customary staff and chair, some acquired and some inherited from her mother, who is of royal Asante heritage. ‘It was satisfying to see it all come together in the house,’ she says. ‘It feels complete.’