This project compares the unbuilt areas in Abotsiman with its immediate neighbours made up of of large, single-family, gated houses. To understand the quality of voids and open spaces in Abotsiman, all publicly accessible areas in the settlement were mapped, including pathways. A case study was carried out on the largest open space in the settlement, which hosts a variety of activities at different times. The investigation questions the dialogue between building masses and interstitial voids with projections into the future.
Patterns
Looking at a satellite image of the study area in the context of East Legon shows the contrasting building orientations, shapes, sizes, and densities between the native settlement and the surrounding developments. Buildings in the native settlement are oriented towards the prevailing wind direction (southwest and northeast, respectively). The native settlement has developed organically in response to its environment. On the contrary, the surrounding, more recent developments are aligned with a master-planned grid, sited on predefined plots. One can identify an inconsistency between the two areas in terms of their urban pattern in the sense that the native settlement addresses communalism while the new developments are geared towards a more individualistic lifestyle.
In such a dialogue, who do we learn from?
As the native inhabitants may have discovered building typologies and patterns that work efficiently for them, these strategies need to be documented and preserved in order to be considered when planning with local communities. Otherwise, it makes these patterns seem disoriented within the gridded neighbourhood. For instance, a figure drawing of the study area with the new developments aligned to the grid puts the native settlement in the situation of being visually inappropriate. The visual inappropriateness stems from the fact that the scales, proportions, and orientations from which the indigenous settlement have evolved do not conform with the patterns the city planners have designed for, which makes them look alien in the context of contemporary East Legon. In summary, the indigenous Abotsiman community was growing in response to its environmental context, until it was interrupted by a rigid and formal planning pattern that threatens the continuity of the indigenous building typologies.
Voids
Ghanaians patronize outdoor spaces, and this is no different in Abotsiman. The voids within the native settlement have been seen as the most versatile spaces that are accessible to everyone. However, the relevance of these multifunctional spaces has not been formally recognized, as they have not been officially named or assigned to any functions. As a result, open spaces are generally thought of as pieces of land awaiting development – such as a for a building.
The largest open space within the Abotsiman community was observed in order to understand how the space is used. The open space in question has large Neem trees with wide canopies, which continually provide shade. The comfort within this space has encouraged the taking place of various activities. The following scenarios describe how different users have patronized this space:
- User A is a young man who meets his friends there to play card games and chat
- User B washes and dries his clothes in the same space
- User C does all his cooking there
- User D is a little girl who comes to play there
- User E uses the bathroom on the space everyday
- User F comes to get a haircut from a friend who lives close to the space
- User G also cooks and sells food there
Who names the voids?
The various activities say something about the culture of the people, which needs to be addressed. In a setting like East Legon, where the economic value of land is high, justifying the need for these voids may result in prolonged dialogues within the community before a consensus is reached. As a starting point for these dialogues, survey forms were shared among guests at the exhibition held in the community, in order to collect views on the future of the compound being studied.
Circulation
The native Abotsiman community has a complex, interconnected system of pedestrian routes, which brings a certain liveliness to the settlement. The pathways not only facilitate circulation, they also provide security and social contact between neighbours using common routes. The children in the community have also carved out their own niche by playing hide-and-seek and other games within the complex web of pathways. Nonetheless, the community is reacting to the influences of its immediate neighbours and are building fences and gating their homes. As a result, the native settlement is becoming less permeable, and shortcuts are becoming longer with every path that is blocked. On the other hand, the new developments are not as permeable as the native settlement, which renders them impassable.
Can we save circulation, passage, and communal space?
To secure the survival of the pathways, the community could be engaged in identifying and naming major pathways within the settlement. Once these pathways are tagged with names and highlighted through designed interventions, they will be perceived as a communal legacy which needs to be preserved. This intervention would also help to improve the identity and spatial qualities of the pathway network of Abotsiman which, in the long run, should continue to foster the community’s social contact and culture.
