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…
