Inno-Native Home Architecture from Africa

Joe Addo, CEO of Constructs – an innovative architectural firm in Ghana in West Africa, designed a home that would come to be a test for him and his wife as a new couple. He says that every relationship is like a building: you have to start from the bottom up.

Joe Osae-Addo was born in Ghana, West Africa, and trained at the Architectural Association in London. He worked in Finland, the UK and the USA and had an architectural practice in Los Angeles in 1991. Addo’s work is guided by the ‘genus-loci’ idea, the architectural philosophy term coined by Christian Norberg-Schulz and that translates as “sense of place” or “spirit of place”. Architecture based on the genus-loci idea should respond to site specific elements and meet the needs of people who will interact with it. Addo moved back to Ghana in 2004 and is currently the CEO of Constructs LLC, an inno-native design firm based in Accra and Tamale in Ghana, West Africa.

Combining the terms “innovative” and “native”, the “inno-native” architecture of the projects undertaken by Constructs pay special attention to what is important to local communities and how site, climate, materials, and weather interact to create designs and architectures that are suited to native conditions of the project.


Addo’s residence was built on family land in his hometown of Accra, Ghana. The stylish and eco-friendly home is perfect for the new couple because they were both born there. Incorporating the eco-friendly atmosphere Joe decided to harness nature’s elements. The trees, wind, sun, and water were used to create harmony.




























The architect was determined to build with the materials found primarily in rural areas: timber and adobe mud blocks. “Adobe mud block doesn’t exist in cities in Ghana, which meant I had to create it,” says Addo. Even though the house is on the grid, solar panels provide backup power for lighting and heating water, and deep timber overhangs to provide shade.

Joe Addo wanted a “no air-conditioning” philosophy. His wife didn’t agree seeing that temperatures could reach around the 90 degrees Fahrenheit. By raising the structure three feet off the ground on a wooden deck, they could take advantage of cooling under-floor breezes. “For cross ventilation, the house has sliding slatted-wood screens that neighbors thought were crazy in the damp, hot climate, and floor-to-ceiling jalousie windows.”

The Addo residence “features a timber framed wall & roof structure with non-bearing adobe blocks which reduce total construction costs by 50% compared to a similarly specified concrete structure.” He recruited workers from Ghana that did not have much experience in his unique design methods. The purpose is to help people in Ghana increase their knowledge of new and locally adaptive architectural methods.

Firms like Constructs and “inno-native” architects like Joe Addo are building the foundations for improving the habitats and living conditions of the billions of citizens of developing nations.