Honorable Mention
The royal trees
Authors: Henk Jan Imhoff, Jens Jorritsma, John de Groot
Advisors: Ralf Pasel, Franziska Sack, Ellen Geurts, Alonso Ayala
University: Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design
Category: Urban Transformation and Development
Description
The project deals with the growth and ecological problems in Kumasi – the second largest city of Ghana with 1.5 Million inhabitants – by reviving its splendid but lost past as the garden city of West Africa. The suggested urban transformation process attempts to harmoniously combine the rural lifestyle of many inhabitants with an attractive cityscape. The master plan envisions vertically increasing the density of the existing self-contained structures (compounds), with deliberate gaps in the structure providing opportunities for new spaces, public and private, as well as agricultural areas for personal use. Local vegetation and soil properties play a central role on all levels. For example, the planned reforestation of the region should serve as a future resource of building material (e.g. bamboo), provide shade for the public spaces, and simultaneously serve as a method in cultivating social and public qualities in the open spaces.
Jury statement
The project is based on a subtle study of the qualities of the land, the local species of vegetation and the population’s behavior in both private and public spaces.
