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The client’s wish was to build a perennial home in an exclusive green area located in the metropolis of Accra that is in perfect dialogue with the modernist landmark of Scott House (1961), visible nearby, and impervious to the fleeting nature of time, both from the perspective of climate as well as formally and stylistically. The firm’s response is an architecture conceived as a unique piece of design, with a concrete structure, an open plan and some striking compositional elements: an immaterial façade in glass with sliding doors ensuring indoor/outdoor fluidity. A wide overhanging canopy and vertical sunshade elements give the architectural box a bold look and act as protective filters of the sun’s rays, providing a natural cooling system for the interiors in line with the tenets of tropical modernism.
For the villa’s concept, the architect looked back to the dawn of Modernism and identified the functional Villa Tugendhat and Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion as the stylistic reference, contextualising it in a tropical environment and interpreting it in a contemporary way. She proposed a building where simplicity defines beauty, eliminating the superfluous using a ‘less is more’ approach in pursuit of luxury with continuous lines, emphasised by natural materials such as travertine, marble and rosewood, combined with plastered concrete to highlight the form and function of the architecture in the natural landscape, which was designed in collaboration with Frassinago and implemented in loco by the agronomist Jennifer Boateng.
Among the fragmented language of building speculation dominating the residential landscape of the African metropolis, the building also represents a virtuous and sustainable solution, in formal and energy terms, for a contemporary re-interpretation of the local modernist lesson, widespread in Ghana during the years of economic boom after independence (1957) and then abandoned with the spread of air-conditioning systems, still the preeminent solution for cooling buildings in the world’s hottest continent.
The home designed by Garibaldi Architects can also be seen as an exhibit project for displaying works of art, where the architectural design deliberately encourages dialogue between the two disciplines. The clients had specified a building where they could house their private collection, which mixes tribal works from the African continent with those of contemporary artists from both the Global South and the Global North, works characterised by a high degree of eclecticism in terms of form and material. The adopted solution of an open plan divided into spaces that open on to each other and are partially closed by transverse partitions serving as display walls is a perfect response to the villa’s use as both a home and gallery. The architectural design offers views and perspectives of the large marble sculptures – by the Lebanese Atelier Assaf – set among the tropical landscape or de-materialised in the reflections of the pools.
This characteristic is evident in the great lesson of Rome’s classical architecture and in the modernist architecture of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, which along with Villa Tugendhat is the reference model for the definition of the villa’s style.
Alessia Garibaldi, a Milanese architect and the creative director of Alessia Garibaldi Architects, works in both architecture and interior design. She creates bespoke and timeless works across various scales, primarily within the luxury sector.Founded in 2006 and with offices in Milan and Venice, Alessia Garibaldi Architects stands as a beacon of architectural excellence in Italy and around the world. The Studio boasts an impressive portfolio of works spanning Europe, China, India, and Africa, thanks to a diverse and discerning clientele who shares a profound appreciation for art, beauty, and culture.
