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Architecture | NEW ORLEANS


The two-story front to back diagram led to additional outdoor amenities that could be provided, including porches, canopies, a second floor terrace, and a roof top shoo-fly for each house. The finish floor of the first level was raised to 9’ above grade to allow the area below the first floor to be useable for parking and storage areas for each house. The use of a central stairway to the second floor creates a natural solar chimney, increasing passive ventilation efficiency for each house. Rooftop solar panels, rain water collection from the terraces, sun shading, cross ventilation, and geothermal cooling are additional sustainable strategies that have been incorporated into the design.


Each house maintains an entry on the street frontage on opposite sides of the lot. The front house is entered through the front garden with a staircase conveniently located adjacent to the parking. A partially covered staircase leads to the front porch, which overlooks the garden. One enters the house into the central great room, using an open plan for living, dining, and kitchen to maximize efficiency of floor area. The living area has a bay window to the front porch. The kitchen has a central island, providing separation of the kitchen area without a wall. A short corridor off of the living room leads to the first floor bedroom and bathroom, laundry area, and coat closet. The first floor bedroom has a private canopied porch, and a corner bay window.


An open stairway leads to the second floor bedroom and bathroom. The second floor bedroom has a corner bay window. At the top landing, two opposing windows allow for cross ventilation, increasing the efficiency of the solar chimney. A door provides access to the second floor terrace, which overlooks the garden. An exterior stair stacked on top of the interior stair provides access to the roof top shoo-fly, providing great views. Solar panels are placed above the shoo-fly to double as a shading device for the rooftop terrace. The rear house is accessed via a path in the side yard to a staircase adjacent to the rear garden and to parking for the rear house. The sequence of rooms for the rear house is identical to the front house.


The plan for each house is identical, rotated 180 degrees, allowing for construction efficiency. Bathrooms on both levels are stacked, bedrooms are stacked, staircases are stacked, and the great room concept for living, dining, and kitchen have all been employed to gain construction efficiency.


The final visual appearance of the two family home is a simple expression of the solution to the design goals and parameters.


Constructs / Ghana, Africa


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, setting up his practice in Los Angeles in 1991. His work has been influenced by ‘genus-loci’, and how architecture can/should respond to this in creating pieces which are both site specific and meet the needs of people who will interact with it. He is a founding partner in the A + D Museum, Los Angeles, whose mission is to advance knowledge and to enable people to appreciate and understand architecture and design. He moved back to his native country 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. Constructs LLC is currently working on several projects as both developer and architect, with a primary focus on developing manufacturing, using and promoting indegenous materials and technology for construction, in a contemporary way. The firm has expanded its mandate to become a think tank of sorts, to engage in the discourse of economic development in Ghana and Africa as a whole. They have become self described ‘DESIGN- SOCIO-ECONOMISTS’, using architecture as a platform to engage in Projects ranging from re-branding of Towns and Cities, Product design (as an economic empowerment tool) to targetted urban planning initiatives.


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