Project Proposal: Nkonsonkonson

Enoch Ma

United States Address:
1710 Louise Ave
Arcadia, CA 91006
Email: Erock3488@gmail.com
Ph: (+001) 310-278-9311

Emmanuel Aheto and Charles Sablah
Ghana Address:
PO Box KD 24,
Nima-Gutter, Accra, Ghana 00233
Email: mature009@gmail.com
Ph: (+233) 244645601, (+233)

NKONSONKONSON (UNITY) HOUSE
Proposal for the Design-Build-and-Live-in-Project in Abetenim, Ghana

Formal Proposal of Design
The Akan people of Ghana use adinkra symbols as visual aphorisms. “Nkonsonkonson” translates to “chain link”, and serves as a reminder to the need for all to contribute to the community and that in unity lies strength. The adinkra symbol also forms into the symbol of ‘infinity’, which mirrors the potential of the cultural infusion that would be taking place!

Front Perspective:
From the front we will notice that the narrow width of the building is unimposing. A welcoming staircase curves around the north wing and opens up to a roof-balcony, which creates an inviting composition connecting the people who are gazing at the top to interact with people passing by.




Embellishments and Curves
The building would not be as straight as the rendered sketches. Instead, the design would take on a more organic form through the cob/mud construction. The stairs will be reminiscent of Northern Ghanaian architecture, which is rounded and non-linear. Northern Ghanaian architecture embellishes the walls with symbolic painting.


Accentuated Formations
Cob displays natural elegance. Cob also accentuates wall forms into practical uses such as nooks and cob couch-benches.


West-facing Cross Section Perspective
The ‘cob couch’ faces a blank flat wall, which would be used as a screen for projectors. The wall color shifts from green-gold-red-white-blue. Which crosses the pan-African colors of green-gold-red and the British, American and French colors of red-white and blue. The intersecting color: red, is symbolic of the bloodshed of freedom fighters. On the wall, the color red crosses both flag color orders for that loss of humanity was shared in both the (neo)colonizers history and African history. In the south-wing of the building the clerestory would shed light from 5 directions (two which are not visible in the illustration above) paying homage to the black star (lodestar) of Ghana.


The Top Cross Section Perspective
The loft accesses to the roof-balcony and also provides a private sleeping room secluded from the activities of the lower floor. The shower, the kitchen and washroom are oriented towards greywater pond to minimize piping work. The office space backed away from the clerestory to prevent glare and allows for passive lighting for office work.

Ecological Features of the Nkonsonkonson House
The illustration below points to the various green features in the design. Many of the design concepts were adopted from permaculture; most formidably the concept of zoning. Near the house is what permaculture calls “zone 0”: the focal point, were there is efficient and intensive use of the land. Stretching further from the center are irrigated gardens and then local perennial ecosystems. The mango tree is the center of a rain-garden basin, rechanneling water back into local water table. The basin also acts as a safety net for greywater overflow. The sub-soil clay extracted from the basin would be used for cob construction. Connecting the output of one system’s operation to the input for another is a key principle of permaculture and the design of the Nkonsonkonson House.



Budget


2) Bio/Resume of Participants

The International Assemblage: Enoch Ma, Emmanuel Aheto, Charles Sablah
We came together in the autumn of 2008 in the Hausa zongo of Nima, Accra. Enoch was living in Nima for the duration of his study at the University of Ghana, Legon. Charles Sablah, who was assisting Emmanuel Aheto with his two art shops in Osu, moved in with Enoch. Together we three spent 2 months renovating the room Enoch rented. The room was abandoned with a leaky roof and had nothing but concrete walls and rats. We peeled the paint, added a new roof, added a mosaic bathroom from recycled tiles, added a new door, wired electricity, installed plumbing and unfolded a carpet.
Over the next ten months we grew to become a band of brothers traveling to destinations as far as Cameroon together visiting villages vibrant with indigenous culture. During that time we connected with many different artist from the Art Center in Accra, including the popular artist collective Africana. During this time Enoch learned how to knit hammocks from Africana. Charles was working part time as a carpenter while attending information technology courses at NIIT. Emmanuel was carving drums and masks, and at the same time he was giving tours to visitors who volunteered at his child’s school, Anani Memorial International School.
Enoch and Emmanuel registered a non-governmental organization to establish a school in the Volta Region. The organization is called Kpedewonu and you could visit our blog here: http://future4ghana.blogspot.com/

Enoch Ma
Enoch spent a childhood climbing on roofs and slipping between framed walls. His father was a pioneering contractor for the Chinese community in Los Angeles, bilingually switching between Cantonese to Spanish to English to say things like “scratch coat”. At a young age Enoch saw that his father won the respect of his contemporaries because he was able to cross pollinate the skills and methods of people from different cultures with the value of forming custom houses into homes.
As much as Enoch liked construction, the mainstream construction model repulsed him. The top-down hierarchical approach of owner-contractor-foreman-and-worker dynamics, the exploitation of foreign workers, and the convergence for money rather than common vision and values made conventional construction a sterile spiritless environment. Like many job scenes, its just work.
Steering away, Enoch went to the University of Riverside for sociology with an interest in community dynamics. He spent several years traveling to regions in Western Europe, South East Asia, Polynesia, Western and Central Africa.
Afterwards, Enoch was introduced to permaculture and intentional communities. At the Ecovillage Training Center Enoch was natural building apprentice. There, Enoch was exposed to a new way of conducting building projects that unified people to their local environment and to other people. The building cooperative hosted work-parties and involved community members in their natural building projects. Enoch has made earthen floors, installed living roofs, and has constructed with cob and straw-bale. He is experienced with wood-chip slip, light-clay straw, waddle-and-dab, wood framing and plastering techniques. Enoch is fluent in English and Chinese. To see examples of Enoch work visit:
http://www.earth-human-formations.blogspot.com

Emmanuel Aheto
Emmanuel worked as a construction worker, fisherman, watch mechanic, an international touring musician, and currently as a traditional artisan and performer. Emmanuel owns two art shops in Osu, Accra. Seasonally he makes over 300 drums and sends them around the world. He knows how to dance and play a plethora of traditional Ewe songs. As a master painter, carpenter, carver, mason, and traditional drummer he would be invaluable to the rich cultural infusion of Abetenim. Emmanuel is fluent in English, Ewe, Ga, Twi, Ga-adangbe, and Fante.

Charles William Sablah
Charles has been working odd jobs from the zongo, many relating to construction and computer technology. Charles is fluent in English, Ewe, Ga, Twi, and Fante. Although Charles has not had the financial opportunity to graduate from secondary school, he has traveled and discoursed with foreigners about transitioning the zongo areas into a more sustainable future. He has also assisted Enoch in creating research reports for the University of Ghana, Legon including scaled drawn maps of the Nima community.

(3) Other relevant materials

Websites:
Nkonsonkonson ARchiTecture: blog charting the progress of this application!
- http://nkonsonkonsonarchitectureabetenim.blogspot.com/
Enoch’s blog relating to natural building and personal learning:
- http://www.earth-human-formations.blogspot.com
Kpedewonu: the school project in Anyako
- http://www.future4ghana.blogspot.com/