Discover How Rammed Earth Walls Are Revolutionizing Community Design in Ghana

A New Model for Shared Civic Life

Four-metre-high rammed-earth walls frame the plot of Backyard Community Club in Accra, Ghana, completed by local studio DeRoche Projects. This innovative mixed-use public space centers around a tennis court, accompanied by ancillary spaces and 230 square metres of gardens.

DeRoche Projects designed it as a "platform for community, mentorship, and movement" that offers a "new model for shared civic life." The architecture is deliberately open-ended, where lines between sport, gathering, learning, and rest are blurred.

"It's in the court, the shaded walkways, and lush vegetation where life emerges, shaped not by a fixed program but by the people who use it," studio founder Glenn DeRoche explained.

Flexible Community Spaces

Backyard Community Club opens up from a street-facing entrance to a paved walkway that doubles as a flexible space for community activities. Flanking the walkway are plots of the 230-square-metre sustenance garden, planted with over 20 species of edible and medicinal plants.

From here, visitors can access the tennis court, which is demarcated by the angular rammed-earth walls and designed to double as a flexible community space.

Innovative Material Approach

DeRoche Projects chose rammed earth to enclose the courts to celebrate local, low-carbon materials. The walls have been partly finished in clay and lined with a built-in bench that offers shaded seating for spectators.

According to the studio, this is "Ghana's first project using a precast rammed earth system" – a method that reimagines the ancient, clay-based material for "contemporary, scalable use." While rammed earth can be constructed in its raw form, in this project the material has been stabilized with cement, though the quantity was minimized to just three percent of the total material mix.

Supporting Infrastructure

A block at the back of the site contains ancillary spaces including changing rooms, showers, and toilets. This low-lying volume is complemented by sunken seating at its front and an open-air courtyard at its side entrance. Other smaller volumes serve as storage space to support the facility's programs.

"Our approach embraces locally sourced materials rooted in tradition, while exploring innovative strategies to create a resilient and forward-looking built environment," DeRoche said. "DeRoche Projects is advancing innovative methods of precasting rammed earth at scale, refining the material's structural and environmental potential while maintaining its tactile and vernacular richness."