Programme: Urban Research

Location: East Legon, Ghana

Project Year: 2018

East Legon Past Forward is a project investigating the spatial, socio-cultural, and migratory characteristics of Abotsiman, one of the few remaining grown neighbourhoods of East Legon, Accra, and the implications of urban transformation on it. East Legon Past Forward is a joint project between [applied] Foreign Affairs, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna and Orthner Orthner & Associates (OOA) – © [applied] Foreign Affairs

The Space between Spaces compares the unbuilt areas in Abotsiman to that of its immediate neighbours of large, single-family, gated houses. To understand the quality of voids and open spaces in Abotsiman, all publicly accessible areas in the settlement were mapped including pathways. A case study was carried out on the largest open space in the settlement, which hosted a variety of activities at different times. The investigation questions the dialogue between building masses and interstitial voids with projections into the future.