Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

Volunteer Accommodation;

Gyetiase Eye Clinic,

Ashanti, Ghana

for Ashanti Development

Briefing Document by Architecture

for Humanity UK

October 2008
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

Volunteer Accommodation; Gyetiase

Eye Clinic, Ashanti, Ghana.
‘Some women spend
This document has been produced by Architecture for Humanity UK as a refer-
up to six hours a
ence point for the design development of first floor accommodation for volun- day carrying water.
teers of the Gyetiase Eye Clinic and associated medical and community serv- Their skeletons have
ices for Ashanti Developments. been compressed
under the weight,
1 - Background leaving them in con-
stant pain.’
www.ashanti-devel-
Ashanti Developments: opment.org
Their mission is to relieve poverty and promote health and development in and
around the village of Gyetiase in the Ashanti Region of Ghana by means includ-
ing the provision of safe and accessible water.

Their work must be sustainable - no village is allowed to become dependent

on them. Villagers contribute to every project, usually by giving their labour free
of charge. Whenever they give a village clean water, they will follow it up with
training in health, hygiene and the construction of latrines. They always consult
the villagers and take account of their views at a formative stage in the pro-
gramme planning. Their trustees and helpers in the UK are 100 per cent volun-
teers. Every penny we raise goes toward funding our programmes.

Registered Charity No : 1112415 • t : 44 (0) 207 837 3172 • e : info@ashanti-develop-

ment.org
The existing ground
Clinic in Gyetiase: floor of the eye clinic
During the summer of 2007, over two hundred Ashanti men contributed their
labour free of charge to build the ground floor of a two-storey clinic/hostel in
Gyetiase. The new building will be used for several purposes. It will be staffed
by a state registered midwife or nurse, who will provide general healthcare
and teach the villagers about health through occasional workshops. It will also
provide a base for specialist eye care health workers; Ashanti Development
is currently sponsoring two village women for five months training at Kumasi
Komfo Anonkye Hospital. When their course is complete, they will live in Gyet-
iase, provide general eye care and screen the villagers for cataracts and other
operable sicknesses. Kumasi Hospital will then send its mobile van to the clinic
to perform multiple cataract or other eye operations.

Operations will be funded by UK opticians Spec Savers. London Spec Savers

Branches have offered to finance one thousand cataract operations, making an
enormous difference to the recipients’ quality of life. Spec Savers will also pro-
vide a full range of eye testing equipment for the clinic, together with recycled,
graded, second hand spectacles from their London stores.

In time, the clinic will also be used to enhance the training of out reach health
workers, trained at Ashanti Development’s expense and stationed in many of
the villages around Gyetiase. These health workers will be equipped with mo-
bile phones and able to summon hospital transport when necessary.

The second floor, which has still to be built, will be used to house teachers and
other volunteer workers from the UK.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

2 – The Role of Architecture for Humanity UK

Architecture for Humanity UK were contacted through via recommendation from
Architects san Frontiers by Penny David, a trustee of Ashanti Developments.

Outline Brief:
AFH UK was asked to act as architectural consultant on the design the first floor
accommodation for Ashanti volunteers. AFHUK will produce an outline scheme
for approval and then develop the design to stage D, scheme Design, producing
scale plans, sections and elevations along with 3D visualisation where useful in
the demonstration of the scheme to the villagers, end users statutory officials and
stake holders.

Programme:

• The building extension is to house the health worker volunteers

• The ground floor of a clinic was built last year, it will provide primary health
care to the village; serve as a centre for health workers stationed in neighbour-
ing communities; and serve as a major centre for eye care for the District (local
authority equivalent).

• The new first floor accommodation space should be divided into bedrooms,
bathrooms, a kitchen, living room and office for primary health care.

• Utilisation of local resources and materials and the free unskilled labour is
key to the success of the design.

• Acknowledgment should be given to the local vernacular and building tech-

niques and all building materials will be obtained in Ghana.

• A sustainable approach will be taken from the outset, utilising the site orien-
tation and micro climate, rain water harvesting and cooling and natural ventilation
techniques.

• After completion, the project will be run by Dr Peter Osei-Bonsu, an eye

surgeon from Kumasi Hospital. The ultimate owners will the Unit Committee of
Gyetiase

The following research is compiled as an introduction to the project for AFHUK

volunteers by AFHUK volunteers in order to inform a design approach. Some
information is subject to copyright of others and is referenced here in good faith
to create a single source document. This document demonstrates the highlights
of the research undertaken and is not comprehensive or exclusive of other factors
that may influence the design as it proceeds.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

3 – Architectural Commentary
Architecture for Humanity UK have great ambitions for this exciting project
which is seen as a flagship opportunity for the charity. It has assembled a team
of architects and structural engineers who will start work in earnest from the
beginning of October 08. The key drivers for this scheme are seen as, in no par-
ticular order:

1 - The sustainability agenda; rainwater recycling, utilisation of thermal mass

and natural ventilation, opportunities for solar hot water and photovoltaic energy
production. This will be done through a common sense utilisation of shading,
roof forms and knowledge of the micro climate and prevailing winds.

2 - The creation of a comfortable, secure and relaxing home for health work-
ers, which provides shelter, coolth and opportunities to rest and socialise both
indoors and out.

3 - The creation of a recognisably sophisticated building type which remains

calm in nature, respectful of the local vernacular whilst utilising cultural cues to
remain welcoming whilst stating its use and civic status.

AFHUK will also seek the services of a sustainability and services engineer
from our membership. A name has yet to be allocated to this opportunity.

All drawings will be drawn in feet and inches and supplied both in .dwg and pdf
format in English with notes in Twi.

The building will be design to UK regulations with regard to Part B of the Ap-
proved Documents and in particular ‘escape in case of fire’. All other standards
are subject to advice from Ashanti Developments and the local statutory au-
thorities.

4 – Structural Commentary
AFHUK are engaged to provide architectural services. However structural engi-
neers are in the AFHUK design team to offer guidance based on the information
available. All structural calculations and specification must be undertaking by a
suitably qualified individual in Ghana.

It is noted that the ground floor was designed and built in the expectation that
a first floor would be added when funds became available and drawings of the
existing structure have been issued to AFHUK, see opposite. It is also noted
that inconsistencies between the site photographs and the issued drawings do
exist, and that AFH UK will work in good faith with the information provided but
that final dimensions of any drawings produced are subject to checks on site by
the local engineer.

NOTE: (drawings opposite and on next page)

The existing building and proposed drawings do not match exactly, and the first
floor is not built. Plan information is taken as true until otherwise advised.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

5 – Ghana, Ashanti and its Climate

Ghana:
The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory
Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of
Guinea to the south. The word “Ghana” means “Warrior King”,[6] and was the
source of the name “Guinea” (via French Guinoye) that is used to refer to the West
African coast (as in Gulf of Guinea).

Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient kingdoms, in-

cluding the Ga Adangbes on the eastern coast, inland Empire of Ashanti and vari-
ous Fante states along the coast and inland. Trade with European states flourished
after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established a
crown colony, Gold Coast, in 1874. Upon being the first African nation to achieve
independence from the United Kingdom in 1957,[8] the name Ghana was cho-
sen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana that once extended
throughout much of western Africa. In the Ashanti language it is spelled Gaana.

The capital of Ghana is Accra and it has a population of 18 million people. The
country is divided into ten regions. Each region has a particular crop that it pro-
duces. The northern sector produces yam, sweet potatoes and some other tuber
crops. The southern sector produces corn, rice, vegetables. Cocoa is mainly grown
in the forest zones, which is the central portion of the country.

Ashanti:
The Ashanti constitute a political confederacy or state which developed in the
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the central part of southern Ghana,
West Africa. Before its annexation by the British in 1901, this state was a confed-
eration of nine originally autonomous founding chiefdoms and a number of subse-
quently incorporated communities. At the centre of the state was the wealthy and
powerful chiefdom of Kumasi, whose hereditary ruler was acknowledged as the
Asantehene, that is, the head of the nation, or king. The Golden Stool (sika ‘gua)
was created as the politico-ritual symbol of unity, and was believed to embody the
spirit or soul of the Ashanti nation. An attempt by British officials to confiscate the
Golden Stool precipitated the ‘War of the Golden Stool’ in 1900-1901, resulting in
the defeat of the Ashanti and their final incorporation into the British colonial sys-
tem. The Ashanti Confederacy covered an area of about 24,560 square miles.

The Ashanti have a high national pride and social vitality, and have maintained
their principal traditional values and institutions. When the Ashanti Confederacy
was restored by the Gold Coast government in 1935, a total of 21 constituent
chiefdoms, designated as “divisions,” was recognized. These divisions consist of
Kumasi, Mampong, Juaben, Bekwai, Essumeja, Kokofu, Nsuta, Adansi, Kumawu,
Offinsu, Ejisu, Agona, Banda, Wenchi, Mo, Abeasi, Nkoranza, Jaman, Berekum,
Techiman, and Dorma.

Ashanti Twi, is a language spoken in Ghana by about 15 million people. It is one of

the three mutually intelligible dialects of the Akan language, the others being Ak-
uapem Twi and Fante, which belong to the Kwa language family. Twi is spoken in
the Ashanti Region and in parts of the Eastern, Western, Central, Volta and Brong
Ahafo Regions of Ghana. English is also commonly spoken.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

Climate:
Ghana is a tropical country lying just north of the equator. The rainy season
lasts from April to October in northern Ghana and from April to June and again
from September to October in the south. Temperatures range from about 70°F
to 90°F (21°C to 32°C) and the humidity is relatively high. The rest of the year is
hot and dry with temperatures reaching up to 100°F (38°C). In most areas the
temperatures are highest in March and lowest in August, after the rains. Varia-
tions between day and night temperatures are small.

The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows from the northeast from December
to March, lowering the humidity and causing hot days and cool nights in the
north; the effect of this wind is felt in the south during January. In most areas,
temperatures are highest in March and lowest in August. Variation between day
and night temperatures is relatively small, but greater in the north, especially in
January, because of the harmattan. No temperature lower than 10°C (50°F) has
ever been recorded in Ghana.

The Southern part of Ghana, with different climatic zones, predominantly hot
and humid (the coastal savannah, the mountain area of the Volta Region, the
moist semi-deciduous forest zone, the transitions forest area, the rain forest
and Guinea Savannah, begins roughly to the south of the Volta River and Volta
Lake. This conforms also with the chart of the average annual rainfall increases
rapidly to the highest amount of above 2.00m in the rain forest area. It decreas-
es again drastically to less than 0.75m in the Accra area – to 0.90m and up to
1.75m in the coastal plain and coastal savannah.

Throughout the Ashanti area the climate is tropical, with an annual mean tem-
perature of over 80 degrees F. There are two distinct seasons, a rainy season
from about April to November, and a dry season the rest of the year. The aver-
age annual rainfall around Kumasi, the Ashanti capital, is 57 inches, but there
are considerable annual variations. Despite this tropical setting, Ashanti territory
is divided into two quite different ecological zones, northern and southern. The
northern zone is drier and is characterized by a savannah-forest type of veg-
etation, with stunted trees scattered over large expanses of grass lands. The
natural vegetation of the southern zone consists of high forest, but little virgin
forest now remains. The most common vegetation today is that of the cultivated
plots of cacao (cocoa) trees and the natural growth of brush on formerly culti-
vated land.

These differing ecological zones have given rise to contrasting types of agri-
culture. In the north the main subsistence and cash crop is yams, followed by
guinea corn; by 1950 there still had not been any large-scale development of
export crops. In the south, a much larger variety of subsistence crops is grown,
including especially yams, cocoyams, manioc, and maize. Also, there has been
widespread development of major commercial crops such as the kola-nut and
particularly cocoa. Cocoa farming has become the main economic activity in the
southern zone.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

6 – Gyetiase

Gyetiase is a rural community about 40 kilometres north-east of Kumasi, near

Mampong.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

7 – Crafts & Culture

The Ashanti are noted for their expertise in a variety of specialized crafts. These
include weaving, wood carving, ceramics, and metallurgy.

Weaving is a highly developed craft, with dozens of standardized and named

textile designs. Stamped cloth is also made. Traditionally, pottery was hand-mold-
ed since the use of the wheel was unknown. Wood carving is divided into many
branches, each with its own specialists. Among the major products are wooden
sculptures of outstanding artistic quality and the talking-drums (ntumpane). The fa-
mous wooden “stools” are symbolic and ritual objects rather than items of furniture.

One of the most specialized crafts is metallurgy. Traditionally, Ashanti metal smiths
seem to have worked in iron, brass, bronze, silver, and gold. Agricultural imple-
ments and other metal utensils were made of iron. Brass (and evidently bronze)
were used for one of the most widely known artistic products, gold weights
(mrammue), which were cast in geometric, human, or animal forms, or in forms
representing inanimate objects. The lost-wax process was utilized in their manu-
facture. Although these objects are now mainly of interest to art collectors, their
original function was practical--they were standard weights representing a quantity
of gold dust.

The “kente cloth” is of the Ashanti people. It is a royal and sacred cloth worn only
in times of extreme importance. Kente was the cloth of kings. Over time, the use
of kente became more widespread, however its importance has remained and it
is held in high esteem in the Akan family and the entire country of Ghana. Kente
comes from the word kenten, which means “basket.” The Asante peoples also
refer to kente as nwentoma or “woven cloth.”

The icon of African cultural heritage around the world, Asante kente is identified by
its dazzling, multicoloured patterns of bright colours, geometric shapes and bold
designs. Kente characterized by weft designs woven into every available block
of plain weave is called adweneasa. The Asante peoples of Ghana choose kente
Above, traditional Kente and line work, below left ‘talking drums’, below right Adinkra symbols on building
cloths as much for their names as their colours and patterns. Although the cloths
are identified primarily by the patterns found in the lengthwise (warp) threads,
there is often little correlation between appearance and name. Names are derived
from several sources, including proverbs, historical events, important chiefs, queen
mothers, and plants.

Adinkra (sometimes, andinkra) cloth is another type of fabric where symbols are
used to decorate the otherwise colourful patterned cloth. Designs are made by
cutting patterns into pieces of calabash gourd, then stamping them on fabric with
black ink made from iron oxide. The fabric is created in varied colours and pat-
terns, and used in funerals, weddings, and other special occasions. Adinkra cloth
is not used for everyday purposes because it cannot be washed. The name Adink-
ra comes from the legendary King conquered by the Ashante people, who, accord-
ing to legend, wore luxurious patterned fabrics. Adinkra means “goodbye,” and
the special cloth was reserved for funeral garments. The Adinkra symbols all have
separate meanings and are arguably a language in their own right, even used on
buildings as shown opposite.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

8 – Vernacular Architecture
Information from www.arcghana.org/architecture_southernghana

‘From the Nzima pile dwellings of Nzulezo in the Unvalye Lagoon in the far West
of Ghana near the border with the Republic of Ivory Coast, to the Fetish Houses
in Ashanti, the coastal towns built up near former European trading posts, forts
and castles, the fishing and forest villages, the Ewe villages in the hills of the Volta
Region, to the Basel Mission influenced buildings in the South of Ghana, the indig-
enous people used building methods and created an architecture which grew out
of the soil, which received its form through the geology, topography and climate of
the area and which was influenced by the social and historical development of this
part of the country.

Throughout the rural areas and the fishing communities along the coast the tra-
ditional construction methods are still used. With new skills and introduction of
materials like burnt bricks, cement, corrugated iron, aluminium and cement-asbes-
tos sheets new variants in plan form appeared, yet were more or less still based
on the old concept of the courtyard or compound house to provide shelter for the
extended family.

However, with an economy which has rapidly declined since the oil crisis in 1973
(which has badly affected many developing countries and especially Ghana),
and a dependency on fluctuating world prices for main exports – cocoa, gold,
diamonds, timber, bauxite etc. – foreign currency available for the importation of
materials used in the building industry is very limited. The local factories producing
building materials for which they need varying percentages of imported raw materi-
als, do not produce to full capacity. Some of them manufacture to only 25 to 30%
of their normal capacity. Yet the population is growing and the demand for shelter
is increasing.

It is therefore important to fully explore and utilize all available local building ma-
terials as well as possible production of materials for construction from industrial
and agricultural wastes. Doing this, it is necessary to know traditional technologies
with which some of these materials have been used in the past.It is also neces-
sary examine possibilities of introducing improved technologies which will assist in
constructing low-cost, yet more durable buildings, suitable for tropical conditions
based on the concept of the traditional way of life of their occupants.

At the same time this increased use of locally available and produced building
materials for the construction of government financed public buildings, from hous-
ing, schools, colleges to health centres, clinics and hospitals requires a change of
attitude on the side of the designer and the client.’
Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

9 – Design Opportunities
The ensuing climatic conditions will largely determined the building’s form, with the
existing construction denoting in the large part its and materiality.

To achieve sustainability, practically in a common sense way, the project will need
to be based on the principles of designing for climatic comfort with low-cost con-
struction, making the most of local materials and the potential of the local commu-
nity, and using technology where it can be done in a simple, easily maintainable
and robust way.

In other projects by architects working in similar climates a secondary roof form

was utilised to provide shading from direct sunlight during the hottest times of day.
This approach also gives the opportunity of rainwater harvesting at high level, with
the potential that a gravity feed system could be utilised, as well as the potential
for communal external space at fist floor level.

Other clues to the building form are evident in the traditional plan forms of the lo-
cal houses, the use of a courtyard which gives a central shaded space and allows
through ventilation of shallow plans, see below:

A typical Ashanti compound house

Clues in the form, motifs and materials can also be weaned from the local crafts
and traditions, particularly those highlighted in section 7.

Images to right from www.kere-architecture.com

Gyetiase Eye Clinic, Ghana, October 2008

10 – Construction Programme
Ashanti Developments have no commitment to programme but advise that building dur-
ing the rainy season has obvious difficulties and that labour is scarce during the har-
vest. Therefore the ideal construction period would fall outside these times which would
mean that work on site is best done between either the end of June and September 09
or earlier between January and April 09.

AFHUK intend to produce outline designs before the end of November 08 for consulta-
tion with Ashanti, Spec Savers, statutory authorities and the Village Chief. Subsequent
to these consultations the scheme will be further designed into the new year with stage
D equivalent information being issued to Ashanti by March/April 09. With this time
frame in mind it may be difficult to meet the January construction window, however by
phasing the construction or building the potential secondary roof structure first it may
be possible to continue construction during the rainy season, enabling construction
between April and September.