A NEW PROTOTYPE FOR A COMMUNITY-INITIATED, PHASED WEST AFRICAN HOTEL PROJECT WITH ATTACHED HOSPITALITY SCHOOL, IN LEKKI, NIGERIA
My project questions the present methods of developing plots of land excised by West African governments to the indigenous villages. The key objective is to test alternative methods of planning by proposing an architectural prototype for a village-led hotel, where a local indigenous community remains the long-term owner and benefactor of the intervention.
Collaborators:
Ingrid Shröder, Mary Ann Steane, Aram Mooradian (Cambridge University)
Peter Ferretto, Nelson Chen (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Prince Ojupon of Ajah, Indigenous Leader, Lekki, Nigeria
Kofo Majekodunmi entrepreneur in Lagos, Nigeria
Yinka Popoola, oil industry worker in Lagos, Nigeria
James Akpakli, entrepreneur in Accra, Ghana
The Design Proposal delivered for completion of my MPhil degree is illustrated below:
I have been working with the chiefs of Ajah community. Ajah is a town in Lekki to the East of Lagos, Nigeria.
The project site is the community ancestral land on the perifery of the town, near to proposed new developments led by large public-private enterprises.
The design concept incorporates a phased hotel and a hospitality school
The scheme develops overtime and allows for the economic and ecological unpredictability of the region.
Hospitality school and all of the back of house elements are located at the ground floor, built first
Hotel is located on the deck and at upper floors , built overtime in phases
Upper and lower levels have distinct architectural languages
The project is intended not only for the long term self-sufficiency of Ajah community but also for support of the surrounding economic ecosystems of construction, fishing and transportation. The architecture of the hotel is intended to set a precedent for ‘off-the-ground’ micro-urbanism, implemented by other communities in a similar ecological and economic conditions along the increasingly prominent Lekki peninsula.
no.balsa 
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