The sports category has moved to a new website.

Imagine if you could build a house for just $5,000. This Ghanaian company is making it possible using mud houses with a twist

Architecture is one of the first things you notice and the last you forget when visiting a city. The dynamic use of space, incorporated with design, motif, colour and other symbolic accents, lend characteristics to the landscape.

Imagine if you could build a house for just $5,000. This Ghanaian company is making it possible using mud houses with a twist

Ghana has a unique blend of ancient and modern architecture, influenced by its illustrious history and the ideas of brilliant minds who memorialised various epochs in the walls of some of the buildings.

Traditional Ghanaian architecture was driven by the raw material available for buildings, such as thatch for roofing and mud and wood for walls.

Today, such buildings are rare, although modern architects try to borrow some of their elements when designing and constructing buildings.

Joelle Eyeson, a co-founder of Hive Earth, has explained how her company has been able to produce a newly updated mud house which could be the future of African.

ADVERTISEMENT

About Hive Earth

Hive Earth is an eco-housing company which is based in Accra, Ghana and established in 2016.

The idea of this construction firm is to give Ghanaians affordable and eco-friendly housing. The construction firm also intends to build houses that workers and the majority of Ghanaians and West Africans can afford.

A prototype of Joelle Eyeson’s firm’s ‘rammed earth’ will be ready by the end of the year and it will cost roughly $5,000 for a one-room house.

ADVERTISEMENT

Locally sourced materials such as clay, laterite and granite chippings which are abundantly available in West Africa are used in building these houses.

The company is still trying to get to a stage where it will build without using cement because it is very toxic.

Joelle Eyeson explains that Ghana’s climate combines both heat and humidity, therefore it will be inappropriate to use cement because it may create a bad indoor air quality.

The company uses the idea of underground cooling systems. They dig around 8 feet or more until they get to the cool air underground. Then use a solar pump which is constantly bringing the cool air into the home. Then it is only the cost of the solar pump (around $300) which people need to pay and there are no bills.

ADVERTISEMENT

Housing challenges in Ghana

There is a need for around 2 million new houses in Ghana per year. However, most of the building is concentrated in the capital Accra, where land is very expensive.

The other issue is that when more houses are built in rural areas, housing prices naturally rise.

The ‘rammed earth’ technique

The rammed earth technique is a mixture of laterite, clay and then granite chippings.

ADVERTISEMENT

5 percent of cement was used to bind it. Lime is used too. The technique is basically like the building traditional mud house but updated.

According to Joelle Eyeson, the ‘rammed earth’ is a tried and tested technique that’s been around for centuries. Parts of the Great Wall of China were even built with rammed earth.

The future of Hive Earth

Hive Earth currently builds for only for individuals. However, the management looks forward to bringing eco-housing into bigger housing projects and estates.

ADVERTISEMENT

The company further looks forward to organising more workshops with local communities, helping to teach them the skills of building with rammed earth.

ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: news@pulselive.co.ke

Recommended articles

African countries with the highest divorce rate

African countries with the highest divorce rate

10 African cities with the highest crime index at the start of 2024

10 African cities with the highest crime index at the start of 2024

Machoka at 70: Emotions run high during Citizen TV presenter's birthday [Video]

Machoka at 70: Emotions run high during Citizen TV presenter's birthday [Video]

Diwali 2022: Is Monday a public holiday in Kenya?

Diwali 2022: Is Monday a public holiday in Kenya?

Akothee finally reveals reasons for separating from Omosh 1 month after wedding

Akothee finally reveals reasons for separating from Omosh 1 month after wedding

Man, once a ‘billionaire’, recounts how he lost wealth, now sells his book on streets [Video]

Man, once a ‘billionaire’, recounts how he lost wealth, now sells his book on streets [Video]

Details of Ngina Kenyatta's luxurious restaurant

Details of Ngina Kenyatta's luxurious restaurant

Zero Chills! Jackie Matubia's advice for Milly Chebby amid the unfollow drama

Zero Chills! Jackie Matubia's advice for Milly Chebby amid the unfollow drama

Nigerian royal dignitaries, including four kings and a queen, expected to attend Museveni’s 50th wedding anniversary celebrations

Nigerian royal dignitaries, including four kings and a queen, expected to attend Museveni’s 50th wedding anniversary celebrations

ADVERTISEMENT