DeRoche Projects encloses Accra tennis court with rammed-earth walls

Four-metre-high rammed-earth walls frame the plot of Backyard Community Club in Accra, Ghana , completed by local studio DeRoche Projects. Backyard Community Club is a mixed-use public space that centres 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 it said offers a "new model for shared civic life". DeRoche Projects has completed a mixed-use sports facility in Accra "The architecture is deliberately open-ended, where lines between sport, gathering, learning, and rest are blurred," studio founder Glenn DeRoche told Dezeen. "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," he added. Backyard Community Club opens up from a street-facing entrance to a paved walkway that doubles as a flexible space for community activities. Sculptural rammed-earth walls rise to four metres Flanking the walkway are plots of the 230-square-metre sustenance garden, which is 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. The space centres around a tennis court DeRoche Projects chose rammed earth to enclose the courts to celebrate local, low-carbon materials. It has been partly finished in clay and lined with a built-in bench that offers shaded seating for spectators. According to the studio, the Backyard Community Club is "Ghana's first project using a precast rammed earth system" – a method it said reimagines the ancient, clay-based material for "contemporary, scalable use". Read: Urbanitree uses local materials and construction methods for African Flow School in Cameroon "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." A built-in bench lines the court 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 programmes. Ancillary spaces are positioned at the rear of the site Other community spaces recently featured on Dezeen include a clubhouse featuring meandering alleyways in Pune and a community education and arts centre in New York transformed from a former tobacco warehouse . Rammed earth was also recently used to create a kindergarten in Cameroon by Urbanitree and a shelter in an Irish park by Fuinneamh Workshop Architects . The photography is by Julien Lanoo . The post DeRoche Projects encloses Accra tennis court with rammed-earth walls appeared first on Dezeen .