#modern hut

THREAD Center - Sinthian, Senegal

The New Artist Residency is the local center for the THREAD program, designed to aid local Senegalese artists in mastering their crafts.  

The building is constructed using local materials and local builders have shared their sophisticated knowledge of working with bamboo, brick, and thatch. These traditional techniques are combined with design innovations by the New York based architect Toshiko Mori. Like many Senegalese structures the building is eco-friendly and sustainable. The traditional pitched roof is inverted allowing for the collection of approximately 40% of the villagers’ domestic water usage in fresh rainfall.

Read more about THREAD here

Red Pepper House - Lamu, Kenya

The large estate was built with the strict requirement that it balance harmoniously with the surrounding forests and nature. Open air architecture and local materials were used to create the structure. 

In the Swahili architecture the makuti roof is used as a structure over the roof of the house to join open areas to enclosed areas (bedrooms and baths). The majority of the estate has no walls to reduce the number of mangrove trees cut for construction.  

Local materials such as timber and coral stone ensured that the project had minimal impact on the environment with a very low carbon footprint. Local craftsmen intricately completed the traditional handiwork. 

The home is also sustainable using solar energy to generate power. Passive cooling and cross ventilation is used to cool the estate. 

The result is the beautiful environmentally friendly home that looks to belong in the forest as much as the parrots and mangroves that surround it.