In collaboration with Ghanaian students, we would like to create a publication to increase the awareness of the Marine Drive Project in Accra. Although the proposal includes regeneration of the crucial part of the city with significant landmarks relating to the country’s independence, the current plan of the development is confidential and there is little information released to the public. 
 
 Through our event, we would like to compare the historical information analysed by Research Method – Accra Futurism with the current situation and limited materials about proposed Marine Drive Masterplan. We hope that collaboration with Ghanaian students will allow us to gather more insight into the current state of the site.

Professor Ola Uduku took up a Professorship in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture in 2017. Prior to this she was Reader in Architecture, and Dean International for Africa, at Edinburgh University. Her research specialisms are in the history of educational architecture in Africa, and the contemporary issues related to social infrastructure provision for minority communities in cities in the ‘West’ and ‘South’. She is currently engaged in developing postgraduate research and teaching links in architecture urbanism, heritage and conservation between West African Architecture schools and those in North West England.

She has in the past published in the areas of African Architecture, African Diaspora Studies, Gated Communities, and environmental design teaching pedagogies.

Professor Uduku is also the co-ordinator of the EdenApp Tools for Environmental Analysis Lab, which focuses on developing apps for use in teaching environmental concepts such as lighting, thermal comfort, and acoustics to undergraduates through the use of personal apps and sensors.

Doctor Łukasz Stanek graduated in architecture and philosophy after studies in Kraków, Weimar, Münster, and Zurich, and he received his doctorate at the Delft University of Technology (2008). Besides Delft, Stanek was teaching at the Berlage Institute (2008), Harvard University Graduate School of Design (2012), and at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, where he was junior faculty at the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture (2009—2011). He received fellowships at the Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht), the Institut d’Urbanisme de Paris, the Canadian Center for Architecture (Montreal), and the Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D. C., where he was the 2011—2013 A. W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Why we chose to run this project? And probably why you should choose this project and join us!

Marine Drive Project is carried out in Accra. Many informations remain confidential and it would be interesting for us to study it in depth. It will benefit the local residents if we can reveal the project itself and raise the awareness of it.

As for years of training in architecture school, we are equipped with relevant architectural analytical skills. We can draw maps, do models, make videos, and through different means of media, we are confident that we could make a publication that offer in-depth information for the local people.

What is more, through this collaboration we are able to work with passionate and talented students from a different place. We are fond of getting to know of a distinctive culture and broaden our horizon.

This will sure be a fascinating experience. Come join us!!!

Joining Re-Imagine Accra will gain you a lot. It is a valuable experience that you do not want to miss out.

We will analyse and produce a publication about the Marine Drive Project in Accra, Ghana in order to provide some insight of the confidential information of this large scale coastline project to the local residents. There is a chance that the publication would be published by the Ghana Institute of Architecture which will make your CV shine.

To further raise the awareness of this project, there is a chance to travel to Ghana to organise an exhibition, just like what the Accra Futurism did in lat year. It is a valuable opportunity. Furthermore, you can gain a precious friendship with talented passionate Ghanaian students.

Last but not least, through this intensive project in two weeks, you are going to apply different architectural drawing softwares, which will benefit your study later on.

The following will be the content in the publication which we plan to make.

1) The current state, which the existing buildings and the historical landmarks in the area (like Black Star Square.. etc) will be documented.

2) Maps drawn by us which will compare the currently listed uses available on online navigation systems (google maps)
to its actual facilities on the ground i.e. local businesses and community interventions.

3) Local speculations and opinions about future development (In Manchester, an informal interview with the Secretary of the UOM Ghanaian Society has already been organised by a member of our team).

4) Information about the Marine Drive Project from the social media feeds of verified local news outlets, which will create a timeline.

5) Comparisons of various masterplan proposal with the situation.

6) Maps produced by QGIS, phots, sketches and graphics which will show the existing site and current proposal.

The output is planned to be engaging and accessible and there is a chance to publish it on a national/local platform.