Architects from Socialist Countries in Ghana (1957–67): Modern Architecture and Mondialisation
4 74 December 2015 Architects from Social- ist Countries in Ghana (1957–67) Figure 1 Vic Adegbite (chief architect), Jacek Chyrosz (design architect), Stanisław Rymaszewski (design architect), International Trade Fair, Accra, 1967 (photo by Jacek Chyrosz, 1967; Jacek Chyrosz Archive, Warsaw; courtesy of Jacek Chyrosz). This content downloaded from 23.235.32.0 on Thu, 3 Dec 2015 04:27:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Architects from Socialist Countries in Ghana (1957– 67): Modern Architecture and Mondialisation łukasz stanek University of Manchester hen seen from Labadi Road, the buildings of were employed by the GNCC on a contract with Polservice, Accra’s International Trade Fair (ITF) appear the so-called central agency of foreign trade, which mediated W among abandoned billboards, scarce trees that the export of labor from socialist Poland.4 At the GNCC, offer shade to resting taxi drivers, and tables where coconuts, they worked together with Ghanaian architects and foreign bottled water, sweets, and telephone cards are sold next to the professionals, many from socialist countries. road.1 The buildings neighbor the La settlement, where streets This collaboration reflected the alliance of Nkrumah’s meander between houses, shops, bars, schools, and shrines, government with socialist countries, which was demon- while on the other side of Labadi Road, at the seashore, a luxuri- strated at the fair by the exhibitions of Czechoslovakia, the ous housing estate is under construction next to upscale hotels German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hungary, and Poland that overlook Labadi Beach. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s leader (Figure 3). At the same time, the Ankrah administration used after the country achieved independence (1957), initiated the the fair to facilitate Ghana’s reopening toward the West.
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