Villa Mondoukou

It’s a holiday house for a couple in the province of Mondoukou, about a hundred kilometers from Abidjan. Surrounded by vast palm trees and with close access to the Gulf of Guinea’s beach. The house has a central tropical rock garden; all the walls are made of earth and limestone, and there is a central bamboo roof crafted by traditional workers near Assinie, Ivory Coast. The walls are finished with moire; the varying shades of earth and lime serve as the only ornamentation of the house. Low-cost materials such as earth, lime, and bamboo, skillfully crafted by local artisans, were used in the construction of this house. Everything else is a play of levels in the spatial sequences of the house: you enter through a raised slab between two walls, and then you access the living room, still supported by this slab. This living room provides access to the patio covered with a bamboo roof, creating a skylight. This patio leads to two independent bedrooms. To reach the master bedroom, you have to take the stairs located in the entrance «fault.» This fault leads us to a direct view of the sea. On the right is a tropical bathroom, and on the left is a bedroom that allows us to see the bamboo roof drawing the horizon.