DAKARI

DAKARI is a contemporary urban residence in one of West Africa's densest and most dynamic cities. The brief demanded privacy from the street, security without fortress aesthetics, and a generous family life hidden behind the front elevation. The response is architectural. From the street, the house reads as a quiet, confident wall — a single mass of hand-troweled plaster broken only by a recessed timber entrance door and a narrow horizontal slot for light. Behind that wall, the plan opens up entirely: a garden, a covered outdoor dining pavilion, a lap pool, and three interconnected living volumes that face the garden rather than the street. Climate-response is integrated invisibly. Deep eaves on every garden-facing elevation. Cross-ventilation designed into every room. A rainwater-harvesting system supplying garden irrigation through the nine-month dry season. Solar arrays hidden on the flat roof. A backup power system that is fully redundant. DAKARI demonstrates that urban luxury in West Africa does not require imported vocabulary. It requires care: for the climate, for the craft, and for the client's life behind the walls.