In the heart of the Osu neighborhood in Accra, Ghana, the newly-finished Backyard Community Club presents a sleek, striated facade of buff rammed earth amongst shacks and apartments made of materials more familiar to local residents. In what was once an empty lot, the building hosts a training facility for promising tennis players, paid for and run by Amoako Boafo, the Ghanaian artist whose portraits grace museums worldwide. American-born architect Glenn DeRoche designed the compound, which houses changing rooms, an open-air kitchen, and a 230-square meter sustenance garden with medicinal plants and fruit trees.
Racquet spoke with DeRoche about the project and what it means for tennis in Accra.