Botanical Justice transforms the decaying shell of the colonial-era Kingsway Stores in Jamestown, Accra, into a site of pedagogical and ecological renewal—an architectural act of re-narration that confronts and reclaims postcolonial spatial trauma.
Drawing from Ghana’s indigenous courtyard typology—a spatial archetype of communal agency—the design orchestrates a dual-courtyard scheme that operates across educational and research domains. The Community Courtyard provides early childhood education and caregiver support, a direct response to Jamestown’s urgent crisis: the vast absence of preschool infrastructure for its youngest residents. Meanwhile, the Research Courtyard accommodates botanical scientists investigating the exploitative histories of cocoa, rubber, and palm oil, while disseminating plant knowledge through curated public exhibitions.
The preserved colonial façade functions as a ‘threshold of memory’—a liminal space mediating between historical violence and collective healing. Visitors navigate a choreographed spatial sequence: from the Botanical History Exhibition unfolding in the shadow of Ussher Fort to the contemplative pause at the sea-viewing tower that rises above the fort’s silhouette.
Materially, the project embraces environmental resilience—laterite blocks and bamboo lattice screens regulate microclimate, while a pedagogical rooftop garden engages children in hands-on planting and acts as a thermal buffer.
Architecturally, a recurring motif of arches—drawn from Asante cosmology, colonial remnants, and independence-era modernism—threads the project together as a narrative device of layered temporalities.
In centering Jamestown’s marginalized children and mothers, the architecture embodies a vision of ‘botanical justice’—where spaces once defined by control are reimagined as instruments of collective care, ecological recovery, and cultural restitution.
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Gallery
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