VILLA SALY

TYPOLOGY : Residential
CLIENT : Private Client
SIZE : 1,200sqm
LOCATION : Dakar, Senegal
STATUS : Construction Documentation

Design Collaboration with STRATAPOLIS

Situated in Saly, south of Dakar, where the climate is generally warm and an ocean-influenced hot semi-arid condition with a short rainy season and a lengthy dry season, the scheme is designed to respond and fit these conditions.

This project is a modern reinterpretation of traditional African architecture and gives a respectful nod to indigenous concepts of materiality and spatial configuration. The use of slats/screens, clay breeze blocks, shaded verandas and courtyards are parts of influences borrowed from the richness of local building solutions that have existed for centuries.

Given the year-round high temperature in Dakar, the sun movement and its impact on the building is a major consideration in our design. The south façade where the impart of the sun is harshest is screened with slats whilst the main internal living areas and bedrooms face the north to prevent direct sunlight from entering the interior spaces and thereby reducing the amount of cooling energy required.

Because of the site’s proximity to the beach, clay breeze blocks and windows of varying sizes are strategically positioned to take full advantage of the cool ocean breeze.