When Ghanaian-born architect Joe Osae-Addo decided to move back home to Ghana from Los Angeles, he set out to design a space inspired by the striking modern style of his favourite icons - Finland’s Alvar Aalto, Australia’s Glenn Murcutt, and L.A.’s Ray Kappe and apply it in a way that was relevant and suitable in an African context. Through long distance correspondence, he and his fiancee Sarah Asafu-Adjaye designed a space that would stand out among Ghana's typical concrete block houses. The house has a balcony wrapping around it, inspired by both colonial English bungalows and the courtyard plans of rural Ghanaian houses. “There are no internal corridors,” Osae-Addo says, “so rooms extend from one wall to the opposite wall, allowing for free flow of light and air."