At the end of a powdery orange dirt track, a two-hour drive from Lagos in the village of Ikise, in south-western Nigeria, sits an earth brick barn house. The jewel in the crown of Ecology Green Farm, it\u2019s a new artists\u2019 residency space established by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.\nSet...
Yinka Shonibare’s new artists’ residency space, Ecology Green Farm, in a remote part of Nigeria, offers a lush landscape for cultural and creative discovery
Set on the highest point of the farm’s 54 acres of land, surrounded by panoramic views of lush forest, grassland and bush, the building’s laterite shell radiates a warm golden glow in the late morning sun. Myriad butterflies settle and take flight, while the hum of insects, rustling grass and birdsong forms the soundtrack to this country retreat.
Shonibare brought on board Nigerian architecture firm MOE+ Art Architecture, led by creative director Papa Omotayo, to execute the project. The artist was drawn to the idea of a modern British barn house, with references to the traditional design aesthetic of the Yoruba ethnic group of south-western Nigeria, to which he belongs.
The structure was built with a double skin of laterite, using about 40,000 handmade earth bricks reinforced with small quantities of cement. These take on an array of tones, from a warm reddish-brown hue in the shade to gold bathed in the sun’s rays and a cool orange on softly lit surfaces. Laterite – which forms in tropical and subtropical regions –was an obvious choice, according to Omotayo: ‘On the way to the farm, everywhere is red earth.