This project in Ketchene is designed for siblings returning home—after having lived in the US for several decades—to build houses within their parents’ compound in Addis Ababa. There are several existing structures on the site, including a house built by their father 90 years prior. The project extends the collective memory of the place by facilitating an existing cultural tendency to expand living spaces to the exterior. The new houses are integrated with the existing structures by a simple canopy and landscape strategy.

A paved grid is overlaid on the site, framing the pervious landscape in between and providing a connective tissue that links the three houses together. The fixed canopy encourages communal outdoor activities beneath it throughout the year, while the terrace above provides an elevated stage for family members to simultaneously engage the houses, the site, and the landscape beyond the perimeter wall.