Architecture is a very important part of culture. It’s amazing how Chinese buildings come in an exclusively unique style while buildings in Rome feature arches and pillars of different sizes. These styles are designed to suit and accommodate a particular lifestyle focusing on things like ecstasy, defense, ventilation, comfort, space, cultural beliefs and so on.

In Ghana, the two distinctive traditional buildings are the round hut compounds in the northern region and the nearly extinct Ashanti buildings. In this article we’ll learn about the traditional Ashanti building.

The typical Ashanti building has a rectangular body with an acutely angled and pointed roof made from thatch. The upper body of the building is usually white while the bottom part is brown. The body bears striking relief patterns of brightly painted totems and Adinkra symbols. It has four rectangular walls with a courtyard in the middle. These rectangular walls are made of wattle and daub.

The Ashanti architectural building is perhaps one of the best known for its provision of rooms constructed around a courtyard common to all tenants. In the olden days, the older mates in one such compound would gather all the children in the household to share oral traditions in the form of folktales, proverbs and short songs (mmoguo) sang to compliment the folktales.

Unfortunately, only a few of these buildings are left. The surviving structures can be located in rural areas like Ejisu and Breman where they serve as shrines for traditional fetish priests, and around Bantama and Adum where they still serve as living quarters.