Ghanaian Tropical Modernism between Adaptation and Control: The Case of Accra’s Community Centre

Abstract

This study examines the dual role of Tropical Modernism in colonial and postcolonial Ghana through Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry’s 1951 Accra Community Centre. Constructed in response to the 1948 anti-colonial riots, the Centre embodied Britain’s strategy to reassert control via architectural interventions. Blending modernist functionality with climate-responsive design, its spatial hierarchy camouflaged colonial dominance under the guise of civic progress. Archival plans and colonial records reveal how the Centre’s layout enforced social divisions, marginalising local agency while projecting Eurocentric modernity. Post-independence, Kwame Nkrumah’s government repurposed the site as the Young Pioneer Centre, transforming its colonial infrastructure into a tool for nationalist ideology. This duality underscores Tropical Modernism’s entanglement with power: initially a vehicle for imperial control, later adapted to assert African sovereignty. Drawing on critiques by scholars like Iain Jackson and Ola Uduku, the paper positions the Centre as a battleground for political ideologies, where architecture mediated colonial governance and postcolonial nation-building. By analysing its design, socio-political context, and legacy, the study illuminates how built environments function as instruments of social engineering, shaping identities and hierarchies across regimes. The findings contribute to broader discourses on colonial architecture’s enduring impact on urban landscapes and cultural negotiation in the Global South.