LCDG's Derik Tom joins Architeach in Ghana

Next month, LCDG designer Derik Tom will be traveling to Ghana to work with ARCHITEACH, where he’ll join fifteen other volunteers to build homes in the Abetenim village, which sits about a hundred miles north of the capital city of Accra.

Derik has a Bachelors of Architecture with a minor in Global Studies and five years of experience mentoring high school students from disadvantaged communities. ARCHITEACH contacted him in the spring, asking him to join the team for wall, window, and door construction over the course of four weeks. The volunteers will be living and working alongside village locals who have a great understanding of the vernacular building techniques.

ARCHITEACH was formed by a group of architects in the New York/New Jersey area. One of the core members entered NKA Foundation’s 4th Earth Architecture Competition: Designing a School for Ghana. The NKA Foundation focuses on human capital development through the arts, invited all entries in the competition to Ghana to have the opportunity to build out their designs. Although this is the first for ARCHITEACH, we hope to participate in future events.