New York architect Marc Thorpe and designer of Moroso’s M’Afrique collection – a line of seating and accessories handmade by Senegalese artisans – was commissioned to design a complex of housing units and workshop spaces for Moroso’s artisans and their families in the outskirts of Dakar.

The idea is to create a work-based community allowing a village to develop around a central economic constituent.

Each unit is made of three staggered volumes with a workshop at the centre and two housing modules at the sides, designed according to the space needed by each family.

The sharp, pointed roofs that characterize the units are inspired by the traditional houses designed on fabrics and Senegalese paintings while the building material is the brick made from local red earth and dried in the sun.

The isothermal properties of the material keep confortable inner temperatures day and night while the the jealousies of perforated walls guarantee constant ventilation.