Over the years, construction of buildings in Ghana has gone through various changes. Gone were the days when people had so much pride in putting up a straw edifice with some few rooms.
With time, it evolved to clay and then bricks and cement block houses.
A glance at some few buildings in town and one will notice modern technologies like hydraform interlocking blocks which is used mostly without cement. Indeed, we have really come a long way.
The architecture of some buildings are so outstanding it would literally make you stare for a long period of time with a feeling of awe.
A drive through the principal areas of Accra and one will spot a couple of buildings with astonishing outlook: structures like the Manet Towers (which houses both Vodafone Headquarters and The UT Bank), the Villaggio Villa (a modern residential apartment with it's remarkable exterior colour combination), the Movenpick Hotel (a 5 star rated hotel within the centre of Accra), One Airport Square (the first green certified commercial building in Ghana which is soon to be built) and the Marina Mall just to name a few.
A building is not truly complete without the most important feature which speaks volumes of the end result. A feature of buildings that arouse my curiosity is what a friend describes as "architectural finishing".
Modern technologies offers a wide range of finishing for buildings in Ghana such as tiles (5%), terrazzo (2%), cement (3%), glass (20%) or aluminum (10%) but my interest is the paintings (60%) that adorn the exquisite buildings in our city. With designs and expressions of colour, a dull building located in a corner can easily spring back to life.
Be it commercial, residential or an industrial building, the touch of a brush in the hands of a skillful painter can make a whole lot of difference.
Looking around, I observe how a few colour combination, the inscription of various phrases and the professional splash of paint has brought a whole new dimension to the building of XFM (a radio station located in the heart of Osu).
The building looks so unique and outstanding it has been tagged as the "Graffiti Building" by people who live in Osu.
Recently, I came across a BBC report on May 21, 2013 (Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22607173 ), which suggests Ghana's economy to be one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent with a bourgeoning construction industry.
On the back of this report, one can see the huge potential that the country offers due to the boom in the construction of apartments and other edifices.
Related industries especially the paint sector is not left out due to the modern designs and paint technologies that add so much colour which illuminates any structure that gets a feel of paint.
We brace ourselves for the new revolution that the building industry brings in paint technology.
Source: David Apinga (awintida @gmail.com)
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