In Accra, Ghana, where public investment in recreational space is limited and green areas are scarce, local design firm DeRoche Projects designed a clay tennis court for community youth, most of whom never had an opportunity to play the sport. The court and surrounding environment, however, are not just for tennis, but for a shared life, and a lush green space for demonstrating to the community how design can deliver an inclusive, sustainable and socially transformative environment for changing lives.

The clay court became DeRoche’s first project using a precast rammed earth system, an innovative method pioneered by DeRoche. The Backyard Community Club’s clay court, opened last year, has also responded to questions of civic quality, environmental stewardship and cultural identity.

© Julien Lanoo

The tennis court is located within a compact plot in the Accra neighborhood of Osu, and DeRoche’s project is more than just a sports facility. The Club, in just a short time, has become a youth community in its own space, where local kids and interested young adults get trained on  cultivation by planting seeds for food sources and learning about their physical environment.

By connecting sport with ecological practice, Backyard Community Club has evolved into a model public space that supports social exchanges, environmental responsibility and the sustainable use of natural resources. The lure of learning tennis, receiving their first tennis racket and growing their own food in gardens near the courts draws them in, and with the educational activities they absorb, the club becomes an outdoor school.

© Julien Lanoo

“The Backyard Community Club is about more than tennis, its [sic] about creating a platform for youth, for mentorship, and for community,” said Glen DeRoche, architect, founder and owner, DeRoche Projects. “For the clay court we developed a custom precast system that acts as both structure and expression, pushing construction to meet the goal of a purpose-built community space. The architecture is deliberately open-ended, where the lines between sport, gathering, learning, and rest periods are blurred. The learning is on the court, on the shaded walkways, and in the lush vegetation where their new life is emerging.”

Constructed to international standards, the clay tennis court is designed for professional-level doubles play, as well as providing local athletes under 18 years old with a high-quality tennis training environment. A shaded, built-in bench allows players and spectators to observe, rest or review drills. Other spaces, including changing rooms, shaded seating, outdoor prep areas and barbecue area, were integrated into the site. Showers are naturally lit and simply built, all amenities tennis environments even in very wealthy neighborhoods do not have.

When not playing, the surrounding greenery serves the community as a place for exercise, gardening vegetable exchanges and evening events. It also offers access to older, more experienced players from other communities for adult tournaments, as well as sports education events for youth groups.

© Julien Lanoo

Backyard Community Club offers an alternative to conventional approaches to designing sports facilities by proposing a model of building rooted in local materials, local knowledge and for social purposes. From the beginning of the construction, DeRoche Projects engaged with local builders, athletes and educators, from the Rome Masters to rammed earth technical advisors.

With clay courts requiring a lot of water to keep its performance for play, a borehole system and redirected stormwater runoff provide irrigation for the clay court and landscaped areas, reducing reliance on local city water and supporting resilient, drought-tolerant planting. The ancillary structures are designed to function without air conditioning or mechanical extraction, instead relying on the stack effect for passive ventilation and abundant natural light, minimizing energy demand and reducing dependence on the main grid.

Traditional rammed earth construction is slow, labor-intensive and weather-dependent, which has limited its use in commercial or community scale projects. This project bypassed these constraints through off-site fabrication, allowing for advanced quality control, tighter structural tolerances, and parallel workstreams between site preparation and panel production.

© Julien Lanoo

The result is a modular, climate-responsive and replicable system tailored to the realities of Ghanaian transport, labor and climate. More than a construction method, it is a new framework for building from the ground up, using the ground itself.

By applying precast rammed earth modules at this scale, the project has created a model for future development, showing how innovative, material-driven design can advance sustainable urban life while safeguarding cultural identity and environmental values.

The city of Accra and the neighborhood of Osu are lively and colorful destinations, with many shops, restaurants, hotels, art galleries and music bars. For visitors to Ghana, it is worth a stop at Backyard Community Club to see this friendly and unique group of youth and adults.