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ArchXenus Marks 15 Years with Foundation Launch, Raises Alarm Over Ghana’s Housing Crisis
The anniversary event provided an opportunity for the firm to reflect on its growth, achievements and contributions to Ghana’s architectural industry while drawing attention to challenges confronting the country’s built environment, including inadequate urban planning, limited affordable housing, poor documentation of local architectural projects and insufficient collaboration among industry professionals.
Speaking to Kessben Radio on the sidelines of the event, ArchXenus Group Chief Executive Officer and Principal Architect, Nana Akua Oppong-Birmeh, disclosed that the firm had completed at least 142 projects since its establishment 15 years ago.
However, she said the company’s most significant achievement went beyond the number of buildings and projects delivered, pointing instead to the opportunities it had created for people, particularly women, to establish themselves professionally and pursue their ambitions.
According to her, the firm had provided an environment where women could build confidence, develop their careers and balance their professional responsibilities with family life.
“Just by virtue of our existence, so many people have found their feet, especially women. They have found the confidence to pursue their passion, to proceed into family life, and not worry about so many things, just because we are modelling this and we are creating an opportunity for us to grow,” she said.
Explaining the motivation behind the establishment of the Xenus Impact Foundation, Mrs Oppong-Birmeh said the initiative was created to provide the firm with an avenue to pursue ideas and interventions beyond its regular commercial architectural operations.
She noted that the experience gained from running the business had exposed opportunities to use the company’s skills, resources and expertise to address broader societal challenges.
She said the foundation would provide the necessary space to develop, test and implement ideas capable of making meaningful contributions to communities.
“While doing the business, there’s always the opportunity to test ideas and also make an impact with the gifts we’ve been given. And so we thought it wise to start a foundation that gives us the room to explore the different ideas, a place for these ideas to grow,” she explained.
The foundation is also expected to support community-focused interventions, corporate social responsibility activities and other projects designed to create lasting social impact.
Another major highlight of the anniversary celebration was the launch of the GeneXus Book, a publication documenting 12 architectural projects undertaken by ArchXenus Group.
Mrs Oppong-Birmeh said the publication was intended to address the limited availability of locally produced architectural reference materials and provide students, professionals and other interested persons with Ghanaian projects they could study and draw inspiration from.
She observed that architectural professionals and students in Ghana often depend heavily on foreign publications and international examples when seeking inspiration, despite the availability of significant architectural works within the country.
She said the GeneXus Book was an opportunity to showcase projects designed and led by Ghanaians while encouraging greater appreciation of the country’s architectural achievements.
“We usually rely on foreign publications for inspiration. And this is one of the things that we feel like this is an opportunity for other people to gather inspiration right here, in our cities, in Ghana, designed and led by Ghanaians,” she said.
She added that the 12 projects featured in the book were situated in familiar locations, giving readers the opportunity to visit the buildings and experience the architectural designs firsthand rather than relying exclusively on foreign examples.
Addressing Ghana’s urban development challenges, Mrs Oppong-Birmeh stressed the need for a coordinated approach involving architects, policymakers, planners and other stakeholders in the built environment sector.
She explained that architects often work within clearly defined plots of land, limiting their ability to influence development beyond the specific properties assigned to them.
Although architects may have broader ideas about how surrounding areas should be developed, she said their professional responsibilities and authority are generally restricted to the individual projects they undertake.
“For an architect, you are usually given a defined plot of land to work with. For a lot of architects, you will think beyond it, but you can only work on that plot. You cannot go on the next plot,” she said.
She therefore called for a common vision to guide the development of Ghanaian cities, explaining that cities that have achieved significant progress often operate with clearly defined development goals that allow different stakeholders to work towards a shared objective.
“Most cities that have developed have a vision for what they want their cities to be. And then that makes it easier for everyone to plug into that vision and let us have the kind of city that we all dream of,” she added.
The Chief Operating Officer and Principal Architect of ArchXenus Group, Agnes Ofosu-Appiah, also reflected on the firm’s 15-year journey, highlighting the importance of partnership, teamwork and mutual support in sustaining the business.
She explained that working alongside Mrs Oppong-Birmeh had demonstrated the strength of collaboration, particularly as both women manage professional responsibilities alongside their family lives.
According to her, their partnership had allowed them to support one another during challenging periods while ensuring that the company’s operations continued.
“Being partners with Nana Akua and running the firm has taught us that there’s strength in numbers. Because we are both married women with children, we have life that is happening as well as work that is ongoing. And so, when one person is down, or one person is out, another person steps in,” she said.
Mrs Ofosu-Appiah said their experience had also challenged the perception that women may struggle to work together successfully, demonstrating instead that women can collaborate, build businesses and sustain professional partnerships.
On the Xenus Impact Foundation, she described it as a platform where ideas could be developed, tested and eventually transformed into practical solutions capable of influencing standards within the built environment industry.
She further identified inadequate documentation of Ghanaian architectural projects and limited collaboration among professionals as some of the gaps the foundation and its related initiatives hope to address.
She questioned why architecture students in Ghana continued to depend so heavily on foreign examples when the country had institutions training professionals in the field.
“Are we telling our students of architecture that we should build as other countries do, or do we have to develop our own curriculum, our own structures, our own inspirations, which would then become a bedrock for our students to build on?” she asked.
Mrs Ofosu-Appiah also highlighted the African Urban Futures Conclave, which is expected to be held in April as a platform for discussions, exhibitions and collaboration among professionals across Ghana and West Africa’s built environment sector.
The AUF Conclave is designed as a biennial gathering that will bring together architects, engineers, planners, developers, policymakers and other stakeholders to examine challenges confronting urban development and explore practical solutions.
She observed that conversations within the built environment industry were often fragmented, with professionals operating within their respective fields without sufficient opportunities to exchange ideas and develop joint approaches to common challenges.
She said the conclave would create an opportunity for stakeholders across the different sectors to interact, share knowledge, establish partnerships and agree on practical actions to improve urban development.
“The African Urban Futures Conclave will become a platform, not just for Ghana, but West Africa, where everyone across the ecosystem of the built industry from all the other countries can talk, think, put together plans, make deals and have actionable points that we will follow,” she said.
She explained that the event would go beyond discussions and presentations, with subsequent editions providing an opportunity to evaluate commitments made at previous gatherings and determine whether they had resulted in measurable progress.
Mrs Ofosu-Appiah also raised concerns about the direction of investment in Ghana’s housing sector, questioning the concentration of development in luxury properties while significant gaps remain in affordable, middle-income and social housing.
She acknowledged that private developers and financial institutions had the freedom to determine the categories of properties they wanted to invest in but argued that the country’s housing needs required a more balanced approach.
She pointed to Ghana’s persistent housing deficit, which is frequently estimated at 1.8 million units, and questioned why the visible construction boom in major cities was not adequately addressing the housing needs of middle-income earners.
According to her, although luxury developments and some affordable housing projects were receiving attention, the middle-income segment remained underserved.
“There’s a housing deficit in Ghana, and we keep on saying 1.8 million or something, year after year. But when you see a construction boom, it’s not for middle income. There’s a lot of luxury, and there’s a lot that is done as affordable housing. But somewhere in the middle, there’s a gap,” she said.
She also called attention to the housing difficulties confronting vulnerable populations, particularly people experiencing homelessness and kayayei who travel to major cities such as Accra in search of economic opportunities.
She questioned the absence of housing systems designed to accommodate such groups, stressing that urban development should take into consideration the living conditions of all categories of people rather than focus primarily on high-end residential properties.
“What kind of housing are we doing for the people who are sleeping on the streets? But the kayayei, and when they arrive in Accra or whichever big city that they go to, what buildings and what systems have we put in place for those?” she asked.
Mrs Ofosu-Appiah further argued that housing policies and investments should consider the relationship between residential locations and places of work.
She said sustainable housing solutions should make it possible for middle-income earners to access decent accommodation closer to their workplaces, reducing the difficulties associated with long-distance commuting and the cost of living in major cities.
Emphasising the role of architecture in addressing societal challenges, she said the industry must look beyond constructing buildings and focus on creating environments that improve people’s quality of life.
“How can we use architecture to solve the problems that our cities face and to make life better for the people that live in it?” she said.
The 15th anniversary celebration therefore marked not only a milestone in ArchXenus Group’s operations but also the introduction of initiatives intended to strengthen local architectural knowledge, encourage collaboration and contribute to conversations about more inclusive and sustainable African cities.