Differentiated preparation work is the focus of the GHANA*LAB. It includes both, content related and organizational issues. The latter refers to the co-organization of the W O C - Design Studio by the AvBR and the IHS in the Netherlands, as well as the collaboration with the KNUST in Ghana and other partners involved. Also, the preparation of the field trips is part of the Lab. As to the content related preparation of the W O C - Design Studio, several issues will be addressed that are closely related to the subject of informal settlements in Ghana. All the information will be collected and presented in a printed reader, providing equal knowledge to all participants. Eventually, articles from the IHS students will supplement the reader.

Consisting of as well students of architecture as students of urban planning, the objective is to develop a low-cost housing project for an informal settlement, benefiting from the synergy of the two disciplines involved. The principal issue will be to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of an existing slum.
The design studio will address all scales of urban life. It will range from the scale of the city down to the scale of the individual dwelling. The focus will as well be on urban development, daily patterns of local inhabitants, infrastructure and public facilities as on building typologies, construction methods and the specific use of materials. The project will take place in the city of Kumasi, Ghana. Preceding the development of the design, the participants will travel to Ghana in order to analyse the situation of existing informal communities in place. The aim is to also organize a workshop with students and experts from the KNUST, the university of Kumasi.

The objective of the IHS' Master Programme is to develop an integrated development plan (IDP) for an informal settlement in Kumasi, Ghana. Specific issues should relate to urban settlement planning, housing design, feasibility studies and the social economical aspects formulated in the integrated development plans.

A series of workshops will enable the students of both institutes, AvBR and IHS, to collectively define a catalogue of criteria’s that form the basis of as well the design proposals as the master theses. The workshops will not only provide a platform for discussion, exchange of relevant information and presentations, but also guarantee the mutual benefit of all disciplines involved.

W O C - Design Studio is aiming to organize a collaborative workshop with the KNUST in order to gain insight into the actual situation in Ghana, as well as producing an intercultural exchange. It is the explicit aim to get KNUST involved into the process of the studio as well as the final contribution for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2009.

In order to verify the situation in place, participants of the AvBR will undertake the first field trip to Kumasi, Ghana at the beginning of the design studio. There, a profound analysis will be done. The analysis completes the design objectives as defined in the action planning workshop and forms the foundation of the actual design assignment.
Interviews with inhabitants of the informal settlements, with local stakeholders and other relevant parties are to be part of the trip as well as a workshop organized with the University of Kumasi, the KNUST.

In order to collect and verify data for the specific research, participants of the IHS will do fieldwork on site after the draft design is completed. Thus, the design proposals can be evaluated and deeper research can be initiated if necessary.

The overall product of the W O C - Design Studio will be comparable to an extensive professional feasibility study. The final feasibility studies, worked out by the participants, will ultimately be presented to the inhabitants of the specific community in Kumasi, to the local authorities and stakeholders.