Adjaye Associates is proud to announce the design of the International Children’s Cancer Research Centre (ICCRC) at Kyebi in the Eastern Region of Ghana, a landmark project that reimagines the future of paediatric healthcare across West Africa, for the Wish4Life Foundation.
The ICCRC is set on a 225,000m² site on the eastern slopes of the Atewa Range. The centre is envisioned as a holistic sanctuary for healing, research, teaching, and community.
It will be the first institution in West Africa dedicated exclusively to the treatment of childhood cancers. The ambition is transformative: to increase survival rates from the region’s current approximation of 10 per cent to levels approaching the 80 per cent benchmark seen in the United States.
The project represents a new model for paediatric care rooted in local traditions, supported by global excellence, and built to be financially selfsustaining.
Drawing inspiration from the Akan belief that illness is a disruption of personal and communal harmony, the ICCRC masterplan is rooted in biophilic design principles that integrate built space with the surrounding forested landscape.
Visitors enter through a Welcome Centre, designed to initiate a sensory transition from the outside world
into a space of care. Across the campus, courtyards inspired by the traditional Akan Fihankra provide pockets of light, air, and reflection, offering restorative spaces for patients, families, and medical staff.
Buildings are constructed using rammed earth, composite earth slabs, timber, and clay brickwork; materials that are locally sourced and shaped by local hands. The design speaks a contemporary language while remaining rooted in Ghanaian traditions.
Pre-cast low-carbon concrete screens that shade clinical and research buildings reference Kente weaving patterns, embedding ancestral memory and cultural identity into the architecture.
The campus is conceived as a self-sufficient ecosystem. Passive cooling, site-specific orientation, and photovoltaic energy systems ensure sustainability and resilience in the face of changing environmental conditions.
This integration of ancestral knowledge with modern technology is a hallmark of Adjaye Associates’
approach.
The ICCRC campus includes a children’s hospital, advanced research laboratories, a training institute for
Africa’s next generation of oncologists, staff and family residences, a chapel, and a dedicated family support centre. Rather than isolated silos, these components form an interconnected system.
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