In Senegal, last of Dakar's 'bubble homes' at risk

Marieme Ndiaye emerged from her igloo-shaped home in Senegal’s capital, its 1950s space-age aesthetic in sharp contrast with the boxy, multi-storey apartments being built nearby.

- Becca Milfeld, Agence France-Presse

The little concrete house is a head-turner, seemingly better suited for a sci-fi movie than the average Dakar residential block where it is located. In the 1950s, around 1,200 of the tidy little homes were built in several neighbourhoods across Dakar to alleviate a post-World War II housing crunch. The dwellings were made by inflating a giant balloon and spraying it with a concrete solution called gunite, before then deflating the balloon. Row after row of the light-coloured domes, which could be constructed in just 48 hours, quickly sprung from the brown Sahelian landscape.

Designed by a California architect; implemented by French colonial authorities; lived in by Senegalese - the dwellings saw only lukewarm success. Senegal's traditionally nonnuclear, multi-generational families began outgrowing the homes’ small, circular confines quickly. In addition, the land beneath them soon became more valuable than the odd little bubbles themselves.

These days, only around 100 are estimated to remain, according to Dakar architect Carole Diop, with the majority having fallen victim to rampant urban development.

"When I was little, we only had balloons," Ndiaye said, referring to the area where she grew up and lives today in Dakar’s central Zone B neighbourhood.