New town to emerge near Ouagadougou

It is a whole new city, able to accommodate 80,000 inhabitants, that will flourish 15 km away from the Burkina Faso capital.

The international design competition over the project has been won by a consortium of French architects. They have conceived the site so as to represent the future African city.

Established around a green axis, the place has been thoughtfully chosen, playing cleverly with climatic forces: in the north, buildings create a barrier to the dusty Harmattan winds, whereas in the south, they leave room to the mild and moist monsoon winds for their refreshing virtue.

The town will be self-sufficient in terms of energy. An autonomy that will be made possible by the use of solar energy, winds controlling and water recovery based on dew traps.

The contemporaneous site will still be drawing on tradition. It will indeed be called Yennenga, after the name of a Burkinabe princess. The eye-form of the place is inspired by the heroine.

Yennenga will become a landmark cultural venue. It will host a center for fine arts, several places of worship, a conference center, as well as a stud farm.