№10 · The register

The Axis

5 terraces · 3 blocks of flatsAbuja, NigeriaOn site

Foundations are the only part of a house nobody will ever see and everybody will feel.

The Axis is five terraces and three blocks of flats at Kaura, Abuja, taken from bare ground. The earliest frame we hold of this site is rebar and column stubs standing in red earth, which is exactly where every claim a builder makes is either true or already false. Nothing can be corrected below a slab once the slab is on it.

Blockwork is up and the terraces now read as a row. The site is documented as it goes rather than reconstructed afterwards, because a photograph taken on the day carries more than a certificate issued at the end of the job.

The plates

Footage · Rebar, bare groundFootage, unretouched

Blockwork and starter bars rising at The Axis — Plate I · Blockwork and starter barsPhotograph, unretouched

Terrace shells under construction at The Axis with aggregate stockpiled — Plate II · The row, taking shapePhotograph, unretouched

Corner design visualisation of the terrace row at The Axis — Plate III · The corner, drawnDesign visualisation

Construction works in progress at The Axis — Plate IV · The works, in progressPhotograph, unretouched

Street-level visualisation of The Axis with planting — Plate V · The planted streetDesign visualisation

Angled visualisation of the terrace row at The Axis — Plate VI · The row, from the sideDesign visualisation

Visualisation of the entrance approach at The Axis — Plate VII · The approachDesign visualisation

Next in the register

Claire Mont

№11 · 13 terraces · 8 apartments · Katampe Extension · Abuja