International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan

North of Ibadan is a 3000 acre site devoted to investigating farming, agriculture, and produce production in the tropical regions called the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, or IITA. It’s a vast campus-laboratory established in 1967 and designed by Haines, Lundberg & Waehler – a US based architectural practice founded in 1888, and with various offices around the middle east and Africa. Whilst the main purpose of the campus is to conduct research (funded by various countries and conglomerates, and originally by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations) it also operates a hotel and contains all the usual facilities.

The bedrooms are arranged in large linear blocks with gallery access that utilises the dramatic level changes. The bedrooms all have cross-ventilation and louvred facades – although AC has been retro-installed at some point. It’s a pristine campus and a carefully manicured landscape.