MyWeku Restaurant: Putting in place the concrete structure for the covered pergola

Now the kitchen has been gutted and “dressed” and the extension walls complete, the natural progression was to tackle the covered seating area.

Dad standing on pergola floor area (a few days before the kitchen behind him was gutted and extended)

Dad standing on Pergola floor area

This we have decided will be in the form of a covered pergola. The covered space we have in mind measures 90 feet in length and 17 to 20 feet in width. It is designed to face the outdoor open kitchen. It had to be open and almost be willing to play the role of a gallery to the all action live kitchen. It also had to be cladded with a natural material such as wood to blend in seamlessly with its rustic environment. The plant beds around the space had only just been filled with mostly matured plants uprooted from elsewhere to make way for an outdoor clay oven (or flourno as we call them in Ghana) close to the kitchen. There were two licuala grandis palms, a couple of cordylines and draecenas. Some other palms and the most tropical of plants, heliconia rostrata, had also been thrown in the mix.

We felt given the size of the covered area and the local building expertise we had available a concrete structure was the most feasible build method for us.

8 concrete pillars measuring a foot in width on each of its 4 sides were put in this week. We had gone for a height of about 10 foot for the pergola so the pillars had to be high.