Andrea Ferro documents Dakar's endangered 1950s bubble houses

Italian photographer Andrea Ferro has captured the remaining 1950s bubble houses in Dakar, Senegal, as they face demolition. Built from the 1950s to the 1970s using Wallace Neff's Airform method—inflated balloon sprayed with cement—the concrete-dome homes were originally constructed in groups of 100 to form neighborhoods. At their peak, around 1,200 units existed in areas like Ouakam, Zone B, and Hann, making Dakar the world's largest concentration. Fewer than 100 remain today, threatened by land speculation, lack of legal protection, aging materials, and marine-climate decay. Ferro, trained as an architect, aims to raise awareness and advocate for preservation through listing key clusters, publishing retrofit toolkits, and piloting model restorations.