Aerial photograph of the traditional Jola rice farming and fishing village of Eloubaline and its impluvium houses, in the Casamance region of Senegal.

Aerial photograph of the traditional Jola rice farming and fishing village of Eloubaline and its impluvium houses, in the Casamance region of Senegal. 

Photograph by Michel Renaudeau, c. 1980. 

Among the Jola, or Diola of the former kingdom of Bandial or Banjaal, Senegal, a type of vernacular architecture exists, consisting of circular earthen structures composed of a ring of rooms arranged around an inner walkway with a central store of water, or impluvium, which is the sunken part of the atrium fed by the compluvium or opening in the roof that allows in rainwater during the rainy season. An excellent means of storing water in an estuarine region that experiences harsh dry seasons, while also keeping the structure cool during hot weather.