The house Akeem Olajuwon helped design - Houston Rockets star center's home outside of Houston

Ebony, March, 1991 by Renee D. Turner

AKEEM OLAJUWON

AKEEM OLAJUWON is a study in contrasts. Menacing and powerful on the hard court, the Houston Rockets center with the explosive jump shot is one of the NBA's most dominant players. But his off-court lifestyle - from his Armani suits to his customized house - is a statement in simplicity and quiet elegance.

With a love for art, and definite ideas about what he wanted in a home, Olajuwon set out two years ago to design a two-bedroom house to fit his lifestyle. The result is a "neo-classic villa" that the Nigerian-born superstar calls "comfortable living at the highest level."

The white stucco structure Olajuwon calls home - with its arched windows and flat roof - immediately transports you to Africa and the Mediterranean. A private lake skirts the edge of the $1.6 million property. But the view is deceptive. From one angle, the house seems the essence of Southern comfort. Tall white columns and a swing grace the expansive veranda. And inside are the clean lines of contemporary design.

"I wanted it to be casual but elegant," says Olajuwon, an occasional artist who worked with Houston architect John McGee to create a one-story house, which, despite its contemporary feel, is reminiscent of the one in the Suruler section of Lagos, Nigeria, where he and his five siblings were reared by Muslim cement merchants.

The modest house of his childhood was also a stucco structure with one large living area. Olajuwon has come a long way since he lived in that house and played in the nearby soccer field and on the narrow streets of Lagos.

The 6-foot-10 center, who did not pick up a basketball until his senior year of high school, is (according to most observers) now the dominant center in the NBA. Instead of going home annually, he brings his parents to America each summer to stay in their own townhouse.

Olajuwon's own oil paintings hang in the metropolitan townhouse that is his former residence. But the sense of high style in his new southwest Houston home is largely attributed to the strategic placement of masterpieces by abstract artists. The Radio Announcer series by El Lissitzky runs the length of the main hallway, which opens onto two bedrooms on one side and the main living area on the other. In fact, the white, 16-foot walls and large windows purposely give the 2,500-square-foot house a gallery feel.

"One of the main things I wanted to achieve was a sense of openness for my art work," he says. Sunlight pleasantly filters through a wall of tall windows and the sliding doors on one side of the rectangular one-room living area. Windows at the far end of the room encircle a Theodore Roszak painting.

At the opposite end is the kitchen, where Olajuwon exhibits his culinary artistry. He mostly cooks seafood and poultry dishes, and occasionally prepares the "fufu" stew of his homeland. But the bachelor doesn't have much time for cooking or relaxation. Taking a page from the success guide of his entrepreneurial parents, Olajuwon runs an enterprise that exports sporting goods to Nigeria, and he handles his investments.

His home on the southwestern edge of Houston was originally designed as a guest house. But the bachelor says it is sufficient for him and his 3-year-old daughter, Abisola, who visits once a month. "My life right now is very simple," he says. (He is not married to Abisola's mother, Lita Spencer, 25, a California lawyer he met while he was a student at the University of Houston.) "What's important to me is God, my daughter and basketball."

PHOTO : Large windows provide lots of natural sunlight in the contemporary kitchen, located at the far end of the rectangular living area. The countertops are black granite and the kitchen features Gagenau appliances. Classic red bar stools of the award-winning Harry Bertoia design sit at the bar, which separates the kitchen from the dining area.

PHOTO : Standing in the foyer, Olajuwon, who loves abstract art, shows off colorful geometric pattern he selected for the hallway entrance. The Italian marble floor is picked up in the living room. At right is the dining area, where Italian leather chairs, which invite long stays, are situated under a glass and lucite table designed by Mario Bellini. Tall windows look onto the veranda and Jacuzzi.

PHOTO : A gazebo covers the entertainment deck, equipped with a bar, TV and stereo and sits on the private lake that borders Olajuwon's property. Nearby is the white stucco carport that shields his collection of Mercedes Benzes. Master bedroom has an indoor-outdoor feeling. With his 3-year-old daughter, Abisola who visits once a month, Nigerian-born star makes music.