Chansu Health Clinic, Zambia
Bethel School, Burkina Faso
This school, designed with the help of the local community, tackles the problem of creating a comfortable environment for learning in a country that is frequently hit by extreme temperatures. The project was delivered as part of our Developing Countries work, providing engineering expertise on community projects that normally can’t access this kind of assistance.
Key information
Architect
Article 25
Client
Giving Africa
Value
Undisclosed
Year of Completion
2013
Sector
Services
Challenge
Prior to this project, 650 students in Gourcy, Burkino Faso, were taught in just eight classrooms. The building was very dark and the concrete building and flat metal roof acted like an oven, becoming unbearable during the midday sun. The school was also oversubscribed, leaving 74.1% of secondary school pupils in the town out of education.
Key drivers for the project were to improve students’ comfort, while retaining use of natural light in the buildings, taking into account water use, drainage and provision of bathrooms.
Non-profit architects, Article 25, ran community participation workshops and to ensure marginalised members of the community had a voice in the planning process. One priority that was clear from the workshops was that improving sanitation facilities and introducing gender segregated latrines would make attending school more pleasant and encourage girls to come to school.
Our project team
Total of 2 people
Image
© Grant Smith
Cool classrooms
The design of this project centred around eight new better-ventilated classrooms, creating capacity for 300 more students. The design also included a cooking space, which charity Giving Africa uses to feed over 200 of the most vulnerable students, providing an incentive to go to school and enabling better focus in lessons.
The environmental strategy focussed on bringing enough light and air into the classrooms, while minimising solar gain, in an area where temperatures can reach the mid-40s in the hot season. This was achieved by designing a ventilated roof system, with a corrugated steel fly roof and secondary timber ceiling. The louvred adjustable louvred windows cross ventilate the new buildings, and this combination maintains a comfortable temperature for students during the hottest part of the day.
Quote
"The children are very proud of themselves and they enjoy the lessons more; the temperature is also much more controlled – not too hot or too cold.”
Gallery
Total of 4 images
© Grant Smith
© Grant Smith
© Grant Smith
© Grant Smith
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