270 African School Project 非洲學校
2019 (competition 競賽) | Benga, Malawi 馬拉威Team Lee Shu-fan, Francisco Hazel, Ma Orchid
設計 李樹勳, Francisco Hazel, 馬愷欣
[The Community Cluster and The Learning Arms]
Unlike the developed regions of the world where students can learn from numerous contacts with one another in a variety of settings, schooling in the rural setting of Malawi villages, however, lies critically in the creation of a tightly knit community. Students in such a setting should safely and communally learn not only from a handful of teachers but also equally importantly from each other while growing up together. Before universal and university education, this would be the essence of their secondary schooling, and the architecture shall purposefully facilitate this. From which students can acquire life skills, get acquainted with universal values like gender equality, self empowerment, and the likes.
To create such a community of rural learning, our proposal calls for a centralized learning cluster composed of three connected ‘public rooms’ each holding a separate function, namely the animal farm, library, and the multipurpose hall. Students gather around this core cluster to learn about the nature, history and thoughts, and from each other respectively. The three sloped volumes are oriented to respond to climate for solar energy, as well as creating a series of outdoor spaces both enclosed and open. This cluster also stands the tallest to mark the main entry to the school complex at its most public zone, from which both users navigate and utilities distribute.
Unlike the developed regions of the world where students can learn from numerous contacts with one another in a variety of settings, schooling in the rural setting of Malawi villages, however, lies critically in the creation of a tightly knit community. Students in such a setting should safely and communally learn not only from a handful of teachers but also equally importantly from each other while growing up together. Before universal and university education, this would be the essence of their secondary schooling, and the architecture shall purposefully facilitate this. From which students can acquire life skills, get acquainted with universal values like gender equality, self empowerment, and the likes.
To create such a community of rural learning, our proposal calls for a centralized learning cluster composed of three connected ‘public rooms’ each holding a separate function, namely the animal farm, library, and the multipurpose hall. Students gather around this core cluster to learn about the nature, history and thoughts, and from each other respectively. The three sloped volumes are oriented to respond to climate for solar energy, as well as creating a series of outdoor spaces both enclosed and open. This cluster also stands the tallest to mark the main entry to the school complex at its most public zone, from which both users navigate and utilities distribute.
From this core of the school, three ‘arms’ extend in separate directions, one to the northeast, where daylight is unobstructed, to become an agricultural learning farm, and to both sides where the teaching wings and the dormitory wings are located. The learning farm forms part of an important educational feature of the school, where students can learn from the animal farm attached to it, and witness the harnessing of rainfall and daylight towards life enhancements. The teaching wings and dormitory wings stretching the length of the site along the access road present themselves to the existing primary school and parish across the road, allowing efficient access and mutual monitoring. This also allows the ease of expansion in phased construction, without compromising the overall parti and the core of the school. The construction of the buildings follows a grid system to induce a sense of order and organized learning and allows simple construction easily understandable by local workers. Passive environmental strategies are also extensively employed in the architecture to reduce energies consumed, create comfort, and educate the students didactically.
[Outdoor Classroom]View of informal breakout area around the public cluster by the library and the multipurpose hall. The sloping volumes create diverse outdoor public rooms for different school activities.
[Street View]View of the new secondary school from the primary school across the road. The parallel frontage ensures ease of access for all and the effective eyes for safety.
[After Hours]View to library volume from the living arm. The private nature of the area is ensured by the axial placement of the library volume and at the same time facilitating the after hour learning atmosphere.
[Classroom Interior]View of typical classroom interior. The simple volume is designed on a grid system for flexibility of later additions, and carefully manipulated to balance view, ventilation, and heat gain to ensure a comfortable learning environment.
[The Community Cluster]Aerial view of the enclosed courtyard surrounded by the three connected public volumes. This relatively more enclosed open space not only allows multiple school activities like performance, farming, or dancing but also delivers a sense of protection and safety.