The project we are presenting, is in partnership with TATU another NGO working in Msitu Wa Tembo, and Global bike. The building is located in Msitu Wa Tembo, a small and rural village in the Manyara region, about 40 km from Moshi. The site is about 1km from Msitu Wa Tembo bus station, easily accessible from the main road and close to a mosque, a church, a Massai market and one of our GroundWork project, a wholesale shop Kazi Na Sala.
The aim of this project, is to make a social impact and to improve the life of the community, especially of the women. In fact, in this village, women are used to walk more than two hours every day to get drinking water. Therefore, a bike shop would give them access to bikes, which would help them to save time for other activities during the day. The bike shop would be managed by a local women, member of the organization Kazi Na Sala women’s group and under the supervision of TATU projects for the trainings.
The bicycle shop is organized as an open-space with four different zones : a fixing area, a counter-selling area, a display-store area and a veranda. The counter and selling space is the link between the fixing area and the display and store zone. The storage room is a close room next to the counter. The veranda is the link to those three areas, and that gives an easy access for bicycles to go in and out.
The main issue in Msitu Wa Tembo, is the lack of water, which makes it expensive. For this reason, the concept of the project was to build with as less water as possible, and of course with the most accessible local building materials, that can be find easily in the village. Considering the different spaces, different types of walls limit the building: strong and permanent walls that allow to hang bicycles or other materials on it; and lighter ones that let the light coming in. After several researches, we chose to work with a system consisting of a wood structure combined with steel cages and filled with stones, for the strong walls and filled with wood sticks for the lighter ones. This is a cheaper method than the normal concrete bricks system that are usually used. The structure and the stones remain visible, outside as inside, which reveals the rhythmic thereof, and gives a raw interior look to the bike shop.
Material used:
1. Gabion wall
2. Stones
3. Wood
4. Branches
