Recognition: Architonic’s - One of Five Projects of the Year / ArchDaily
Project Short Film: Laying the Building Blocks for a Better Future in Niger
Niger’s education system faces huge challenges. The country has the highest birth rate in the world (~7 children born to every woman on average), and simultaneously struggles to keep young people in the education system, particularly beyond primary schooling. We have been working with Collège Hampaté Bâ in Niger to design new classrooms and associated facilities that will enable the college to accommodate up to 1,200 children from primary school age right through to lycée. The Collège currently provides subsidised education for middle school age children from lower income families.
Existing classrooms are being refurbished and 20 new classrooms built, along with new administrative facilities, an assembly hall, a library, and bathrooms. Upgrades to water and electrical services are also proposed in order to improve the school’s resilience to the intermittent municipal supply.
The buildings use passive design principles to mitigate high temperatures and create comfortable spaces for teaching and learning. Niamey’s climate is extremely challenging, with daytime temperatures in the 30s all year round, and regularly reaching well above 40 degrees in the warmer months. Air conditioning is expensive and unreliable, and a passive design strategy has been employed to reduce its use as far as possible.
The classrooms have been designed with a double roof system popularised by Francis Kere. Earth brick vaults form the classroom roof, with a lightweight flying metal roof above. The roof angle and building orientation help pull air through the roof cavity, meaning the sun’s heat is not allowed to radiate into the rooms.
The passive design strategy has proved a great success. Even when filled with up to 40 students the classrooms stay significantly cooler than outside, with temperatures typically 7-8 degrees centigrade lower by mid-afternoon.
Encouraging the sharing of construction skills amongst young women and older teenage girls who are still studying at the school is challenging misplaced views on gender in construction and ultimately providing employment opportunities.
