EL JICARITO SCHOOL is an innovative low-cost school design that brings a community together through collaborative construction methods and local materials, and that creates educational spaces that enhance creativity.
KnitKnot Architecture has partnered with the local NGO Seeds of Learning to build a two-classroom school prototype for kindergarten and elementary school students. The school will include two classrooms, a multipurpose space, and a public square/playground. The aim is to explore new construction systems, such as the earth bag or hyper adobe, that take into account the complex internal dynamics of the communities in which the project is implemented. In other words, this project is to be understood not only as a building, but as a piece of infrastructure that takes into account technical developments but also socio-economic contextual realities.
We propose a two-sided concept:Learning FROM the building+Learning IN the building
• LEARNING FROM THE BUILDING Construction systems as a learning process for the community The building itself is a process of experimentation and learning for the community, as well as an event. It proposes the use of materials and building methods that are already known within the area, but also earth bag systems that require that the community works together in a collaborative way. Unlike other prefabricated methods that require technical knowledge and that reduce the act of the construction to a serial repetition of tasks; those alternative procedures emphasize collective effort and non-specific knowledge.
As a result, the building acts as an exhibition for different construction techniques. It encourages the community to implement the diverse range of systems used in the school to the construction of other structures in the near future, such as housing or warehouses.
• LEARNING IN THE BUILDING The classroom space beyond four walls and a roof The school becomes the public square for the community. An open space defined by two facades willperformnot only as a playground, but also as an event space and a meeting and reference point for the area.The classrooms are conceived as flexible spaces, in order to stimulate and promote interactive teaching and educational strategies with different formats. The structuralform of the spaces create a range of spatial types that allow for the organization of classes that “pivot” around a blackboard, but also for more dynamic and non-hierarchical educational strategies. The possibility that those spaces open up to the square, or remain enclosed as smaller units allows simultaneously for a multiple re-arrangement of groups according to different needs and activities.
THE SITUATION Nicaragua is one of the countries with less educational resources in Latin America, with hundreds of small communities in need of social and educational infrastructure. The NGO Seeds of Learning has been working in the country for over 25 years, dedicated to enriching the country’s future through an effort focused on improving educational resources.
Seeds of Learning has built over 200 classrooms throughout the country using commercial materials such as concrete blocks and steel roofs. These construction methods, however, involve bringing large amounts of industrialized materials and specialized labor off site, often making it unaffordable for the villages. Also, because of lack of resources, these buildings have very basic designs, frequently inefficient and inadequate for a school.
THE COMMUNITY: EL JICARITO El Jicarito is a tiny village located in the municipality of Tipitapa, north of the country capital, Managua. Is a rural community with 250 residents who mostly work as farmers, and the 27 kids currently don’t have a school. The kids receive classes in a makeshift hut as a temporary solution, since the nearest primary school is a 1.5 kilometers walk, and the road becomes impassable during the rainy season. As a result, many children either do not attend school or drop out before completion of 6th grade.
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN knitknot architecture has launched a campaign through the platform indiegogo to raise the $24000 needed to build the school. You can help through the following link:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/el-jicarito-school/x/13651934#/
All your donations will go towards the building of El Jicarito School, providing students with a learning facility they deserve.
