At Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar, Senegal, a programme of student residences designed by Hardel Le Bihan Architectes combines bioclimatic design, locally manufactured clay bricks, and landscaped communal spaces to address growing demand for university accommodation.
Initiated in 2015, the programme is being developed by AMSA Realty SA, the real estate arm of Senegalese insurer AMSA, with project management by Redman. Hardel Le Bihan Architectes worked in collaboration with Senegalese architect and artist Alioune Ba, known as Alun Be, landscape studio Niez Studio, and environmental engineering consultancy Elioth by Egis.
The wider programme encompasses approximately 120,000 square metres of gross internal area across 16 buildings and is intended to accommodate around 10,000 students across two sites: 10 buildings on the main UCAD campus and six at the nearby Cité Claudel student residential area. The first two residences, located in Sector A of the university campus, have a combined gross internal area of 6,200 square metres and welcomed 750 students in 2024.
The design prioritises thermal comfort, natural ventilation, solar protection, and locally sourced materials. Its architectural approach responds to Dakar's climate while maintaining the relatively low building heights of the surrounding urban environment.
Residential wings arranged around an interior garden
Each four-storey residence comprises two wings arranged on either side of a central walkway conceived as an interior garden. This configuration encourages natural ventilation by channelling prevailing winds through the buildings, while providing shaded circulation and communal spaces. The central walkway forms the principal access route, incorporating ramps and external staircases that connect the bedroom corridors. These circulation areas are protected from direct sunlight and rainfall, with additional staircases positioned at either end of the building.
On the upper floors, suspended study rooms extend between the two wings, overlooking the planted spaces below. Subtle variations in the height and positioning of the terraces interrupt the repetition of the residential units and create different views across the campus.
The accommodation is organised around shared rooms for eight students, with a generous floor-to-floor height of 3.95 metres. This dimension provides large internal volumes and contributes to the vertical proportions of the facades, offsetting the horizontal emphasis of the repeated floor levels.
The ground floors accommodate communal facilities, including television rooms, study spaces, laundries, concierge services, and commercial premises. These spaces support everyday student activities and provide opportunities for social interaction beyond the residential rooms.
Passive strategies for thermal comfort
Developed with Elioth by Egis, the environmental design is based on three complementary principles: limiting solar heat gain, using thermal mass to moderate internal temperatures, and encouraging natural ventilation. Solar protection is provided through projecting roofs, patterned brick screens, and shaded external walkways. Ventilated roof coverings and a double-wall arrangement further contribute to the building envelope's environmental performance. The wall construction incorporates denser materials on the interior side to provide thermal inertia and help moderate temperature fluctuations.
Natural ventilation is central to the organisation of the bedrooms. Each eight-student room has ten windows, including a high-level transom designed to improve air movement and support night-time cooling. Most of the sliding windows are positioned behind perforated brick screens, which admit air while reducing direct solar exposure. A large fixed bay window in wired glass, positioned beside the entrance door, provides additional daylight. Together, these openings seek to balance natural lighting, ventilation, solar protection, and privacy.
The environmental strategy also relies on occupants understanding how to use the building. Students are encouraged to manage daytime and night-time ventilation to make effective use of the passive cooling measures.
Everyday activities have also informed the bedroom design. A fixed storage element beside each entrance provides space for shoes, while dedicated cables within the double-skin facade allow laundry to dry outside the rooms without being directly visible from the surrounding campus.
Patterned brick screens and West African cultural references
The facades are characterised by moucharabiehs, traditional perforated screens constructed from patterned clay bricks that perform several functions: providing solar shading, enabling natural ventilation, preserving bedroom privacy, and concealing laundry within the external wall assembly. Their patterns also introduce variation across the long elevations, reducing the visual uniformity of the repeated bedroom arrangement.
The screens were developed collaboratively by Hardel Le Bihan Architectes and Alun Be, whose involvement extended beyond conventional architectural consultation to include the cultural and social dimensions of the project. Drawing on the basic geometric forms of the circle, triangle, and square, the design team developed three patterns informed by cultural traditions across West Africa, including references to Akan medicine, Dogon astrology, and Mandingo literature. Two of these patterns, zigzag and diamond, are incorporated into the Sector A residences. Their arrangement provides different facade compositions while maintaining a consistent construction system.
The collaboration with Alun Be also informed the relationship between the residential spaces, privacy, and communal life, grounding the design in local patterns of occupation and use.
Locally manufactured brick and a modular construction system
The residences are constructed using reinforced concrete post-and-beam frames and solid concrete floor slabs, with clay brick infill. Solid bricks are used for the walls, while perforated bricks form the moucharabieh screens. Brick is also used for paving.
The residences were initially designed using mud bricks, reflecting the intention to prioritise local construction materials. To support this approach, in 2016 AMSA Realty acquired the existing SOFAMAC brickworks in Diass, outside Dakar, and invested in its development to supply the residences. The facility produces the solid and patterned clay bricks used in the buildings, supporting local manufacturing and reducing reliance on imported masonry products.
The construction system also responds to the challenges of delivering a large residential programme over an extended period. A repeated structural framework and consistent building dimensions allow variations in accommodation layouts and facade treatments without fundamentally changing the construction approach.
This modular organisation enabled the design team to accommodate changes during construction, including adjustments associated with material availability and the progression of individual buildings.
Landscape, rainwater management, and outdoor living
The landscape design, developed with Niez Studio, is integral to the environmental and social organisation of the residences. Planted walkways, interior gardens, and outdoor communal areas provide shaded spaces for gathering, informal study, and everyday activities.
Rain gardens are incorporated into the central spaces and surrounding landscape to manage stormwater through direct infiltration into the soil. Together with the planting and shaded circulation areas, these measures are intended to reduce local heat accumulation and improve ground permeability.
The planting palette draws on local vegetation, while large existing boulders are incorporated into the garden topography, retaining visible elements of the site's geological character.
Through its combination of passive environmental measures, locally manufactured materials, and outdoor communal spaces, the project establishes an approach to university accommodation informed by Dakar's climatic conditions and the everyday needs of its student population.
