KASHITU SECONDARY SCHOOL, ZAMBIA. Oasis under the awnings

Project idea

The project aims to address a pressing issue: providing access to quality secondary education for children and adolescents in developing regions of Africa, where there is a high demographic burden, a limited number of educational institutions, and significant distances between them. "In Kashitu, a settlement with a population of approximately 18,000 people, more than a thousand primary school students graduate each year, but the nearest secondary school is 40 km away", making the need for a new educational center particularly acute.

Project description

The urban planning concept of the project is based on the principle of introversion, where buildings form interior courtyard spaces. The key idea of the project is to create the possibility for students to move exclusively in the shade of roofs and canopies, protecting them from direct sunlight. Thus, the school consists of several groups of separate buildings that form squares and are connected by canopies.

The complex includes classrooms, workshops, laboratories, a library, a fab lab, a gym, changing rooms, storage rooms, teachers' offices, a medical office, restrooms, boarding facilities, a dining hall, an assembly hall, and open recreational areas under canopies. The total building area is 8750 m². The position of the school building on the site is determined by the movement of the sun during the day. Classrooms are oriented in such a way that direct sunlight does not enter the rooms.

Students enter the school grounds through the southeast entrance, which is oriented towards the train station. From there, passing under the canopies, a visitor can reach the Main Square, which is located in the center of the site and is formed by two-story buildings that organize the space in such a way that areas for dining, an amphitheater, a sports field, and green recreation appear between them. The dominant feature is the Warka Water tower for collecting atmospheric moisture, providing an additional source of fresh water without energy consumption. From the center of the main public space, several paths lead to the dormitories for children's accommodation, the beekeeping educational unit, and buildings for practical classes in labor, metalworking, and agriculture. Located directly near the main entrance are: parking spaces, a checkpoint, a guard house, and a multifunctional assembly workshop with an open area.

Technical information

The building's load-bearing structure is wall-based.
Structural system: transverse wall system with irregular spacing.
The relative elevation ± 0.000 is taken as the elevation of the finished floor of the 1st floor; the floor elevation of the 2nd floor is +4.200 m.
Structural systems are based on interlocking cement earth block (ICEB) with dimensions 140x290 mm in the single-laid walls with mortar and wall with thickness of 290 mm in the double-laid mortar walls
Floors – beamless monolithic reinforced concrete slabs with a thickness of 220 mm, followed by the execution of the necessary structural layers.
Roof, according to the principles of designing educational spaces in hot climates, is pitched, solid, non-operational, and two-layered. The lower covering is not exposed to direct sunlight and rests directly on the load-bearing walls. The upper roof consists of metal sheets with clay cassettes that dampen the sound of rain. It rests on columns and partially on trusses, which in turn rest on the load-bearing walls. The "double roof" system allows the lower buildings to cool through natural air ventilation.
Evacuation routes and exits in the building are provided by two open staircases.
Stair flights and landings are designed from monolithic reinforced concrete and are integrated into the structure of the open amphitheater; the stair flights rest on reinforced concrete landings. The flight width is 1.5 m. The distance from the most remote room to the evacuation staircases does not exceed 20 meters. All wooden structures are treated with a fire-retardant compound. When heated, the fire-retardant compound evaporates and actively cools the wooden structures. The charred layer of the structure becomes a barrier against the penetration of oxygen into the wood, which slows down the combustion process.

Documentation

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