I studied architecture and now I'm working for a development organisation in Africa. I learnt in university to make 'different' designs, to stand out, be original, and be 'ecofriendly'. I don't care so much about the cost, or about how a building is actually made.
What I'm learning now is to appreciate the simple way of thinking in a small struggling city in Zambia, where design decisions are made based on how much cash there is in ones hand.
The conflict is very clear when I look at this project by In Situ Studio for a school in Thailand. On paper I see an original architectural rendering. To realize it, it would involve complex pre-fabrication, expensive transport and expensive building materials, so I doubt if any government or NGO would want to build this school, let alone a local community.
The design of a school with help of Arup and Davis Langdon in Ghana is more promising. This design is in the details, and has already been built by the NGO Sabre Trust. They use a concrete frame filled with cement earth pressed blocks and bamboo, the roof is made of corrugated metal sheets. Also they use coconut fibre mats as sound insulation under the roofing sheets. This is a cool feature as the noise of rain in classrooms with metal sheets can be extremely loud.
Bamboo, earth and coconut sound very eco, but this 3 classroom school costs £71,000. In Zambia for that money the government, or a local NGO can build 10 schools of 3 classrooms each. How important is it to get the stamp ecological on a development project, and what does this eco-friendliness actually mean? How much cement was used for the foundation, the cement-earth bricks and the concrete frame?
Local communities that are too far in the bush to get help from NGO's or governments, build schools out of mud, wood and thatch. They cost £ 0 and 6 weeks of labour by local craftsmen. And they are completely eco-friendly.
It seems that the local design decision making, isn't so bad after all. From now on I will make my design decisions based on the amount of cash in my hands.
Or should I stop working for an NGO, so that locals start building their own eco-friendly buildings again?
http://www.sabretrust.org/
http://www.archdaily.com/191021/
