Bahati Architectural Details and Building Materials
From ESWStanford
Contents |
Design Objectives
We should strive to design a welcoming space in which children may gain academic knowledge and vocational skills, but most of all a democratic environment where the children may be free to choose what and how they learn. There are already many schools that have emphasized this through building design.
Other secondary schools in Tanzania:
- Aga Khan Mzizima Secondary School: a co-ed non-governmental school where students are accepted by merit. Since it is a private school, it isn't free, though there are a few partial to full scholarships available. They have a lot of facilities, including science labs, computer labs, and even a swimming pool. The school is run by an organization called the Aga Khan Development Network. The AKDN was founded by the Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, though the organization (which seeks to empower developing countries through education of their youth) is nondenominational.
Passive Solar Design
Passive solar design uses various design techniques to harness solar energy to heat, cool, and light a building and to reduce a building's overall energy needs. Some basic passive solar design techniques we can use:
- Maximizing the number of south facing windows and reducing the number of east and west facing windows
- Good insulation so that the building temperature is maintained
- Using thermal mass to store heat, or perhaps to store coolth (cloth?). Suggestions include using masonry floors (tile or stone materials absorb and translate sunlight to heat well) or using sunlight to heat water.
- Lighting the building with sunlight (Daylighting)
- Light Shelves: awnings that hang on south facing windows to shade the building (maintain coolness), but also reflect sunlight onto the ceiling and then back down into the room, maximizing light that enters the room while minimizing excessive heat and glare.
- Passive Solar Cooling: planting shade trees, movable awnings, wing walls, Ground coupled cooling (more info here)
- Window treatments for cooling: choosing glass with a low solar heat gain coefficient, add glazing or tinting if we want less heat/light to pass through the window
- For cooling in environments of low humidity (Tanzania during the dry season?), swamp coolers (evaporative coolers) are less costly and use up to 3/4 less energy than a regular air conditioner.
We will have to strike a balance between heating the building (having many south facing windows, thermal mass, good insulation) and keeping it cool (less south facing windows, tinted windows, window shades, shade structures, etc). Since some of these techniques are contradictory we need to decide what is more important -- heating or cooling.
For some concise recommendations, see the Energy Efficient Houses Action Sheet [1] by Practical Action.
Furniture
Sustainable materials, bamboo?
Information We Need
- Insolation information (aka how much sun there is on the site)
- Site specific information about specific shading that might exist on the site
- Demand/Load estimates (how much water and energy will be needed?)
- Type of buildings: recreational facilities, living quarters, dining/cooking areas, farms, size and number of classrooms, technology labs?
- How should the appearance of the school fit in with the surrounding architecture?
- What does "sustainable building materials" mean in this case? What are sustainable building materials for this particular school? Currently, some architects use databases like BEES to evaluate the sustainability of different building materials, but is that database still relevant when it's being used for a building in Tanzania?
- Are there any weather conditions we need to be sensitive to? For example, is the area particularly prone to flooding, earthquakes, and/or other natural phenomena?
- How do we make the building more welcoming and amenable to a democratic educational experience?
