Local financing model for sustainable building process and maintenance regime

The financing model is a combination of stakeholder inputs. The engagement built a sense of ownership among the local residents, and these families and local leaders have donated land for the project and are making bricks for the construction phase. The local government is giving policy and installations support, the core structural components be funded by Hope for Humans NGO, the maintenance and operation costs are bore by the community, while central government has pledged support for several medical functions. In order to lower material and logistic costs all materials are locally sourced. The design provides for exibility to meet the changing needs of the society in the future. The training center and form is a reinterpretation of the village huts, and the savannah landscape.

Local participation allows the design scheme to evolve during design and construction

We asked children and families in Odek, to identify key spatial challenges and preferred solutions: we uncovered the values of communal space, the history of round rooms (huts), the traditions of grass thatching roofing. The building form and materials are a reaction of the vernacular architecture and available materials. Soil is used to made the bricks, local eucalyptus trees provide all construction wood, plaster is made from a soil and cow-dung mix, local grass for the thatch roof and the stones are assembled to create a floor slab. The project is therefore a revival and reinterpretation of long forgotten techniques. Through participation architecture ceases to be just a pencil on paper, and becomes a process that responses to community need.

Local innovation gives a contemporary twist to age-old building techniques and cultures

Local techniques have been employed in a contemporary way to minimize negative impact on the environment. The building will show that natural techniques can achieve comfort: rainwater is collected from the roof and reused in the toilets, storm water is channeled to the demonstration gardens, the roof pitch can accommodate solar panels for lighting needs, the orientations, openings allow for cross ventilation, while several thick walls are located to use thermal mass to release heat on cool nights. Efficient appliances are proposed for the toilets so that less water is used. The greening of the roof extends to the ground, creating a building-agriculture that contributes to the micro climate of the semi-arid area. These local strategies birth forth a new meaning of green building.