Votes:
227
Tropical Building
Rwanda
Media
Drawings, plans, elevations
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The new School of Architecture and Built Environment -SABE building is a project proposal done to enhance not only the study and office spaces organization but also the traditional contexts of students’ life had been rethought with a building that would be an integral part in the development of Rwandan Capital City. SABE building design enhances healthy spaces organization and social life of students that make it is an integral part of the city and the overall landscape. Recently, there was no school of architecture in Rwanda until 2007, but still there was no exact building for the use, students used to move back and forth into the campus to find; Studying and reading rooms as they shared few rooms with other departments, Copy rooms were very few in all the campus, first-aid services; one shared with two colleges, the Internet and ICT facilities-those were few to accommodate all, recreation and entertainment spaces, Cafeteria and restaurant facilities. In this design process, it was particularly the rethinking of new school’s internal and external organization for solving students’ problems.The school’s location at the sloppy site of NYARUGENGE Campus in Kigali City Center which was the focus of attention. The overall design was developed in two parts: the solid part of fired bricks where offices and other private functions locate in and the open part growing from the main road where public social functions like cafeteria and lounges locate. The final design and materials choice is the reflection of sloppy site and location, the terraced characters that dominate the overall design both internally and externally was done for the means of slope management. The project site receives so much daily insulation, this push us to rethink on tropical systems like “floor to ceiling thermal buffer in East and West facades also the roof surface is all curved with solar panels to gain maximum sun energy to be used in our project and also rainwater from the roof is all collected in an underground tank for being reused in various activities such as toilet flushing and rooms cleaning. This meant an added emphasis on the quality of the overall project and also that, for instance, architecture, functionality, technology, construction, and economy would have to form a synthesis. The overall project design gives architectural education a visionary boost and provides a future-proof framework with room for contemplating quality architecture, experiments, and new collaboration.We designed a school that might bring together its activities in one location, where art, practice, and science could go hand in hand with other daily students and staff needs, where the works of students and researchers would be highly visible internally as well as to the outside world, it is at all a laboratory and factory for producing architecture. Hence, the final product would add something to the city and the country through built environment – we might all take pride in together.