TYPOLOGY< Preschools/ Kindergarten
STATUS<[2021] Competition
LOCATION> Dillu and Hiddi, Ethiopia

Ethiopian Preschools at Dillu and Hiddi sites

The preschools are designed as a joyful place, for the children to have fun in and enjoy their educational needs. The construction will be easy to assemble on site, using just basic materials such as concrete, concrete hollow blocks or rammed earth blocks for the walls, bamboo for the roof structure, and white roof membrane/ semi-transparent polycarbonate roofing sheets for the roof cover.

The new preschools will support the local children's educational programs, providing an opportunity for them to unlease their potential as the preschools encompass the concept that allows its future expansion aims and flexiblity. The preschools can be built in several stages.

 These two preschools propose the prototype as a serious thermal, structural and constructive ecological enterprise based on sustainable input. This approach enables the important investigation into how one can best utilize the available materials from the local region.

This project attempts to utilize local materials with respect to the local culture while supporting the stable learning environments for the children.

The Roof

The roof features a bamboo cross framed construction, resting on the concrete hollow block wall or rammed earth blocks on one side and the bamboo diagional framwork in the front of this preschool.

 The undertaking here is to give sufficient sun shading with louvres, placed in front of the classroom windows. During the hot summer months, warm air mainly from the classrooms can be released through the top of the classroom clerestory windows, thereby making the air temperatures feel cooler for the children.

Sustainability

The structures use bamboo as part of the sustainable concept that underlines the environmental friendly approach. There is also the use of solar PV panels on top of the roof, which give energy resources to those preschools. The solar PV panels can provide enough power for LED lighting and any other devices used by the preschool occupants.

 Moreover the harvestation of rainwater from the roofs into the tanks is possible. The rainwater can then be funneled and purified with biofilters to the kitchen, lactrines and water baths.

The plastering on the walls can be applied with a prickly pear cautus juice (mixed with salt, loam and lime) or cement mortar.

The implementation of a self contained biogas system can also be used to treat waste water from the lactrines and to generate fuel for cooking and heating.

In this enterprise, the endeavour is to provide an innovative safe haven for the children and to create an ecological construction for the benefit of local community.

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