Secondary School.
Dakar, Senegal.
Group Competition Entry with Gaëtan Pelletey.

The project envisions a joyful school experience with the intersection of shaded in-between spaces with the modular classroom typology. The shaded in-between spaces accommodate chance encounters and act as places for gathering. The built form staggers to respond to the harsh south-west sun and capture the north-eastern cool winds. The project proposes an innovative structural system, where a combination of typha panels and corrugated sheet, supported by a rebar frame structure, creates both a ventilated and an insulated roofing system. Our CEB brick is designed to function both as a rat-trap wall and as a perforated wall that allows wind to pass through. The open spaces between classrooms measure 7 × 9 meters, allowing for future classroom expansions to be built upon the existing structural walls. Each classroom opens to the garden on one side, and to the playground and courtyard on the other, strengthening the relationship between interior spaces and the surrounding area. The continuous suspended traditional cloth ceiling instigates a sense of cultural belonging in open and semi-open spaces alike, while also engaging the community in its production.