Hearth - Children's House | Kaira Looro Competition 2022

CHILDREN’S HOUSE Baghere Village, Senegal

Proposal for the 2022 Kaira Looro Competition Thomais Kordonouri | Iro Stalika

CHILDREN’S HOUSE

Proposal for the 2022 Kaira Looro Competition Architects: Thomais Kordonouri & Iro Stalika

With special thanks to structural engineering consultant Aliki Kirou, Civil Engineer

Topographic map

HEARTH The children’s home in Baghere village supports the culture of care, fighting against the children’s malnutrition. In particular, it is a multifunctional space where health care is provided through medical examinations and accommodation for mothers and children, while nutritional care takes place in the field of crops.

Already when approaching the building, one can see the crops displayed along the southeastern façade. On the western façade, perpendicular to the main road connecting the building to the village, one can enter through two different entrances. From the north-western entrance one can enter the hospitality area, while from the south-western entrance, one can visit the other semi-open spaces.

The concept of the building is based on community, a value, which is inherent to Senegalese culture. Reinterpreting the articulation of local settlements, a typology of community is created around a hearth: a term representing a house or a centre around which people gather, live and celebrate. The new children’s home is an introvert center in which the program is organized around a hearth, which consists of circular courtyards.

Our aim was to create a closed, introvert shelter, an idea which led us to a monolithic building, using mainly one material which is integrated into its environment. Specifically, the basic structure consists of walls of rammed earth, including laterite, sand, red clay and gravel. Also, the floor is made of red clay mortar and sand except for the crops and the play - recreation yard, which are soil surfaces. The roof is a lightweight structure made of a wooden frame, covered with fine clay. For the openings, we installed partitions made of frames of vertical and horizontal bamboo elements, giving a semi-perforated effect.

The building is based on a stable ground, with its walls built on a concrete basis. Its shelter consists of walls from solid material, constructed from rammed earth, providing introversion, safety and coolness. The wall of the southwest facade is partially with holes, so that a natural clostra is created and allows the light to come in. Inside the house, the purely functional spaces are built of solid material, the rammed earth walls, while the movable partitions that can rotate around their axis are door openings between rooms or around the play courtyard, creating a transformative space which can be used according to the needs of the community.

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1. Main Entrance 2. Waiting Area 3. Examination Rooms 4. Indoor Cultivations 5. Bathroom 6. Dormitory 7. Storage 8. Administration Room 9. Main Courtyard - Patio 10. Educational meeting courtyard 11. Water Courtyard 12.Entrance 13. Shared Bathroom 14. Exterior Cultivations

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1. Roof coating 2. Secondary Roof Frame 3. Wooden Beams 4. Wooden Column 5. Rosewood Beams Steel Base Plate 6. Rammed Earth Walls 7. Puddle Earth Cup Bamboo Seperator Panel 8. Filter Fabric 9. Coarse Aggregate 10. Bamboo Movable Partitions

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The canopy is a light structure that appears to float - supported by wooden beams and columns, which are connected to the main walls of the building. Above the courtyards, the canopy is organised around circular openings.

The courtyard of the educational meetings is a focal point where the community of women and children can gather, discuss and learn about the culture of caring. A wall and a large kitchen counter made of natural earth compound surround it, where the process of cultivation can be prepared and the produce from the adjacent crops can be consumed. The opening above it is attached by a surface of bamboo lining, creating a semi-open canopy, which provides natural ventilation, shading and also protection.

Between the yards, the canopy is completely open so that natural light reaches the crops.

The water courtyard is elevated to an upper level which is connected to the ground floor via a ramp. It represents a source, a space where water is collected when it rains, from a sloping moulded roof made of red soil, leading through a gutter, to crops that organize the space next to it. In this area, with the help of the community, the children learn how to grow rice, potatoes and plants, and eat food together.

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1. Roof coating 2. Wooden Beams 3. Secondary Roof Frame - Wooden beams 4. Rammed Earth Walls 5. Steel Base Plate 6. Coarse Aggregate 7. Bamboo Seperator Panel 8. Wooden Frame for Movable Partitions 9. Courtyard - Playground

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The hospitality program is located behind the thick walls of rammed earth that are organized around the courtyards. Above the medical examination and administration rooms, there is a roof made of rammed earth which is covered by the aforementioned wooden structure and the canopy.

The largest courtyard is a large patio for play and recreation activites. Surrounded by solid walls and movable doors, it is a space that can be converted into an enclosed patio protecting the rest spaces in case of rain, or it can be an open-door space connecting with the other spaces. The floor is natural soil ground – landscaped with mounds that create natural boundaries for play.

Around the perimeter there is a small gap that acts as a 'drainage channel' to collect and partially remove water.

All in all, through this challenge, the goal of this introvert shelter was to create a work, which respects children and constitutes a space that supports their needs, providing also a safe oasis for them, where nurturing, growing and playing within a community can take place.

ESTIMATE OF MATERIAL COSTS It is a list just of building materials and their components for example: concrete, wood, sand, stones, screws, etc

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