5. Landscape Design Consideration

4.3.1 Costing excel table.

 PCC layer of 150mm under the footing and under the ground beam has been provided.  Footing will support the steel columns which are located at the end of the building.  flooring is made of 1:4 cement, sand ratio.  wood framing for doors and windows is almost 2-3 times cheaper than steel framing for the windows. Outdoor gates which used to be made from steel where internal gates are aluminum sliding doors.  Lintel we are using steel as it has a better waterproof system which will be covered by particle boards with flashing. Generally mud construction uses wooden lintels but it has to be maintained for long term use of the house.  Costing is done based on Senegal country and some of the items were unavailable but shown on the materials list so here we have taken some of the references from east African countries which have very low inflation differences to Senegal.

5.1 Introduction of local climate and landscape

Senegal has a tropical climate, hot and humid. The highest temperature can reach as high as 54℃. According to the location of village of Baghere, although it is the rural area near the coast relatively and the temperature there is lower than it in interior lands, it still belongs to hot area. The low temperature varies from 16℃ in winter to 23℃ in summer, and the high temperature varies from 31℃ to 43℃. Therefore, the overall climate condition in Baghere is hot, with a humidity up to 90% and periodic windy. The local species around the site are acacia and mango trees measuring a maximum of 15 metres tall. Viewed from the angle of landscape design and economy of the project, the surroundings trees can be used as part of landscape design for the Women’s House.

5.2 Most appropriate plants/food at Women’s House

5.2.1 Background of agriculture in Senegal

According to Mbalo (2007), agriculture is one of the most important parts of Senegal’s economy

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and it occupies approximately 75 percent of the workforce. However, the majority of farmers produce only what they need for survival, despite the diversity of local crops production has potential economic development benefits.

In addition, according to FEWS NET (2021), Senegal southern area’s agriculture zones are shown in the figure below:

Figure: Agriculture zones of southern Senegal. Source from Fews. Net.com

The Village of Baghere is located at the zones of SN11 and SN12, which means it is suitable for the production of fishing and the crops of peanuts and cotton.

5.2.2 Introduction of plants at Women’s House

Based on the soil condition and climate in the village of Baghere, there are five plants planned to be planted around the Women’s House, peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans and tomatoes. l Peanuts. It is one of the most important cash crops in Senegal. According to the figure above, it demonstrated that Baghere is good for producing peanuts. In addition, peanuts, as an important export product, have brought high economic benefits for Senegal. The Straits times (2020) showed that there were 200,000 tonnes peanuts exported to China alone. Besides, peanuts are short crops growing on the ground, so it will not shade the building.

 Sugarcane. It is also an important cash crop in Senegal. The price of sugar has increased in recent years in Senegal, which means that the sugarcane is popular to be planted because of its growing economic benefits. The plants are two to six metres tall, so it is the highest crop around the Women’s House.

 Cotton. Similar with peanuts, cotton is an important cash crop in Senegal and it is suitable to plant in the village of Baghere. As shown in the figure below, cotton has many different appearances during its total growth cycle. That means it can bring variety of views to the

Women’s House in a period of five to six months.

Figure: Cotton’s total growth cycle  Green beans. It produced about 19000 tonnes of green beans in 2019 in Senegal. This kind of

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short crop is also suitable to be planted in Baghere because of the hot and humid climate there.

 Tomatoes. With green beans, they are main vegetable cash crops in Senegal. To meet the both local economic development needs and dietary needs, they are good to be planted in Baghere.

In fact, mango is also one of the main vegetable cash crops. It is worth to notice that mango trees are original trees in Baghere, so they will not be planted in large areas around the Women’s House. However, it can be planted in pots and also can be transplanted beside the building for landscape design and grafting studies. In addition, the schedule of planting activities is shown in the following flow chart:

Because of the limited budget, the seeds and seedlings are planned to obtain from local community and near communities. Also, their can be obtained from local women organizations.

5.3 Food production system in the Women’s House

According to Poulsen (2015), the diet in Senegal is largely based on cereals, including rice, millet and sorghum, and they represent about two-thirds of the national dietary energy supply. Meanwhile, it reflects the main agricultural activities in Senegal. Back into the village of Baghere, it is good for rice farming based on its geography, tropical plateaus formed by small lateritic outcrops and argillaceous valleys along the river. However, rice will not be planted around the Women’s House due to its particular water-needed farming requirements. The five crops planned to be planted around the Women’s House, peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans and tomatoes, have similar planting activities and soil condition requirements, so they are convenient to be managed in group by the local women.

5.3.1 Cash crops and their dietary value

Basically, all of those five crops planned to be planted at the Women’s House have their own value on economic development of the Women’s House. Among the five crops, green beans and tomatoes are two vegetables that can provide good dietary needs and nutrients for local community. l Green beans and tomatoes. These two vegetables ripen in a relatively short term, which means they can achieve a high food productions for the community. They can be harvested for local families’ dietary needs and also can be sold to get some income for the Women’s House. Both green beans and tomatoes require around 60 days to reach harvest from transplanting. The Women’s House can issue an announcement inviting local women to help pick the vegetables when they are ripe, and the women who participate in the picking activity can receive a certain amount of beans and tomatoes for free. l Peanuts. It takes around 160 days to reach harvest maturity. The ripe peanuts can consumed by local community but the majority of peanuts are for sell, because it cannot be viewed as a daily common food to get nutrition. l Sugarcane and cotton. They are totally cash crops to be sold to get economic benefit for the Women’s House and the community. In terms of cotton, the total growth cycle of cotton is 5 to 6 months. In addition to its daily use for the locals, it will be sold after some bundle package works. According to the conditions of the Women’s House, sugar producing can not be hold in there, so the

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sugarcane can only be sold after some simple processing, such as excess branches cut off and bundles. The growth cycle of sugarcane is the longest compared with other crops at the Women’s House, which will take around 9 to 16 months to grow a cane crop. Following table shows the summary of the crops conditions based on the above section 5.2.2 and 5.3.1:

Table: Crops comparison

5.3.2 Food security of the Women’s House

In specific, there are some issues about food security need to be considered in the Women’s House.  Food storage. In the kitchen area of the Women’s House, some simple snacks and drinks will be provided. It needs to be noticed that the food temporary storage is one of the most important considerations of food security in the Women’s House. For example, mangoes are local common fruits in Baghere, so it could be provided as snacks in the Women’s House. One of the storage methods is to make dried mangoes, then it can be stored relatively longer. Of course, dried mango making lessons could be organized and viewed as an educational activity for local children.

 Waste treatment. The waste generated during food cooking, such as mango branches and skins, should be treated in time, otherwise they may attract some insects such as flies and mosquitoes.

 Water treatment. Water is necessary to keep hygiene of the Women’s House. Of course, it is also an important consideration of food security issues. The detail of wash issues and water treatment are discussed above under the fundamental considerations section 1.3.

5.4 Water treatment strategy and landscape elements

Waste water treatment is one of the most important issues that every community faces. Similarly, it is an issue should be considered for the landscape design of the Women’s House.

For the purpose of saving water, the waste water could be considered to use for the landscapes. In terms of this project, the crops planted around the building can be irrigated with waste water generated from the daily use of the Women’s House. In fact, the research regarding to long-term impacts of using grey water on plant and soil health is seriously lacking. Therefore, to avoid potential impacts on the soil conditions, crops growth and even the development of the Women’s House, the sewage treatment plant is designed for the project.

Those grey water and black water need to be treated by the sewage treatment plant before it can be

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used to irrigate the crops. In addition, rain water is harvested to irrigate the crops, however, it will not be treated by the sewage treatment plant. The detail of wash issues and waste water treatment is discussed above under the fundamental considerations section 1.3.

As shown in the figure below, water pipes are buried under the ground, treated with the specialized equipment, and reach the crops through several valves and taps.

Figure: irrigating crops by waste water

The flow chart below shows the process from water supply to crops irrigation.

Flow chart: from water supply to irrigation

5.5 The plan of landscape works

5.5.1 Priority considerations

According to Beck (2013), there is one main principle should be considered before starting the landscape design for any projects: different plants are adapted to different environment. Therefore, analyzing local climate conditions and selecting proper plants are necessary for the landscape design of the Women’s House. As discussed in the above sections, five crops have been decided to be planted to match the local environment.

5.5.2 Concept of the landscape design of the Women’s House

After deciding the crops to plant, the planting sequence and location should to be considered. The figure below shows the original concept of the landscape design of the Women’s House:

It shows that the building is the main body of the whole landscape design. Each planting area needs to be sequenced based on the crops features, mainly about their height. For example, the sugarcane is the highest plants compared with other four crops, so it should be planted on the side to avoid shading buildings and other crops.

The single trees designed to be planted beside the building are acacia and mango trees transplanted or grafted form local original trees. That is for the analysis of transplanting and grafting technology

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and also for the landscape design.

5.5.3 Processes of landscape works for the Women’s House

The flow chart below shows the processes of landscape works from design to the link of food production system.

5.5.4 Final arrangement of the landscape

Figure: landscape plan and crops

According to the figure above, five planting areas are planned at the north of the building. Different height and colour of the crops and the transplanted mango trees beside the building formed landscape design of the Women’s House.

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