SAMBOU TOURA DRAME SCHOOL

Group Competition Project

The following work is a proposal for the requalification of the Sambou Toura Drame Elementary School, in the city of Marsassoum, Senegal. The competition brief emphasized the importance of using locally sourced materials and easily replicable construction techniques, so the residents of Marsassoum can learn and apply them on future projects.

The plot has a Moraceae tree in the center (from the fig tree family), which has big leaves that provides shade. In order to maintain the area around the tree as a space of rest and communion, the buildings made for the proposal were placed at the limits of the plot, creating a courtyard, with the tree as its focal point. From this, two openings were made in the built volume: one for a vegetable garden and corral, and another for planting larger trees. water and food are not widely available in the region, and with these features the school can produce its own food, and simultaneously teach the students how to be self-sufficient.

The covered area of the proposal accommodates classrooms, a principal’s office, a teachers’ room, a canteen, a library, and a composting toilet. The spatial organization was the result of the intention to relate the library to the corral and garden, manifesting a relationship between teaching areas that are not necessarily classrooms, and to relate the canteen to an outside area, allowing the appropriation of this space if necessary.

ZINC ROOF

BAMBOO RODS

WODDEN ROOF STRUCTURE

BAMBOO COLUMNS

JALI BRICK WALL

TIRE FOUNDATION

In order to create a connection between interior and exterior, two types of openings were made in the facades: one in the adobe brick wall and the other between the wall and the roof, with a sequence of bamboos, which allow light and ventilation to enter. The sloping roof to the patio allows the harvest of rainwater, which goes through the gutters to the cistern, passing through a sand filter and eliminating any impurities, making the water ready for consumption. This reservoir has two manual water pumps for use in the toilet, in the canteen and in the garden irrigation. The cistern also has an inspection box that is accessed through the bathroom floor, and its depth can be changed in the future, if a survey of the soil shows that it is necessary.

The dry toilet transforms the excrement into compost and doesn’t require the use of water. With this system, the sewage does not pollute the soil or the river, and generates fertilizer that can be used in the garden, or donated to Marsassoum residents.