University of Education Winneba: Muni Environmental Education Center
Muni Environmental Education Centre
A collective proposal to preserve a coastal West Africa lagoon, support its community, and foster future stewards of the environment.
The Muni Environmental Education Centre will:
provide space for University of Education Winneba Ghana (UEW) student learning in a variety of settings: classrooms, laboratories, media center, and study spaces for formal and informal student gathering;
be a watchful presence on the lagoon to protect against illegal encroachment, overfishing, and deforestation;
be a visible presence on the lagoon and build awareness and appreciation of the lagoon as a community asset;
be a research center for coastal monitoring by UEW and visiting scholars, students, and interns from Ghana and West Africa;
be a resource for residents and the greater community for training in agriculture, mangrove cultivation, and the fisheries industry;
offer “hands-on” teaching opportunities for UEW and K-12 students to learn about their environment and the importance of its care and preservation;
set a model and standard for sustainable, high-performance building; and help to build eco-tourism, recreation, and visits to the coast.
University of Education Winneba
Effutu Traditional Council
Ghana Forestry Commission
Municipal Council Effutu
University of Virginia School of Architecture
VMDO Architects
Muni
Mission & Context
The proposed facility will be a model partnership for teaching, research, and community engagement - serving as a model for coastal environmental stewardship.
The Muni Lagoon is the critical natural body that characterizes the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar site. Historically, the founders of Simpa, Winneba first found this water body which over the years played a significant part in sustaining the growth of the settlement. Though a water body, it was a fortress that protected the settlement from invading tribes and there, by its banks many that died in the two battles were buried becoming a sacred place for the people of Winneba. The lagoon’s economic importance lies with it becoming a source of fresh fish, crabs and other brackish water shell fishes during the lean season when going to sea was forbidden (closed season) and the fuel wood from its mangroves that populated its banks. The other economic importance of the lagoon was only realized recently when by legislature that area was captured as the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar site; a protected area for migratory birds and vegetation among others which added tourism to its value.
The extent of abuse and devastation the area has endured in recent years leaves much to be desired of an area of such importance. The proposed resource center as designed is one that will eventually provide protection and allow the biodynamics of the lagoon and its environment to return to its normal status. It is the opinion of the Effutu Traditional Council that its collaboration with the University of Education, Winneba and the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission in its management will immensely give impetus to a quick resolve of the issues of pollution, encroachment, overgrazing by cattle and shrub harvesting for fuelwood and overfishing in the lagoon not excluding other minor challenges faced by the lagoon and its environment. As an educational resource center for the people, the ripple effect of knowledge acquired from training programmes at the center will promote more sustainable living.
“In lending our maximum support to this collaboration, we believe that the constant presence of people at the Centre and the Ramsar site will provide that level of supervision for the area so that in no time the lagoon and its environment will be restored. The benefits to the local economy will be enormous including the sustaining of the hunting grounds for the annual Aboakyer festival.”
-Neenyi Garty VII President Effutu Traditional Council
MUNI LAGOON
WINNEBA
GULF OF GUINEA
MANKU
MUNI ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE
WINNEBA SECONDARY SCHOOL
UEW CENTRAL CAMPUS
UEW NORTH CAMPUS
GULF OF GUINEA
ACCRA WINNEBA
GHANA
Location of Ghana within Africa
Location of Winneba within Ghana
GULF OF GUINEA
UEW SOUTH CAMPUS
View of Muni Lagoon, separated from the Gulf of Guinea by a barrier island, with Manku Mountain in the distance
Above: mangrove planting at Lagoon
Below: view of Manku Mountain and Muni Lagoon from downtown Winneba
GULF OF GUINEA
MUNI ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE
MUNI LAGOON
MANKU MOUNTAIN
Muni
Education & Research
The proposed facility provides cutting edge teaching and research spaces with direct access to areas of study.
Wetlands have environmental, economic, socio-cultural and in some cases political importance to humans as they have long been exploited by local inhabitants for their natural resources, for fishing and aquaculture. With this relevance, the coast is however threatened by climate change and urbanization affecting its integrity and sustainability. Land use changes in the form of pressure from settlement due to population increase and urbanisation, inputs of organic and inorganic nutrients from upstream and fishing activities are having a negative impact on coastal lagoons. These have affected the ability of the lagoon to fully provide the ecosystem services that it once provided. There is therefore the need to put in measures to ensure that the ecological integrity of the lagoons and its associated resources are improved while sustaining the socio-economic and cultural activities of the many communities that depend on the lagoons.
Despite the critical role the coast and wetlands play in national development and the attainment of some sustainable development goals (SDG) particularly goal 1, 2, 6, 13 and 14, there are significant challenges of coastal resources management in Ghana. Therefore, there is exigent need for the establishment of a Centre designed specifically to research into the discipline and related fields of marine resources and coastal ecosystems such as wetlands particularly, on African and local epistemologies, and pedagogical issues of coastal and wetland studies. This Centre will be interdisciplinary in nature comprising the departments of Geography, Biology, Chemistry and Health and Physical Education among others.
The overall aim is to establish a Centre for coastal and wetlands that will support the sustainable development of coastal resources, protect lagoons and other wetlands for socio-economic development of the University and the surrounding communities. The Department of Geography Education in collaboration with Department of Biology and Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports (HPERS) at University of Education, Winneba will undertake this project.
“The Centre’s focus includes research, tourism, restoration, and sustainable livelihood promotion. The scientific research emanating from the Centre will inform policy makers to develop and implement strategies to restore the livelihoods of coastal communities particularly in Winneba and adjoining Muni lagoon. The Muni lagoon will be used as the case study which will eventually be used as a model for other Lagoons in the country and the world at large.”
Prof Mrs Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu Dir of Research, Innovation and Development, University of Education, Winneba
Proposed Building Program
SPACES
Community & Shared Amenities
Welcome Area 1300sf300sf28sm28sm Reception1150sf150sf14sm14sm
Museum/GallerySpace1500sf500sf46sm46sm
TraditionalAuthorityExhibit1200sf200sf19sm19sm
Restrooms2300sf600sf28sm56sm
Multi-Purpose Great Hall & Lecture 11,500sf1,500sf139sm139sm Entry1500sf500sf46sm46sm Storage1150sf150sf14sm14sm
Collaborative Process | Student Design Proposals | Looking Ahead I Research and Mappings
Threats , and Challenges
regions of Ghana and particularly Muni large scale issues of climate change and from
addressed is the impact of climate warming on fragile coastal communities and lagoons. are predicting that the bioclimatic zones desertification from the Sahara Desert to the north southward making the lands, cities, and forests loss of soil. How will the projected rise in of cities? Cities can and need to action trees, treed parks, and open space to cool heavily-paved, over-built, treeless environs. Higher native vegetation communities and surface brackish water bodies like Muni. Initiating
mangrove restoration on a large-scale along streams and wetlands will be critical to mediating water temperatures on shorelines and creating habitats that support stronger, sustainable fishing and crabbing.
How will more erratic and intense storm patterns be anticipated and planned for? In recent times, Winneba city has been subjected to flood events connected to the rainy season in June and July flooding houses and streets whose concrete gutter and channel system often clogged with trash, cannot handle the heavy precipitation. These patterns of intense rain should be better scrutinized and accounted for in the responsive design of future facilities and development of street gutter and storm water municipal maintenance programs. Together, these will ensure that the systems work at maximal capacity to protect property and are cleared of trash and waste to protect the flows going into the lagoon. Measures to replace grey infrastructures of concrete channels running throughout the city with green infrastructures need also to be considered in handling flood water stages.
Environmental Stewardship
The proposed facility provides a home for the Wildlife Division of the Ghana Forestry Commission within the Muni Lagoon Ramsar site, enabling oversight of the conservation area.
The Muni Lagoon is one of five coastal lagoons managed by the Wildlife Division (WD) of the Forestry Commission with a legislative Instrument, Wetland Management (Ramsar Site) Regulations 1999, L.I. 1659. It is the center of the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site and performs diverse functions. In addition to the lagoon’s cultural, recreational, social, and economic functions, it provides valuable environmental benefits to nature and mankind, including a home for approximately twenty thousand migratory birds that roost along the coast of Winneba.
Muni Lagoon faces increasing threats such as exploitation of lagoon resources, use of illegal fishing gears especially drag nets, mangrove degradation, cattle disturbances and sanitation, among others due to economic impact of coastal communities. Over population, decline in marine resources, unemployment, high volume of freshwater intrusion, siltation, and flooding have escalated these threats.
Aided substantially by the new Centre, the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, managers of the Ramsar Site, will protect and develop the Muni Lagoon and the site at large to preserve and maintain its ecological integrity, “to ensure sustainable management and development of Ghana’s wildlife and their habitats, so as to optimize their contribution to national socio-economic development”. In so doing the Wildlife Division collaborates and assists the private sector and other agencies in the implementation of wildlife policies and enterprise development.
“Wildlife is a heritage that we must conserve. One of 98 lagoons in Ghana, Muni Lagoon is not exempted from threats and challenges that lagoons in Ghana are faced with. Anthropogenic pressures have been the major challenge that significantly deteriorate the ecological functions of lagoons. Human pressures such as over exploitation of lagoon resources, indiscriminate cutting of mangroves around lagoons, use of illegal fishing gears and methods, pollution, sanitation, encroachment of lagoon catchment areas, unauthorized farming and uncontrolled cattle activities are vivid threats facing Muni Lagoon.”
-Vivian Aye-Addo Site Manager
Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site Winneba, Ghana
Above: View of Reading Room from Public Green
Below: View of Entrance from Parking Grove
Site Plan
1. Entrance Breezeway
Public Green 3. Cabins
6m High Water Markers 5. Thicket Garden
Managed Savanna 7. Mangrove Restoration
Dock Pavilion
17. Salt Ponds
18. Aboayker Festival Site Pathway
19. Gerhard Shutz Memorial School 20. Immigration Housing Area
RAMSAR Boundary
Muni Lagoon
Parking Grove
Reforestation
Entrance Gate
Nursery
Lagoon Path for Aboayker Festival
Entrance Road Palm Allee
UEW Cattle Farm
City Sewage Drain Outfall
A New Commons
The proposed facility will be a go-to place and platform for the community to preserve, enjoy, and enhance the Muni Lagoon, calling upon Winneba to be its steward in perpetuity.
Muni Lagoon lies on the west edge of the city of Winneba Ghana (60,000 population), roughly 40 miles west of the capital city Accra. It is a typical component in Ghana’s coastal system of wetlands, but unlike neighboring lagoons that have become polluted and deprived of ecological functions, Muni survives in relative good health. Its nutrient rich habitats and clean waters continue to provide for fishing livelihoods that have supported Winneba’s inhabitants for centuries. Additionally, the community’s deeply rooted spiritual respect for the Lagoon as the home of its resident god continues to be supported through taboos, such as the prohibition of fishing on Wednesdays, to better sustain fish populations. Muni’s sustained health has also been vital to Winneba’s annual famed Aboakyer Festival, during which competing groups depend on capturing a live bushbuck on Muni’s traditional hunting grounds in order to gain the god’s continued blessings. In 1992, in recognition of its relative health, Muni was designated by the 1982 Ramsar Convention as 1 of only 6 Ghana wetlands of international importance. However, tragically today pressures from human development and climate change threaten the well-being of this eco-system.
Recognizing these threats, an unlikely coalition formed in 2017-- made up of the University of Education Winneba (UEW), the Mayor and government offices, the Ghana Wildlife Commission, Effutu Traditional Authority, and other Ghana and abroad universities--to preserve Muni. The proposal to build a teaching and research center on Muni Lagoon is a concrete outcome of that coalition. To be owned and operated by UEW, the Center will offer a unique public array of reception halls, galleries, and outdoor spaces, teaching classrooms, research labs and plots on the shores of the lagoon. Built to new high-performance sustainable design standards, this facility on Muni Lagoon would serve the scientific community, be a highly visible exemplary model of scientific research in the region, and educate future generations of stewards in Ghana.
“Since 2015, I have led groups of graduate students in the School of Architecture at University of Virginia on study abroad programs to Winneba. Our engagement began as brief, richly rewarding educational trips, where my students worked sideby-side with students from UEW, exploring and learning about the history, culture, and ecological challenges of West African coastal towns like Winneba. Over time, our focus emerged on the interdependency of Muni Lagoon with the adjoining city Winneba, which was founded on the shores of the lagoon, and has deep historic and economic relationship to its waters. What began as an academic research endeavor has blossomed today into a concrete critical proposal for a center on the lagoon that would engage university, city, wildlife, and community groups around the task to save this important resource in the face of climate change and ever increasing human demands.”
-Nancy
Takahashi Associate Professor Emerita, University of Virginia School of Architecture
A Model Architecture
The proposed facility must have a double orientation; an inward face deeply rooted to its place and a forward-looking outward face to the rest of Africa and the world.
More than a building, the Muni Environmental Education Center is an example of symbolic importance for the promotion of sustainability in Ghana and Africa that shows how buildings can adapt to climate without becoming overly dependent on technology.
Making shade is a primary act of architecture in Winneba, Ghana. A defining feature of the Muni Environmental Education Center is the generous roof that shelters it like the canopy of a village tree - filtering sunlight while inviting in the ocean breezes. The building will get its energy from the sun with a rooftop photovoltaic system designed to ensure that the facility can maintain autonomous power and even supply energy to the surrounding area. The challenge of maintaining cool inside spaces in Winneba’s tropical climate is met by separating roof and ceilings into two separate tectonic systems - with airflow between. While the corrugated metal roof reflects the heat and diverts the rain, the protected masonry wall and vaulted ceiling system keeps the interior rooms cool. Solar chimneys, ceiling fans and operable jalousie windows assist natural ventilation so users can adjust their environment.
The architecture utilizes a hybrid of passive low-tech and ultra high-tech construction with innovative screen walls, brise-soleils, broad porches and rooftop verandahs. Distributed ondemand units offer cooling to offices and the Reading Room when necessary.
Western Africa stands on the forefront of global urbanization and growth, and also faces some of the world’s most severe threats from climate change. The world’s fastest urbanizing continent is also the continent with the fewest architects. To make a sensitive contribution, the design for the Muni Environmental Education Center must have a double orientation: an inward face deeply rooted to its place and community and an inspirational and forward-looking outward face to the rest of Africa and the world.
“The design of the Muni Environmental Education Centre brings local materials and local construction techniques into a new, forward-looking repertoire. Drawing from the skill and capital of local craftspeople not only helps the architecture be rooted to place, but also helps all people feel welcome and at home there, and ensures that local trades can both build and caretake the facility. The design is primarily composed of three local building trades: A timber roof canopy that appears like an upside-down boat; woven eucalyptus doors and sun shading devices drawn from colorful fabrics and decorative mats that bring a sense of tactility to everyday life in Winneba; and walls and ceiling vaults constructed with masonry bricks and blocks that take on expressive characteristics of Ghanaian earth-fired ceramics.”
-Jim Richardson, AIA LEED AP BD+C Principal, VMDO Architects
1. Porch
2. Rain Garden
3. Summer Sun
4. Generous Overhangs
5. Rooftop Photovoltaic Array
6. Breezeway Commons
7. Solar Chimney
8. Operable Windows and Screens
9. Winter Sun
10. Rainwater Collection Cistern
11. Thermal Mass Masonry Walls & Vaults
12. Predominant South Breeze
13. Public Lawn
14. Shade Tree(s)
Conceptual Project Budget
The design presented in this brochure is a preliminary conceptual design for the Muni Environmental Education Centre. Further planning and design work will be needed to finalize the project’s scope, requirements, layout, and details. The following summary reflects the Conceptual Project Budget generously prepared in March 2022 by the Accra construction company Memphis Metropolitan Ltd based on the conceptual design of the Muni Environmental Education Centre as presented in this brochure. The estimate of direct construction cost is comprehensive of site work, main works, external works, and infrastructure needed for the facility. The full estimate consists of narrative and tabular cost break down based upon room description, floor area, and unit costs. Included within the Total Cost of $3,489,449.99 are Project Design and Management Fees of 15% and Contingencies of 5%. This budget is not a final cost, but is meant to establish a working benchmark for realizing such a facility.
Direct Construction Costs
Conceptual Design Budget Estimate March 24, 2022
Indirect Project Costs (20%)
Architectural and Engineering Fees
Testing and Permits
Project Management
Travel Expenses
Fundraising Expenses
Escalation (10%)
Project Contingency (20%)
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET
$3,500,000 $700,000 $350,000 $700,000 $5,250,000
Thank you for your support. For more information, please contact:
Professor Mrs. Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu Director of Research, Innovation and Development
University of Education, Winneba eydwiredu@uew.edu.gh
