We drew the concept design from the previous sketchy step to scale, which had a very 'interesting' outcome as you can see.

We soon realized that we simply don't have enough program to fill the entire site but also that the large number of classrooms needs more then only three buildings. However on the whole we are pretty satisfied with this first concept and decide to proceed from here. The overall layout locks the site well into the surrounding, the sequence of buildings works well and the addition of program fits well. We might actually try to find a bit more program to fill the site.
Another thing we need to do is work on a more site-specific classroom.

The classroom is the thing we focused on today. We want to make a building with a secured area for possible computers and other items with a high risk of theft, other requirements are the possibility to join a number of classrooms in one building while at the same making the best use of the amount of space we have. We have to consider the fact that the site is sloping, without knowing how much that slope is. And finally we aimed to make a model building to serve as an example for all following buildings.

The classroom is 6 x 8 m. By interlocking two classrooms there is space to create a shared secured area. We try a range of configurations and finally came up with the following design.




And with this new building design we sketched the revised layout.



We will meet the trustees of Ahead next week and present them our work so far. It will be interesting to see if we met their expectations.

Draft masterplan

Weeks of reading, discussing and asking questions have gone by, but it's finally time for the fun stuff...
after the first stage of trying to understand the location, brief and conditions in Ethiopia, it's time to actually do what we are supposed to do: design. Unfortunately this doesn't mean we know all there is to know, it just means that we have to move on. We still need to learn a lot, but we will rely on the effectiveness of trial and error during the design process and luckily enough we'll still have a lot of support from experts in different fields who will surely let us know about our possible ignorance.

So let's get on with the design.
Two weeks ago we made the first sketches of the masterplan.



The area is divided by a path running from north to south. This path forms the connection with the recreation ground on the north side and it gives the opportunity to allocate the program to different areas: the east side has the public functions, while the educational buildings are placed on the quieter, more secluded west side of the path.
The campus is entered from the north, via the public square with a cafe and room for a little market. The parking and drop off areas will also be there.
After crossing this square you will find the reception and administration offices, as well as the library. The library will also be accessible for the children from neighbouring secondary school.
The administration offices and library are bordering another smaller square, where the central path runs through to continue on the other side leading to the visitors' dormitory.

The west of the little square has a view over the classrooms. A path runs from the square and is flanked by the learning garden on one side and clusters of classrooms on the other.
The classrooms are placed in the central area of the plot, to give them the most peace and quiet. By clustering them, classrooms can be added in different stages, beginning with an small number of classrooms (three of four), but hopefully soon growing to the expected forty classrooms.

The remaining of the plot will be filled with the recreation area and plots for agriculture, both for the students as for renting.

The next step will be to draw this plan to scale and go into more detail about the classroom clusters.