New primary school in Kampala, Uganda.
Provision for 500 students including a dedicated space for SEN children, a chapel, and live-in accommodation for staff and students during weekdays.
The design seeks to modulate gradually between indoor and outdoor space, with extensive shading and passive ventilation strategies to keep conditions comfortable. Despite being equatorial, ambient temperatures in Kampala rarely exceed 30 degrees, averaging a warm 25 degrees almost every month. Direct sunlight can, however, be punishing. With the sun typically directly overhead and varying between the north and south, shading and ventilation are key to any kind of large, intensively used building.
The design approach is heavily informed by a site visit to Kampala to explore local building methods, cultural attitudes, construction practices, and the local fabrication of building materials, joinery, and ironmongery.
The design for the school itself seeks to divide the site into educational, religious, and residential uses, with a large central three-storey hall separating but also mediating between the quieter residential/religious areas, and the louder and more intensively used educational areas. Each building type is subtly different in its design to indicate its use. There is no real distinction between ‘indoor’ and ‘outdoor’ spaces, only lines of security, fire compartmentation, and waterproofing, with all areas passively ventilated and provided with extensive solar shading by overhanging eaves and perforated brickwork.
The project is currently in design stages and with potential funding sources being researched by the practice.
