safe school in south sudan

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Summary 5

Introduction 6

Research 9

Designideas 13

Siteandsituationanalysys 21

Concept 28

Keyfindings 35

Finalproposal 36

Detaileddescription 43

Conclusion 46

Bibliographyandsources 48

Lakes State Southern Sudan

Rumbek Girls’ Primary School Observations and Brief History

October 2009

First Impressions:

Rumbek Girls Primary School is the largest girls primary school located within Rumbek town. It is a sprawling mixture of buildings interchanged with an equal interesting mixture of persons, both human and animal kind, making it hard to know where the school starts and finishes, what is part of the school and what is not and who are either students or teachers.

The main school building is an open U shape comprising of 8 class rooms and a couple of small offices. All the other surrounding building are today used for storage, kitchen, dining room and the new pre-school.

Like the majority of Rumbek, it is scattered with rubbish and very shabby and almost has an “uncontrolled” feel to it as you enter.

Brief History:

The school was first constructed in 1946 by the British. It is believed to have operated as a school until the mid 1980 when the Sudanese civil war broke out again. During this period the school was abandoned as the community fled the area, either to neighbouring countries or the Sudanese bush. During 2004 the school was re-opened as a boarded school for the returning girls to Rumbek Town. As a boarding school the mostly homeless girls, many having also lost their parents could now receive shelter, food and an education. In 2007 the school was deemed no longer safe for the girls to board due to immense insecurity of not just the school grounds and property but also the local men entered the school ground and proceeded to rape the girls every night.

Today the school is run as a day school for P1 to P8 classes. A recent addition is a pre-school facility offering day care fun and learning.

Additional notes and photographs on the Observations:

School Infrastructure:

Structural (the walls) all the classrooms are sound and well built. The school area does contain a number of buildings that where destroyed during the war and are today left half standing. Cleanliness and maintenance is on a very low level both from human waste (not just faeces) and animal. Security would seem a big problem still today, classroom and latrine doors are wooden and most lack locks and those that do are easy to penetrate. Indeed on the 17th October 2009 classrooms where smashed into, leaving broken windows and stolen chairs / desks / books etc.

Primary School October 2009

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ContentSafe school in South Sudan

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Summary

Designofaprotectionwhichaimsforchildren,mainlygirls,learningattheschoolinRumbek,Sudan.Protectionagainsttheft,localcommunityandwildanimalswhichdivides,butnotisolates-providingasufficientdivisionandsafetyontwolevels.Newwaysofstudyingoutsidetheclassroom(e.g.biologyclassesonthespot)andchildrenbehaviourcreatesfunctionalspacesaroundthetrees.Resistanceforexternalfactorsliketermites,sun,providedbytwolayersofprotection.Localmaterialsandtechniquesusedfordesignproposal.

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Introduction

FormanyyearsSudanhasbeenincrisisduetocivilwar.In2005bothNorthernandSouthernSudansignedapeaceagreement.Returningresidents,populationmigrationandrefugeesfromothercountrieshasleadtoasuddenpopulationincreaseof2millionpeople.InSudan,over1,5millionchildrenaregrowingupwithoutschoolingbecauseofwar.Propereducationforchildrencouldhaveastrongimpactonsocial,culturalandeco-nomiclevel.

AsastudentIgotapossibilitytocooperatewithSolidHouseFoundation,developingthehabitats,schoolsandwaterfacilitiesinSouthernSudan.Bookletisaresultoffourmonthsprojectdevelopment.Fromtheearlybegin-ningwehadtobaseonwrittenmaterialsdeliveredfromSolidHouseFoundation,knowledgeofdepartmentmen-torsandonmyownresearch.DeliveredsourcesexplainscurrentsituationinRumbekGirlsPrimarySchool,whichisthelargestgirlsprimaryschoollocatedwithinRumbektown.

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The overall first impression of Rumbek Girls’ Primary School is one of an unsafe environment for the stu-dents both from a water, sanitation and hygiene point and a health and safety perspective. (source: SHF brief)

CurrentobjectivesofSolidHouseFoundation(for2010)arere-evaluatedaccordingtothepoliticalandsocialsituationinSouthernSudan.ThereisastrongapproachtoreturntothewarbetweenNorthandSouthSudan,makingareaunstableanddangerous.

DemandsofprotectionschoolplaygroundformulatedbytheSHF:osustainable,localmaterialsosimplebuildingconstructionandmaintenanceocost-effectiveoeffectiveagainstanimalsoefficientanchorageinrelationtoerosion,landslides,flooding

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RumbekissituatedinSouthernSudan,surroundedbyNationalParkandborderlinewithDemocraticRepub-licofCongo.RumbekisthecapitalofthestateofLakes(alsoknownasBuhayrat)insouthernSudan.Rumbekhadapopulationofslightlyunder100,000in2005,andsustainedsignificantdamageduringtheconflictduringSecondSudaneseCivilWar.

GirlsPrimarySchoolisthelargestgirlsprimaryschoollocatedwithinRumbektown.Itisasprawlingmixtureofbuildingsinterchangedwithanequalinterestingmixtureofpersons,bothhumanandanimalkind,makingithardtoknowwheretheschoolstartsandfinishes,whatispartoftheschoolandwhatisnotandwhoareeitherstudentsorteachers.Theschoolwasfirstconstructedin1946bytheBritish.In2007theschoolwasdeemednolongersafeforthegirlstoboardduetoimmenseinsecu-rityofnotjusttheschoolgroundsandpropertybutalsothelocalmenenteredtheschoolgroundandproceededtorapethegirlseverynight.

Research

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Design ideas

Duringthedesignprocesswehadtoconsider-whatexactlyitmeanssafety?MaterialsdeliveredtousasadesignbriefwerewrittenaccordingtheEuropean‘style’.Doesweperceivethesafetyinthesamewayasthelocalcommunity?Dosomethingconsideredasunsafebyuscanbecalled‘safe’byAfricancommunity?

Firststageoftheprojectgatherstheideasforapproach-ingsafety.Verticalfenceasadivisionofthespacemaydeeplyinfluenceintotheperceptionofaschoolandchildrenbehind.Projectaimedtonottocreatethe‘prison’alikestructurewithathickwallofbricks.Whileresearchingprojectswhichlooksforthesamefunctions,I’vefoundthatmanydesignersdoesn’ttakethisaspectintoaccount.Almostflatanddisturbedonlywithnaturaldivisions-likebranchesofgreenery-istypicalforthatareaofSudan.

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Verticaldivisionisoneofthemostpopulartypeofthefence.Adivisionrisesupfromtheground,shapedusu-allywithmodularelements.Dependingonsafetyneedsandavailabilityoflocalmaterials,avarietyofsolutionsexist.Verticalfenceisalsoalandmark,visiblyandlogi-callydividingthespaceforhuman,animals.

Wealsoresearchamonghorizontaldivisionsasasolu-tionforgivensituation.Incontradictiontoverticalscheme,thisoneseemstobemoreopen,lessvisibleandalsolessaffectiveintothesite.Openspacefeelingcreatedbythatkingofdivisioncanbeveryvaluableinaschoolsituation.Invisiblefromadistancemakeschildrenfeellessisolatedandlessdividedfromsur-rounding.Usingdivisionselementsonagroundsurface,whichpreventslocalpeopletoaccessordisturbthechildrencouldberealisedwithlocalmaterials.Possiblesolutionscouldbeaglasstrashspreadsonthegroundinavisibleway.

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Givenassignmentwastodevelopsafetyaroundtheschoolarea.Wecarefullyshouldconsideredtypeofmaterialusedinthatsurrounding.Firstprincipleisofcoursesafetyofthegirlsinsidetheschool.Usedaroundspaceswherechildrenplayandstudy,rapidlymoves,plyingfootball.Barbedwirecouldbeharmfulinsomecases.Itbringsagoodsafetylevelbutinthesametimehasastrongconnotationswithclosedareasforprison-ersratherthangirlsimprovingthemselvesinsidetheschoolbuilding.

Wetriedtotestvarietyofbarbedwireormetalmeshfenceswhichcouldbeadjustedforsitepurposes.Dig-gingthewireunderthegroundasaexampleofland-scape/visuallycorrectdesign.Similarsolutionsusedforaveryhighqualityofdivisionfx.onthecountrybor-ders.Barbedwirecouldbealsoattachedtotheground,creatinganopenandflexiblesolutionforhighsafety.Proposalgivesanopportunitytousenaturalgrass/plantswhichgrowsonlocallateritesoil.

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Consideringalsoalandscapedesign,wheresoilisshapedinawaytoachievesufficientsafety.DevelopedinUKlandscapesolutionforhidingfenceunderthegroundmainlyforparkpurposesiscalledha-ha.Thiskindofdivisiondoesn’tdisturbstheviewfromtheinsideofthepark,couldbeusedalsoonbothwaysofstonewall,division.It’sformisverticalbutbringssomehori-zontalimprovementswhichchangesinapositivewaytheperceptionofthatfence.Solutionalsoextensiveinasoilusage-difficulttodeveloplongerfencesandalsodifficulttomanagewithunusedsoil.

Landscapedesigngivesanpowerfulopportunitieswithnatural,existingenvironment.Improvementofele-mentswhichalreadyexistsaroundtheschool-bigtrees,walkingpathsetc.coulddeliveranaddedvalue.Naturaldivisionshasalsoastrongimpactforhuman,whichonlyrecentlydarestoreshapelandscapeforhisownpur-poses.Riversbringsadifficultbutalsoverylogicspacedivision.SituationinSouthSudanisalreadyverydifficultinmanagingnaturalwaterresources.Proposinganaturalfencebringsalsodiscussionabouthowtousewaterinanappropriatewayandgainthemostforhumanbeing.

Schoolareaandplaygroundisaffectedbyandunsafe

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becauseofdozenfactors.Firstofallit’salocalcommu-nitysincetheschoolisfocusedongirlsdevelopment.Forexampleonthe17thOctober2009classroomswheresmashedinto,leavingbrokenwindowsandstolenchairs,desks.

Naturalenvironmentlikewildanimalscrossingcon-stantlyareaoftheschoolisalsoaffectinggirls.Nowlandscapeorenvironmentaldivisionprotectsfromforexamplecattlewhichpassestroughareatodrinkwaterfromlocalwatersource.

Schoolisalsoaffectedbyinsufficientandnotprotectedlatrines.Sincethey’republic,theusageoflatrinesbecomeimpossible.Lackofbasicsanitationaffectsthedailylifeofallpupils.

Classroomsareaffectedbylocalcommunitywhichdoesn’trecognisetheschoolarea.Treesareusedfordryingclothes,motorbikesandothervehiclescrossestheschoolareafromanydirection.

Site and situation analysys

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Takingintoconsiderationmaterialchoice,it’salsoneces-sarytolistdestructionfactors.Directsunlightandter-mitescouldbethemostaffectiveanddestructive.Areaisalsowindy.

Duringthedesignprocesswehadtoanalysethesite.Visiblefromthesatellitepicturenaturalpathsofpeo-plemovementshowsveryclearlythewayofusingthespace.Naturally‘grown’pathsofmovinglocalcom-munityaretakenintoconsideration.Pathsarecreatedbythereferenceorimportantpointwithintheschoolsurrounding.Typicalexamplesarepathsleadingtowatersourcepoint.Childrenhastowalkupto5minutestoreachdrinkablewaterfromtheclosestdrinkingpoint.Directionstothelocalmarketarealsovisible.Breakingormovingthisnaturallycreatedpathsmakesaresponseontheproposal.Pointswhichcrosseswithpathsmove-mentsareequippedwithgates.Differentopeningsfromthreesidesofschoolmakesitaccessiblefromalmostanydirection.Itshouldbealsomentionthatgatesshouldbeproperlyclosed/openduringthestudyhours.

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Functionanalysys:

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Functionaldivisionaroundtheschoolareacouldbealsovisible.Ringsmarkedonamapexplainsthepositionofpossiblesituatedwellinthefuture.Alsothepositionoflatrines,playgroundandopenspaceclassrooms.Thosefunctionaldivisionsinfluencesintotheshapeofdesignproposal.Byadjustingtheshapedesignproposalalsoaimsforcreatingapleasantspaceoutsidetheschool.Byadjustingtheheightofafence,functionaldivisionsbecomemorevisible.

Shadowisalsothefactor,whichcreatesfunctionalspac-esonthesite.Sincedirectsunlightisstrongandhardtoresist,peopletendstogatherundertheshadedarea.It’salsoimportanttomentionthattheshadowisaligneddif-ferentlyandhasdifferentlengthduringthedaybecauseofRumbekpositionontheglobe.Descriptivematerialsbringstheobservationthatshadowisveryshortanddoesn’tchangeit’sdirectionsremarkablyduringtheday.

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2�Shadowfromfencecreatesaspace Transparencystudies

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Conceptforaschoolprotectionisbasedonmulti-layeredandmulti-functionalschemeofaverticalfence.Differ-entlayerwhichtouchesthegroundprovidesprotectionagainstgenerallydescribed“nature”.Factorslikewildanimalsorsmallergoats,chickens,dogsordonkeys.Thislayermakesdefensivelayerfromtermitesaswell.Bushcreatedbynaturalmaterialslikeacaciaprovidessuffi-cientlevelofprotection.

Concept

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Secondlayerprovidesthe“human”protection.Alltheof-fensivepopulationneedstohaveavisiblelandscapemarkthattheschoolareaiscoveredbyprotection.Visibilityisalsoimportant-childrenhaveafeelingofbeingdifferedbutinthesametimestillwithinthecommunity.

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30Protectionofplaygroundwithchildrenvisiblearoundtheschool

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Key findings

Analysingthesiteleadsustodefinecrucialpointsofde-signproposal,whichisbasedonideaofopen-airclass-room.Webelievethatthelackofclassroomsinexistingschoolcanbesupportedbyexternalspacearrangement.Siteusageandfunctionalareasaroundtheschoolshows,thatchildrenandteachersgathersunderthetrees-formorepleasantatmospherewithoutdirectsunlight.Itseemstobeverybasicandsimple,withreferencestothebeginningsofeverycommunitydevelopment.Smallgroupofchildren,whogathersaroundthespotforedu-cationalreasonsareverybasicandsimple,yetleadingtoimprovement.Theimageofacommunityclassroomwhichexist,wherepeoplecollectinagroup,leadsusdevelopaproposalforlocalsafetyimprovement.Whatdowewanttoprotect?Onpoethiclevel-thesimplicityoftheseexternalclassrooms.

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Final proposal

Newwaysofstudyingoutsidetheclassroomlikebiologyclassesonthespotandchildrenbehaviourcreatesfunctionalspacesaroundthetrees.Shadowprovidesbetterstudyenvironment.

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lateritesoil

lateritebrick(shaped)

acaccia(againstanimals)

bamboostructure

stretchedtop(cradle)Detailed description

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Chosenmaterialfenceisbamboo,becauseofit’sflexibil-ityandlocalavailability.Usingdurable,non-toxicmateri-alsinrecycledcontent,andstructureitselfcanberecy-cled.Preservationofnaturalareasatschoolplayground.NaturalbambooisalreadyusedinRumbekforthatfencingpurposes.It’sgoodsidesinalongtermareeasymaintenanceandweatherresistibility.Properlyinstalledandassembledcanlastforlongperiod.Bambooisalsoeasytomanipulatebylocalcommunity.Byusingsimpletoolsandweaving/interweavingtechniques,it’spossi-bletocreatealargespanstructurereflectingbiologicalforms.Bamboomanagedbylocalcommunityisalsoanopportunitytostimulatejobmarket.It’sagreatbusi-nesstoprovidesustainablesafetyimprovementaroundthespots,wheresafetyiscrucialelement(school,clinic,privatehousing,localmarket).

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Shapedlikecradlemakesthefenceextendingtheshadowarea.Morespotswithbetteratmosphereim-provesstudyspace.Aligningthefenceaccordingtothesundirectionisappliedonlyaroundtheimportantspot.Structureofbambooisraisedup,gatheredontoplevel,shrinkandbend.Processofshrinkingandbendingispossibleonlybyusingnaturalmateriallikebamboo.It’selasticity,especiallyyoungandflexiblesticks,becometaughtafterexpositiontodirectsunlight.Designpropos-alexploresthatprocessofchangingthequalityofthematerialaftercertainperiodoftime.

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Onehundredtwenty-onemillionchildrenworldwide,themajorityofwhomaregirls,arenotenrolledinprimaryschool(UNICEF).Atthesametime,millionsofexistingclassroomsareinseriousneedofrepairandrefurbish-ment.Schoolsfaceintryingtoprovidesmart,safeandsustainablelearningspaces.Designproposalisusedasatooltoimproveexistingschoolarea,strengthenlocalcommunityandenlargeamountofchildrenwhichcanattendtheschoolinRumbek.Outdoorclassroomsasanewwaysofeducatingchildren.Exploringopportuni-tiesoflocallyavailablematerials-bamboo-aswellasit’suniquequalities-flexibilityandstrength.Shapeofprotectionvariesontheplancreatingorimprovingfunc-tionalspacesoutsidetheschool.Multi-layeredstructureofprotectiongivesfunctionaldifferenceswithinthestructure.Lowerpartsusedforprotectionagainstani-mals,upperstructureasavisiblelandscapemark-whichdivides,butnotisolates.

Conclusion

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Bibliography and sources

Doreleijers,W.,July2008,AppropriateArchitectureforSouthernSudanDesignandConstructionMethodfortheSolidHouseFounda-tion,TU/emasterthesis

SolidHouseFoundation,October2009,RumbekGirls’PrimarySchoolObservationsandBriefHistory

SolidHouseFoundation,2009,SudanMaterialsDatabase

SolidHouseFoundation,2010,IntroductiontoSHFinSouthernSudan,presentationbySuzanneDamman

Sinclair,C.,2006,Design Like you Give a Damn, MetropolisBooks

ArchitectureforHumanity,2008-2009,Annual report

Neufert,Ernst,2002,Architects’ Data (3rd ed.),Wiley-Blackwell

SatelliteviewprovidedbyGoogleMaps

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‘‘SAFESCHOOLINSOUTHSUDAN’’

MarcinOsiecki,2010Mentors:IrenevanPeer,ErnaBeumersCollaboration:ChiaWeiWangDesignAcademyEindhoven,TheNetherlandsLanguage:English(UK)

ThisworkislicencedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike2.5PolishLicense.Toviewacopyofthislicence,visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/pl/

Note:Thisprojectwascompiledaspartofman&Humanitymasterdegreecourse.

Moreinformationsavailableon-line:http://www.marcinosiecki.nl

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