Earth School

The Senegal School project in Cafuentin was designed around specific themes such as equality, preservation of existing site trees, cost-effectiveness, construction methods, and phased construction.

In Senegal, villages were formed around trees because of the myths surrounding the baobab tree in their culture. This inspired the idea of forming school spaces around the existing site trees, which was a direct response to one of the pillars of the competition: preserving the trees. The formation of spaces around the trees also symbolically referred to the theme of unity, which was one of the design concepts.

Initially, a two-meter offset was created around the trees to preserve their roots. Once the space required for tree preservation was determined, an attempt was made to define the exact geometry of the form. Two circles with a radius of 8 meters were created around the central trees of the site. To provide the required area for the yard and playground, a third circle was added to the composition for this purpose. Based on the defined geometry, circular spaces were formed around the courtyards, which eventually connected to one another to create a unified form.

After the initial massing was created to establish the general form of the school, a triangular shape was used to form the roof and walls, according to the building typology as well as the climatic conditions. This allowed the roof and walls to be integrated into a continuous form.

To provide access to the inner courtyards from outside the site, the integrated form was opened at three points to establish these connections. To create circulation routes, two movement paths were considered along the inner and outer walls, one of which was dedicated to a ramp for people with disabilities.

Within the three separate spaces created, the required spaces and general areas were organized according to the competition requirements, which called for the project to be implemented in five phases.

To simplify the construction method and improve cost-effectiveness, an attempt was made to use locally available materials such as wood and straw, while adopting a simple construction method.

The open spaces around the school within the site were allocated to agricultural areas, reflecting the importance of agriculture in the region and its educational value for students. To supply water to these areas, rainwater management and its efficient use were incorporated into the design.