SCHOOL OF LIGHT

A school is a safe haven for school children and teenagers, particularly in the context of Africa. School of Light is a project that strives for the making of a place with a sense of belonging and ownership for the children and teenagers who do not just consider it as a place to study, but an integral part of their life and part of their neighborhood.

Schools that are currently built are often dark, isolated from the outside, overcrowded and use building materials that do not engage with traditional building methods. School of light is a project that embraces and maximize light intake of the classroom and uses reused and traditional building materials. Through the use of readily available materials and reused materials, material cost is saved to construct a larger classroom with more generous space where an abundance of light comes through the glass bottle ‘light wall’. Each classroom also has an outside component ‘open class’ where instruction can take place outside the classroom. This informal space also becomes a flexible program space for children and teenager after-school and can be arranged differently for different functions. Engagement of the space by children and teenager is the goal.

_LIGHT WALL_
Glass is an expensive and luxurious material in the context of rural Uganda. “Light Wall” is a concept to flip this preconceived notion and utilize used glass bottle as a cheap light transmitting material that can be easily stacked and built like brick with mortar. Preliminary lighting analysis shows that with the additional of light wall, accompanied with the geometry of the proposed design, “school of light” out-performs traditional classrooms four-fold in terms of daylight intake. The geographical location of Uganda near equator also allows the “Light Wall” to be facing either north or south for diffuse daylighting.

_OPEN CLASS_
“Open Class” is the outside component of the school. Each classroom, through the donation or salvage of used tires, has an exterior seating component with no additional construction cost. With weather permitting, this “Open Class” could expand a teacher’s tool and diversify a child’s learning experience. For example an English teacher can arrange the tires in a different way to hold small group discussions. The covered area outside the light wall could also become a stage for an informal drama, with the tires arranged in rows as seats. The possibilities are endless.

_TRADITIONAL MATERIALS_
[Thatch Roof]
Traditional thatch roof is used rather than corrugated aluminum based on three reasons. The first is that under rain condition, corrugated aluminum roof presents a detrimental noise problem that severely affects instruction. The second is the embracing of traditional craft and culture of thatch roof construction in Uganda, something that is valuable for children and teenagers to understand as part of their culture. The third is the lower cost, even though more labor is involved.

_REUSED MATERIALS_
[Reused Glass Bottles]
There is an abundance of precedents of using glass bottles as construction for walls. Through donation or salvage of glass bottles, or even sponsorship from beverage manufacturers, material cost can be saved to construct a school of better proportions and spatially more generous.
[Reused Tires]
Tires could be arranged creatively as seats to cater for different needs with no material cost. They could also be used as planting beds for small trees that can be placed within the school compound.

Location