The Democratic Republic of Congo lies in the heart of Africa. It used to be a Belgian colony, now it has been independent since 1960. Despite richness in material resources, country’s economy has suffered from a serious lack of organisation – the political upheavals, war and disease are rocking the country.
Ethnic tensions and fights between rival army fractions unease life of civilians in the eastern province of North Kivu. As a result of the crisis, there is a huge amount of orphans and street children. Taking advantage of their vulnerability, adults employ street children in hazardous child labour and deliberately recruit them in political demonstrations.
In order to educate, feed and protect these young human lives, several missionary centres have been established. On the initiative of Mr. Danilo Lisjak, the Slovenian missionary in Goma (North Kivu), a new missionary centre is being planed on the former Belgian plantation called Shasha, which is now in hands of Salesinas of Don Bosco.
SITE:
The Shasha plantation spreads on 253 ha at the northwest coast of the Lake Kivu. It is surrounded by high mountains. The land is arable (banana and coffee plantations) with fresh water in the stream. There are some ruins of the old colonial house, warehouses and terraced garden on the plateau. They all need to be renovated and repaired.
CONSUMERS AND PROGRAMME:
The new missionary centre has two types of consumers: children and stuff (teachers, missionaries, volunteers). According to that, the programme is divided into two parts. Each group needs to be granted a sleeping area (bedrooms) with some private exterior space (atrium). What is left is common area (classrooms, dining hall, chapel) and service (kitchen, lavatory…).
CONCEPT:
The centre is designed by observing the space around. There has been obtained a pattern language in local, colonial and missionary architecture. In the project are used the most expressive and essential elements, such as: courtyards, shipping containers, corrugated sheet iron, vents, concrete blocks, metal... The main goal is to use cheap materials and local technology to build architecture that would respond to the local climate, habits and environment.
The centre is composed largely of exterior spaces and relies heavily on natural ventilation. Courtyards are important in Congolese domestic architecture, so the volumes are organised around a series of courtyards.
The roof overhangs the building creating shaded areas and preventing the rooms underneath from gaining heat. Cooling and ventilation are provided by its double roof structure – the concrete ceiling isolates the building from hot air circulating above. A gutter encircling the atrium collects rainwater from the roof and atrium surface. Vegetation cools down the atrium.
CONSTRUCTION:
The project employs traditional skills and craftsmanship of the locals. Buildings are designed without any need for imported materials. The new building is constructed in reinforced-concrete column beams, wall are made of concrete blocks. Metal windows and doors are all welded together in missionary’s metal workshop in Goma. It is the fact that materials in Africa are pretty expensive, so we decided to use R-trusses to construct the roof (R-truss = two T-profiles welded together wit a curved steel rod). This kind of construction requires more labour, which is cheap in Africa, and consumes less material, that is expensive. At the ground level, between the classrooms shipping containers are incorporated.
