The ambition of the project is to deliver high quality learning environments for the Rumi Schools of Excelelnce situated in high density urban area in low-income communities. Demand has led to the need to turn existing buildings into schools. The result is poor teaching environments, little to no daylight, poor ventilation and acoustic separation. Rigid, overcrowded classrooms with inadequate learning and teaching aids further contribute to an environment unsuitable to learning. Our design philosophy focuses on the “Total Design” concept which aims to involve all professional design and engineering disciplines from the outset of the assignment. Our design team for this competition involved professionals in architecture, lighting, mechanical and structural engineering.

Our design solutions have been sourced from concerns of environmental, social and economic sustainability. We have centred our response with a series of design strategies across all these scales that do not rely on imported goods but locally sourced manufactured materials in order to encourage local capacities to grow. Use of natural lighting and ventilation systems which are our central design drivers, lead to cost effective and sustainable building systems. Our design proposals are sensitive to local and traditional architectural solutions. The result is a series of affordable changes that can be easily replicable for communities with minimal environmental impact.

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