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Malawi Schools

JMP’s pro bono Malawi Schools project was set up by the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative, and has now been adopted by the Ministry of Education as the design model for rural schools in one of the world’s least developed and most densely populated countries. The design created a school format for 170 children that can also be used in other ways by local communities, and achieved four key aims: use of locally sourced buildings materials, simple construction by local builders, significantly improved internal light and ventilation, and a construction cost no higher than that of existing schools - £15,000.

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The orientation of the schools in relation to sun-paths and local prevailing winds, are key to the design and construction of individual schools. The schools’ design not only had to produce greatly improved internal light levels, better ventilation, and cooler temperatures, but also be configured so that the buildings could be used out of teaching hours as a meeting or activity point by local communities in rural areas. The brief therefore required a school format that could be built using mostly locally available materials and by local people.
 
The aim was also to increase local skills and, by using common secondary species of timber rather than commercially valuable stock, mediate Malawi’s significant deforestation problem.
 
JMP worked with engineers Arup to establish design criteria based on accurate local thermal and solar data to reduce current schoolroom temperatures by around 3°C. The first building type to be deployed has two classrooms, divided by a teaching courtyard, under a lifted and inclined clerestory roof with a large overhang on the sunnier side. The clerestory void lets light and air in, improving cross-ventilation at a high level to cool the underside of the roof.
 
The schools’ central linking terraces, with double doors to classrooms on either side, are flanked by shaded spaces at either end. This creates five teaching spaces, and community-use terraces for multi-use.
  • Type

    Buildings

  • Sector

    -

  • Location

    Malawi, Africa

  • Description

    -

  • Client

    Clinton Hunter Development Initiative

  • Size

    25,000 sq ft

  • Cost

    $25,000 per school

  • Team

    John McAslan + Partners, Architect
    Arup, Multi-disciplinary Engineer

  • Status

    Completed 2010

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