SEN801

Momentary association

Programme: The programe involves the building of 3 vocational training centers, each of them with an average capacity of 400 people in 3 separate towns: Goudiry, Bounkiling and Sédhiou, located in Casamance, Senegal. The challenge was to create 3 comfortable, flexible and benevolent vocational training centers that would be economical from the point of view of maintenance and upkeeping, far from the big cities. The project is part of a strategy to create and strenghten professional sectors in Senegal.

About: As part of the fight against economic migration from Africa, Europe releases budgets, part of them being allocated to promote and develope economic activity in the ares affected by migration. Assisted by Luxembourgish cooperation, the contracting authority is the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training in Senegal. The project itself was designing 3 training centers with the purpose of stimulation, promotion and sustaining economic activity in rural areas- while integrating a bioclimatic approach and the principle of low carbon, both being present in the construction and operation of the centers. A sistematic approach has been applied to the three sites: an identical construction scheme based on 6 architectural principles that we have previously defined: CONTEXT, ROBUSTNESS, MODULARITY, SIMPLICITY, RENEWABLE ENERGY, BIOCLIMATE. This global approach made it possible to anticipate the constraits of use, operation, maintenance and deconstruction. The main idea that guided the design was the reinterpretation of the rainwater collecting area. It is a typical Senegalese earthen building with an open roof, allowing the circulation of rainwater and heat, thus offering natural air conditioning. The projects are defined by a slab and a roof. The large overhanging roof offers both protection and comfort. This symbolic form allows future users and locals to identify the centers.