Flor Da Manha | Mozambique Preschool Competition

“Archstorming’s new competition takes us to Mozambique, a country where 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. This difficult economic situation, most severely affects the situation of children.
Frequently, the lack of financial resources is a significant barrier to the enjoyment of their fundamental rights. They experience many problems; such as the inability to access school, health-care, and housing…”

“In this competition, we will help Assa, a Mozambican teacher, build a center for children with disabilities and affected by social exclusion, with the help of the Estamos Juntos Initiative and the NGO Somos del Mundo.” 

BRIEF:

Educate: create a place where kids can start their educational journey. Make them feel like home by designing a space where they feel comfortable. Build kid-friendly spaces that are completely safe for them, a school where they can learn, play, run, and discover.
Integrate: since this school will accommodate disabled children and kids in social exclusion, it is fundamental to work in their integration in society. We can help them through architecture by creating adapted spaces where they don’t feel rejected. A dynamic school where they can interact with each other and the surrounding environment.
Be Sustainable: the projects will have to use locally sourced materials, easy to build constructive systems, and should be self sufficient in energy terms. They have to be respectful with nature in order to teach the kids the proper way to interact with their natural environment..

OUR PROPOSAL:

The Interactive School: Learning and functioning in society can be a great challenge to a child with special needs. Designing a school that brings children together and yet allows them to receive age and ability appropriate education is the main objective in our proposal. As part of this objective, we are seeking to create an environment that encourages learning though interaction with the natural elements a child encounters daily. The school consists of five separate buildings arranged around a main courtyard and interconnected through a multifunctional ‘butterfly roof’ system. Each building is separated by function, social, and interactive need, as well as proximity to utility systems. Entry into the compound is through an open space, which provides views past the various buildings and sensory walk to the orchard and ball field at the rear of the property.