project with: PATRIZIA KinderHaus-Stiftung

intention: first kindergarden for the children of Kipili

location: Kipili, Tanzania

status: under construction

team: Team Tanzania III

At Lake Tanganyika, we are currently building the first kindergarten in the village of Kipili. Spacious outdoor areas, differently segmented gardens and the surrounding rain green dry forest will become important components of the social project, where the children can gain experience, enjoy education, play and learn together.

On the property of the 'African Benedictine Abbey of Mvimwa’, which is located on the outskirts of Kipili, the sisters of the institution will independently manage and operate the facility once completed.

The individual houses of the institution are based on the large children's drawing competition in which over 500 children from Kipili and the surrounding area participated. The selected children's drawings are considered the crucial conception, so the children themselves become the designer of the houses.

In total, the kindergarten consists of ten houses, each defined by its function and by its local, ecological and enormously underestimated material. Group rooms, crèche, dormitory, refectory, kitchen, office, sanitary facilities and a very long slide into the world's second deepest lake form the circular ensemble.

At the center of the circle is the elevated focal point from which each children's house can be seen, creating a 360-degree building exhibition.

Starting from the focal point to the entrance, the circulation area continuously expands in width, flowing fluidly in its movement to the exterior and segmenting the landscape into different themes. This analogy of a snail shell served as a formative factor in the planning.

Despite their large area, the ensemble of children's houses is covered by a light-acting roof structure to provide an unobtrusive framework for the canon of individual buildings.

WORKFLOW

SKETCHES