Womens' Health Care Centre by FARE
There is so much to learn from this Women's Health Care Centre in Burkina Faso by FARE Studio. It just won the Health Category Award at the World Architecture Festival.
It mixes local materials, simple technologies, careful siting and control of sun and wind to build an off-grid, solar powered facility.
The entire complex is built on a raised platform to allow ventilation under and to separate it from the dust and mud. Then the buildings are constructed from a sun-dried brick cast on site.
The bricks don't do well in contact with a lot of water, so they sit on the raised plane for protection from below, while above, a sun and water screen protects the buildings.
Breezes can flow below the floor and below the roof, keeping the buildings cooler without mechanical ventilation. The roof also gathers rainwater.
The buildings are plastered and painted, with slogans in five languages as a graphic element.
It was built with local trades in fifteen months. More at ArchdailyArchitects: FARELocation: Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoProject Architect: Riccardo VannucciProject Team: Giuseppina Forte, Joao Sobral, Erika Trabucco & Emanuela ValleSite supervision: Erika Trabucco, Joao SobralClient: AIDOS [Associazione Italiana Donne per lo Sviluppo] Voix des FemmesFinancial Promoters: Partito dei Democratici di Sinistra, European CommissionDesign Year: 2005Construction Year: 2006-2007Site Area: 1,600 sqmConstructed Area: 500 sqmBudget: US $267,067Photographs: FARE
