THE GRACE HOPE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, MADINA, ACCRA, GHANA
The Hope International School is the first project as part of Modular Africa, a joint collaboration between award-winning non-profit, Groundwork Opportunities (GO) and San Francisco-based design collaborative, SAAT Architecture (founded by Christopher Haas, Brett Terpeluk and Peter Strzebniok).
Together with GO, SAAT is developing the framework for a modular system of easily constructible “modules” that can serve as inexpensive schools, vocational centers, hospitals and community centers in the developing world.
The design of the new classroom module responds to a series of critical climatic issues; extreme heat, poor ventilation and darkly lit learning spaces. The design of the module’s roof volume and its large opening acts to purge heat by creating a stack effect from abundant low-level cross-ventilation, while simultaneously allowing diffuse, bounced light into the classroom space.
The modules are built with locally sourced sustainable materials; walls are easily assembled from cementitious lego-like blocks of local Pozzolana cement, roof framing built in bamboo and roof panels are corrugated metal.
The nursery school is slated to open in summer of 2013 and GO is already sharing the modular design with their other partners across the developing world.
To learn more about, or to support the project, please follow the link to www.groundworkopportunities.org
