Country and hazard overview
CASE STUDY
Sustainable design: Building
from the ground up
Country: Republic of Ghana
Organisation: Sabre Charitable Trust,
Arup International Development
Hazards: High winds, earthquakes, extreme
temperature
Keywords: environmental sustainability,
functionality, research, building trust, Ghana
Summary: Sabre Charitable Trust and Arup
International Development incorporated local
building materials and design preferences into
kindergartens for Central and Western Ghana,
paying special attention to sustainability principles.
Through prolonged research and community
interaction, the team created a design that used
both modern preferences for concrete and local
materials to create safer schools.
With a rapidly growing population, Ghana’s education sector
has struggled to keep pace with demand. Nearly 30,000
public sector classrooms are in need of major repair and
the country has a shortage of nearly 10,000 kindergarten
classrooms.
In the country’s decentralised system, the process of
constructing schools often begins with a community parent
teacher association (PTA) or elder petitioning the district
assembly or district line ministry. The government body
will then seek funds for construction, either from their own
coffers or by identifying a development actor willing to fund
or even oversee a school construction project.
Communities typically contribute to the building of public
schools, providing in-kind labour, materials, or cash to
support a hired contractor. Community elders may also
attempt to monitor construction to ensure contractors meet
contractual obligations, but safety remains a concern given
the technical nature of construction.
One common problem is when the contractor fails to
properly attach roof trusses to the building frame. Many
schools have lost their roofs when high winds blow across
the region; similar damage can result from seismic tremors
present in the south of the country.
School construction:
Incorporating sustainability
principles into design
In the design process, the first step was in-depth research
about vernacular design and the local construction skills.
The design team ensured the materials were not just local,
but also readily available, even checking in the local markets
to see first-hand what was for sale. They also aspired to
‘build from the ground up’, meaning they were literally
attempting to pull resources from the earth and incorporate
them into the school building.
SECTION III: DESIGN
In 2008, Sabre Charitable Trust teamed up with technical
experts from Arup to design and construct safe, affordable,
replicable, maintainable and environmentally sustainable
kindergarten buildings that met the needs of communities
living in the central and western regions of Ghana.
When local building practices and conventional materials
were not likely to produce a safe building, the team turned
Innovative façade made using pivoting bamboo shutters to allow optimum amount of natural light and ventilation. Photos: Arup & Sabre Trust.
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