African project
Ross Langdon Health Education Centre
Ross Langdon was a young
Australian architect who, together
with his wife and unborn child,
was amongst the victims of the
Westgate Shopping Mall attacks
in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday,
September 21, 2013. Ross
envisioned the Health Education
Centre as a small pavilion,
entirely inward-looking and made
of the most basic of building
materials available in southern
Uganda. Following his death, the
client, the Cotton On Foundation,
approached Uganda-based Studio
FH Architects with the request
to complete the design and help
implement it as close as possible
to the intentions of the originator.
LEGACY IN UGANDA
T
he Ross Langdon Health Education Centre is a small
community hall located in the village of
Mannya in Rakai, South-western Uganda. It provides
space for about 150 people, sitting on simple clay tile
steps, and for a speaker, standing on a small elevated
platform. Adjacent to the hall is a room for private
meetings and a store. At the front is a walkway covered
by a pergola providing shade for informal gatherings and
relaxation.
In his short career spanning across Australia, the UK and East Africa,
Langdon left behind a multitude of designs, including the awardwinning Kyambura Lodge, all imaginatively tailored to location,
climate, materials and users, and all driven by an inexhaustible passion
for ‘Chameleon Architecture.’
The Health Education Centre was envisioned as a small pavilion,
entirely inward-looking and made of the most basic of building
materials available in Southern Uganda: eucalyptus poles as the
main structure with clay brick infills and clay tile floors. There are no
windows, and instead the building envelope filters light in various
ways; perforations in the brickwork, a gap between walls and roof, a
high-level roof vent with skylight and ‘Litres of Light’ illuminating the
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