CLIENT : The Swawou Foundation LOCATION : Kenema , Sierra Leone ARCHITECTS / LEAD DESIGNER : Orkidstudio PROJECT DIRECTOR : James Mitchell SITE TEAM : Andrew Perkins , Kirsty Cassels , Paul Elliott , Spencer Fretwell , and the local community STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS : StructureMode FLOOR AREA : 1 000m 2 PHOTOGRAPHY : Peter Dibdin
African project Swawou School for Girls – Sierra Leone
Two years ago , in February 2014 , Orkidstudio broke ground on a new girls ’ school in Kenema , in the eastern region of the country , employing as many as seventy men and women from the local community each day . The Swawou Foundation sought to provide extensive new learning facilities for up to 120 young girls from the local area . Set up in 2009 by Ahmed Jaward and Kirsty Wood , it was the only school in the area that did not allow corporal punishment , and is producing young girls with confidence and intelligence unparalleled elsewhere . The building was voted the ‘ best school in Sierra Leone ’ on a national radio station before it even had a roof on .
Yet , just four weeks from completion , and with the final roof sheets still uninstalled , progress was brought to a halt and the site was closed as the first confirmed cases of the Ebola virus hit the region . Even then , misguided rumours of witchcraft , curses and political playmaking were in circulation . This period was characterised by mixed feelings of fear and confusion , nobody really knew how to protect themselves let alone understood what was going on . Sierra Leone ’ s last horror , the civil war which erupted in 1991 and lasted some eleven years , was still a recent memory for many of its people and despite continued political corruption and crime , the country was at peace and trying hard to better itself . Already one of the world ’ s poorest nations , Sierra Leone is now faced with further social and economic suffering as a direct result of Ebola .
The number of recorded deaths exceeded 11 000 across West Africa before the region was declared Ebola free . Yet , what role can architecture play in the aftermath of such a crisis ? Architects have often found a clear cause for intervention when faced with natural or man-made disasters , helping rebuild fallen towns and cities or offering up solutions to populations displaced and without shelter . However , when the disaster itself is formless , with an invisible threat of devastating proportions , is there any role at all that architecture can play ?
The Ebola epidemic may not have torn down buildings or left people without a home , yet the extent of social and economic reconciliation that it has left in its wake is vast . In January 2016 work resumed on the school building which had become badly overgrown with weeds and long grasses . Following many new
PROJECT TEAM
CLIENT : The Swawou Foundation LOCATION : Kenema , Sierra Leone ARCHITECTS / LEAD DESIGNER : Orkidstudio PROJECT DIRECTOR : James Mitchell SITE TEAM : Andrew Perkins , Kirsty Cassels , Paul Elliott , Spencer Fretwell , and the local community STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS : StructureMode FLOOR AREA : 1 000m 2 PHOTOGRAPHY : Peter Dibdin
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