“ African child is not individual. He has social and emotional bonds…” *

*Children Education Model In Africa.
Assoc.Prof.Dr.Leyla FETİHİ. İndigo Magazine, nu: 65, February 2011

GENERAL APPROACH TO DESIGN 
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As Fetihi says, African kids have strong social connections growing up learning by observing their elders and interacting with each other in a relativelyfree play environment. Educations systems that separate African kids from the above mentioned environment and routine can harm their identity formation. Hence the design is shaped according to the idea that it is not viable to house the African boy in a giant indoors structure. Smaller roofed areas are formed as individual parts attached to a canopy in the nature, hence instead of enclosing all the areas only the necessary areas are covered, circulation is transformed a semi-open space  and so in between there are enough space so kids can roam freely. This way provides a more efficient use of the limited square meters of indoor spaces, helping sound insulation between different indoor areas and by exposing the school life in the open areas the education is more transparent. And transparency is especially important in this region as in the past local people were harmed by foreigners who claimed to come to help actually, hence local people are more timid and conservative. So a more transparent school environment can help people observe the school better so they are less timid and more comfortable to send their kids.

At this point, the water well planned to have in this area is very crucial as water is a rare and most basic need of the local people. So water well can play an important role to attract people to the school, which is as important as water thanks to the education is provides. They will come closer with water well and they will build trust with it. With this aim in mind, the water well is placed in focus of these openings, and the building is expanding, rising and scaling up towards the water well. This is an image depicting that you get to water if you go through this places, this school. Thereare actually two separate occasions feeding each other; people who familiarise the school with the water well, get the water after going through the school. In furtherance,  while planning places a flow from school to garden and from garden to water well is provided. With the support of this flow for the children, it is more easy to have a visual contact with the water well which is placed on a bit lower elevation than school and garden placed and to observe the adults who come to the place to get water. Steps created between the elevation differences generate places where the children can play freely and sometimes have a class in the open field.

The shaping of the places over a plane of plan is designed in a manner that it will again direct to the well and provide different perspectives from different angles towards itself. A room enabling accommodation of two teachers when necessary, woman and man's restrooms with two cabinets, two classrooms and small storage areas connected by small wooden staircase to these classrooms are designed according to square meters.

ENSURING OPTIMAL CONDITIONS OF COMFORT

In order to provide thermal comfort in the places; air passage is allowed beneath feet of flooring by increasing these places a little bit above ground.(_1) In order to enable the circulation of natural air in the places, tears have been opened in the suspended ceiling that covers top of the places from the inside. Thus, the clean air taken through the windows will warm and the warmed air will be able to exit outside of the places from the tears in the ceiling by rising up.(_2) In order not to allow the passage of water in rainy times from these tears in the suspended ceiling, a metal roof that covers the entire body isused.(_3) This covering will cover the whole mass and a portion of the garden to create shading, and also it is designed to extend a little bit beyond these limits. Because of this extend, the building walls will be protected from both rain and sun light exposures.

In order to ensure the use of electricity in the school, on the metal roof; nano-solar cells, which are lighter than the weight of conventional solar cells, have cheaper productionand are more efficient in the energy production, will be used.(_4) Taking into consideration rather rainy winters in the region, rainwater storage systems are used. The water derived from rain; will be used in building’s closets, laboratories and be used for the irrigation of plants grown in the garden.

The building waste water will be collected in the sealed waste water wells. Emptying the wells will be provided with waste water drain pump system at various times.
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MATERIAL SELECTION

The building is designed with a simple reinforced concrete structural system and bearing masonry walls sited over singular foundations. In the main bearings and the building shell, wood use was not preferred because of the existence of the possibility of damage to the material by various parasites. Due to widely presence of the earth brick in the vicinity, they were preferred to use. The use of earth brick can reduce the cost of building, besides it provides absorbing of cold air at night and keep placescool during day time with high thermal mass capacity. Likewise in suspended ceiling covering all the places and in the volt flooring composing ground flooring, earth bricks are used.

Since windows with very large openings are not opened in order to provide thermal comfort, the amount of light absorbed can be restricted therefore suspended brick ceilings will be plastered with stucco to enlighten the places. The floors of the places will be covered with wood obtained from baobab trees in the area. This feature also contributes to a more welcoming atmosphere in the classroom. Class furniture will also be produced by using baobab tree wood to give the impression as if they are ruptured from the ground. Despite the less colorful image of the exterior of the building, various pieces of furniture, will be painted in different colors.

For these children who are not accustomed to stay in doors, in order make them to use their classrooms, a beautiful bridge will becreated by making transition from outside where only the plants give color to the hotter interior where more hotter and colored materials are used.

For water well; a particular well design is not preferred apart from the water wells already opened in this area. Because, it is found appropriate to leave these wells, which will help the people to meet with the school, in a more accustomed form that is highly known and more easily approached by more people. In the basement of semi-outdoor area in the outdoor of the places, the application of processes of ramming flat soil with local techniques and then polishing with stone are considered.

In the garden extending from water well to the building, the planting of green ground covering plants in a manner to create tears at some points through the garden is found appropriate. These plants constitute a carpet on the floor virtually. The planting of baobab of trees andacacia trees are found appropriate, as if they highlight the orientation of the building.

The preference of usage of local materials as much aspossible for the building design facilitates participation of local communitiesas well as lowering the cost of building greatly. The process which includes them in the construction of the building makes them close to the school and enables great contribution into this process.

In addition to all of these design decisions, this school is open to any intervention in which children who are the essential owner of the school can use their own creativities.