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Constructive Tradition becomes Future Design an educational and

professional training establishment in Africa Tanzania

Conference Paper · October 2015

DOI: 10.15224/978-1-63248-065-1-86

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 Proc. of The Third Intl. Conf. on Advances in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - ACSEE 2015
Copyright © Institute of Research Engineers and Doctors, USA .All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63248-065-1 doi: 10.15224/ 978-1-63248-065-1-86

Constructive Tradition becomes Future

Design an educational and professional training establishment in Africa - Tanzania
[Marina Fumo - Luisa Di Nardo]

Abstract— This paper presents the final thesis in Building with the goal of making the design as much friendly as
Engineering and Architecture of student Luisa Di Nardo that possible to the anthropogenic, cultural and technical
consist in the design of an educational and professional training environment that we are taking in interest to make
establishment in Africa - Tanzania, specifically in the town of improvement in the quality living of a population.
Pande - Bagamoyo, a town that I visited and lived in, to better These are the premises that lead to a careful and accurate
carry out the necessary investigations, thanks to the hospitality search of the place, the climate, the habits and customs of
of some compatriots now living in Bagamoyo for several years.
the people, materials, local construction techniques, the
From research and analysis carried out it emerged that the
frequent abandonment of traditional architecture in favor of provision of space, resources and issues that may be present.
Eastern and European character construction and materials The aim of the thesis was to design a school structure that
created nothing but the spread of dysfunctional construction would serve as a "hub of education and socio-cultural
and hardly suited to the African context. Plastics, concrete development" for the entire community (young and adult)
blocks and galvanized sheets make very little improvement in that inhabits the villages of Pande, Bagamoyo│Dar er
the quality living of a population that is forced to endure Salaam│Pwani│Tanzania.
temperatures and climatic conditions very different from those
of the countries from which the materials originate. Hence the
reflection on "Designing in developing countries" has II. Investigations, Constructive
originated, in order to contribute to improving the level of
environmental comfort of the environments created and traditions
therefore the quality of life of the people living in these areas by Based on data and information about the climate, the
placing, however, close attention also to safeguard the anthropic context, the place, the traditional building
characters traditional architecture. This type of design requires techniques, the resources and needs of the place and the
the need to being documented about the place and the study of material collected on the spot (August 2012), the
environment that we are taking into account with the aim of
project presents the characteristic areas of a complex school;
making the design as environmentally friendly as possible,
anthropic, cultural and technical. It is needed to research a new spaces that preserve the typical features of the traditional
reference system that interprets and meets the needs of a architecture, taking into account the number of pupils and of
population different from our own, considering it a cultural the overcrowding recorded in almost all the schools in
reality to be protected and not to be modernized at all costs. Africa (5 students for a desk); spaces appropriately thought
These are the conditions that predispose to a careful and to be adaptable and usable for extracurricular activities of
accurate research of the place, climate, customs and traditions general interest, with the ultimate goal to provide as many
of the local population, of the materials, of construction services as possible in the community that will benefit from
techniques, of the arrangement of the spaces, resources, these facilities, thus contributing concretely to the cultural
associated issues concerning the school system and the habits of
emancipation of the population and therefore to its
the students with the goal of designing an institution that can
ensure their psychophysical and environmental comfort, fully development.
respecting the character of their constructive tradition. Study Materials - the clay in short Material from the erosion of
stony material, consisting mainly of argil, if it has physical
and mechanical properties suitable for the construction, the
Keywords— investigations, design, constructive tradition, clay can be considered as the building material for
quality living excellence.It complies with the principles of sustainability
from the extraction, trough the use to the dismissing. It is a
organic material construction (with which it is possible to
Marina Fumo
Full Professor in technical architecture at University of Naples - Federico II
build artifacts respectful of human, mental and physical
Italy health, for the environment and the building traditions).
During time they have been developed and refined various
Luisa Di Nardo construction techniques, the most common, that we limit
Degree in building engineering and architecture University of Naples -
Federico II
only to mention are: ADOBE, the PISE ', the TORCHIS and
Italy BAUGES.Spread above all the world, the clay dwellings
constitute the type of houses in which about 50% of the
population on earth lives. The clay is identified also as one
of the oldest building material, in particular the use of clay
bricks, made with adobe technique dates back to 800 BC.
I. Introduction Basically this material, until now, has been used mainly by
Designing in developing countries implies the necessity to
gather information about the place and the new environment

105
 Proc. of The Third Intl. Conf. on Advances in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - ACSEE 2015
Copyright © Institute of Research Engineers and Doctors, USA .All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63248-065-1 doi: 10.15224/ 978-1-63248-065-1-86

the rural population with low incomes, but today, with the interior spaces, their organization and distribution reflects
advent of bio-architecture raw earth is experiencing a period the internal social organization of the family.
of strong appreciation, diffusion and practical utilization
also aided by the use of clay by many cutting edge architects
(i.e. Hassan Fathy, Fabrizio Carola, Martin Rauch).
The Study Of Buildings In Clay In Tanzania - building typologies
In Tanzania the clay buildings are very common. These
buildings, however, differ in size and characteristics,
depending on the region in which they are located, from the
geographical location, the climate (which varies greatly
from area to area) and the locally available resources. Most
of the traditional houses built in the regions of Dodoma,
Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga and Arusha have a rectangular Figure 1. A Wamasai house - Nyumba Ya Wamasai. The Wamasai are
Nilotic ethnic group of semi-normadic people lives in the Northern part of
shape with variable size, a total height of about 2m, one Tanzania
entrance of about 60 cm and one or two small windows. The
walls are made of bricks baked in the sun (ADOBE) and the
roofs are usually horizontal and made of the same material
composing the bricks (clay, dung, grass, straw). The brick
thickness of about 40cm tapering at the center towards the
perimeter walls in order to have a good slope for water
runoff. The roofs can also be sloping roofs gable, detached
from the perimeter walls to promote natural ventilation.
They are made with stuffed banana or palm leaves posed on
a light but resistant wooden frame. Sometimes the walls are
reinforced by wooden poles with the aim of helping the
load-bearing walls to support the weight of the horizontal or
very large roofs; In other cases the fully compose the load- Figure 2. A Kwere e Doe-Bantu house - Nyumba Ya Wakwere Wadoe.
bearing walls and the a mix of straw, dung and clay is used Communities resides in Coastal Regions of Bagamoyo and Kibaha districts
only for the completion of the walls but with the function of
thermal and acoustic insulation. In spite of the low cost and
excellent thermal and acoustic properties, these buildings
present different problems in particular related to the erosion
of the walls due to water and wind. Other problems are due
to the vegetation and the presence of termites and other
insects. Most of the structural problems concern the
foundations. They are made by a small furrow 30/ 40cm
deep from which the walls rise. These foundations often
prove not to be efficient since the erosive force of the water Figure 3. A Gogo house - Nyumba Ya Wagogo. Gogo lives in Dodoma
dig the walls for higher profundity. The erosion at the base region in central Tanzania
of the walls results in the loss of cohesion between the
parties that composes the walls and therefore their slow but III. Design
steady deterioration. The mixture of clay cannot be attached
to wood or metal permanently because basically it is a stable The school will appear as "a village within the village" in
material. Nevertheless, adobe buildings appear to be better which, all the characteristic traits of the traditional
than all those that need to respond to thermal, acoustic and architecture of the region of Pwani will be preserved and
decent quality of life at low cost. That is why we are protected with particular care to the spatial organization and
working hard on improving their technical / technological the choice of materials to ensure a good quality living. It is
making small changes but necessary to improve durability in them, in their best use, and in some technical contributes
and strength. The decking of new houses in fact, is made of by my side that we find the sense of development and
30/40 cm above the ground level in order to remove the modernity of the project in clay. Starting from the existing
stagnant water coming from the precipitations form the basis school, Shule ya Msingi│ Pande│ Bagamoyo│Dar er
of the walls. In this case the foundations are or in stone or Salaam composed of only 3 classrooms but serving
soil very constipated and in any case protected by a row of approximately 250 students and considering the data
stones; the roofs are, in the modern view of Tanzania, made collected on the Tanzanian education system, the climate
mostly with galvanized sheets resting on wooden trusses and the environment, the project was developed with the
made ad hoc; to protect the walls from water and wind a sort assumption to provide to the students the opportunity to
of plaster also made with the mixture of clay, water, straw or study in classrooms and spaces that enhance their quality of
dung is spread over the sheets. This confers proofing wall or life but at the same time respect the local building tradition
termite protection. Droppings appear to be a good binder for and the distribution of spaces according to their hierarchical
this type of dough from the construction. These houses are culture. Identified a form suitable to meet all the necessities
also being characterized by a particular arrangement of the and identified the parts that have composed the school (14
primary school classrooms , 8 secondary school classrooms,

106
 Proc. of The Third Intl. Conf. on Advances in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - ACSEE 2015
Copyright © Institute of Research Engineers and Doctors, USA .All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63248-065-1 doi: 10.15224/ 978-1-63248-065-1-86

4 laboratories, 1 president, 1 staff room, 2 reading room, 1

computer lab, 1 canteen / multipurpose room, 3 utility
blocks with 10 services each, 3 locker rooms blocks / with 8
showers each) the design has then been focused on the
spatial organization of these elements within the lot. The
Masai village, with its internal distribution, and the trade
winds were the factors that have driven the spatial
composition of the project. The sun and the rains were the
elements for which technical and technological solutions
were thought with the purpose to improve the level of
comfort of the rooms and the durability of the bearing parts. Figure 5. design, spatial organization

winds - The classrooms, consisting of a repeated module,

were all oriented in order to have the side wall, which is an
opening that allows natural ventilation, as usual, in a
direction orthogonal to North-East from where the trade
winds (regular and constant winds that blow in Tanzania
throughout the year) are blowing towards the south-west.
the sun - Exposed to continuous and significant sunlight,
given the height of the position of the sun respect to the
equator, almost perfectly perpendicular to it, Tanzania is
characterized by very high temperatures which make it
necessary to create shaded areas from the projections of the
shell for paths to facilitate the shading structures and the
removal of the rains. The roofs are capable of holding
temperatures perceived within the school environment
thanks to the double coverage ventilated. The large number
of tall trees with thick foliage already present in the lot, will
be increased by the placement of other trees properly
integrated within the environment and with the arrangement
of the classrooms, thus creating natural and effective
Figure 4. plan provided by the school guard shadows.

The Masai Village - from the trail of tradition to the design

Form the study of the spatial organization of the Masai
villages it raised a precise location of individual dwellings
within the lot on the basis of the social order of the group,
hierarchies, cultural divisions and roles. Entering the
precinct, the first house on the right is the one of the Figure 6. design, the winds
householder, followed by the one of his first wife.
Interposed between the two huts there is a second enclosure
for animals or a sort of warehouse. On the left of the
entrance instead, there is the hut of his second wife and
behind the children hut. For the spatial organization of the
school it has been followed the same principle and,
therefore, idealizing the lot in a circular shape, the building
for the presidency and the offices were set on the right of the
entrance (head of household), the classrooms of primary
school back to the offices (first wife), between the two sides
there is the dining room (warehouse, farm animals), to the
left the secondary school classrooms (second wife), and
behind them the laboratories (children). The routes of access
to the classrooms are heavy and harmonic spaces in which to
move that follow the natural but uneven expansion of the
roots made of mangrove plants. They consist of wooden
walkways raised above the ground level of about 30-35 cm, Figure 7. design, detail of coverage
as well as the buildings, in order to prevent the occurrence
of flooding during the rainy season ranging from October to the modules - The classrooms, laboratories, offices, reading
December and from March to June. room, canteen and services. The modules that constitute the
project are all made by a load-bearing wall in clay bricks, a
not plastered wall considering their thickness equal to 40cm,
set on a continuous foundation constituted by a boulder in

107
 Proc. of The Third Intl. Conf. on Advances in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - ACSEE 2015
Copyright © Institute of Research Engineers and Doctors, USA .All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63248-065-1 doi: 10.15224/ 978-1-63248-065-1-86

reinforced concrete by the variable thickness depending on bit 'stronger than steady and constant trade winds, prevents
the construction requirements, on which a flooring teak the entry of too much air that can be possibly turn said
wood is arranged, and by a system of double covering coverage.
consisting of a first inner cover corrugated metal sheet
(modernity, availability, ease of assembly, disassembly,
efficient against rains) and by a second coverage, totally
independent from the first, in breathable banana leaves
spaced apart from the metal sheet covering of approximately
30 cm, placed in such a way as to form an air chamber that
prevents or slows down the overheating of the said plates
due to the solar irradiation. The wall was appropriately Figure 9. design, the modules 3D
tailored to the size of classrooms and bricks clay.

Figure 10. Design an educational and professional training establishment

in Africa - Tanzania

Acknowledgment
Special thanks to our friends Carlo, Stella and ing.
Sapone Roberto for welcoming us in Africa

References
[1] Rubaratuka I.A. - “Improving the performance of Adobe Building
Costructions” , Departement of Structural and Costruction
Engineering University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
[2] Scudo G. , Narici B. , Talamo C. - Costruire con la terra. Napoli,
Esselibri 2001
[3] Di Nardo L. - “La tradizione costruttiva diventa futuro”. Progettazione
di un istituto scolastico e di formazione professionale in Tanzania,
Africa. Tesi di Laurea in Architettura Tecnica. Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Università di Napoli Federico II, 2013.

Figure 8. design, the modules

Authors

The canteen or even multifunctional environment, differs

from the other types of constructions that constitute the
school because of the lack of distance between the perimeter
wall, because of a double saddle roof resting on a double
warping of the wooden pillars and beams that form the
Marina Fumo Luisa Di Nardo
semicapriata. This system has been necessary to lay the two
covers that in this case due to the larger size require
intermediate supports, however, the covers are independent
of one another as in the other cases.
The internal ventilation is ensured by the open porch along
the perimeter walls of the room and by the different
inclination of the two flaps of the cover which do not lay on
a ridge line but are detached, two covers to the lectern, thus
promoting the natural ventilation by 'high. The slope
sufficiently contained the highest part of the roof and the
short distance between the two covers, in the case of wind a

108

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