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Eco Village
Vikindu, Tanzania
Specialist openings design with Otis
Sloan Brittain (lead architect Simmonds Mills)
Educational / social
iHelp
Under construction
07.2021 -
XXm2
Can the design of a window integrate elements such as security, airflow, privacy, mosquito screening and natural light?
Established in 2012, the Children’s Eco Village aims to give orphaned children in Tanzania a better and brighter future while promoting practices that are sustainable and environmentally conscious. Located in the Mkurunga district south of Dar es Salaam, the Eco Village aims to demonstrate to the local and wider community that it is possible to live and learn comfortably with a low carbon lifestyle. iHelp’s brief to Simmonds Mills included master planning for the site, more and better-performing living accommodation for the children, new educational facilities, and on-site accommodation for a head teacher and the farm manager.
The overall design of the project was inspired by the work of West African architect Francis Kere, as illustrated in the book ‘Radically Simple’, the team progressed designs while applying their low energy and passive house design experience to maximise efficiency and comfort — but responding to the ‘cooling climate’ of Tanzania rather than the ‘heating climate’ of the UK.
Windows:
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Privacy
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Security
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Insect mesh
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Airflow
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Natural light
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Robust
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Design feature
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Locally available technology
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Sun screening
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Respond to the demands inside the building


