Rwentobo School - Architect Design Report

Architect Mark Eddison from London visited Rwentobo in July 2008. A meeting took place between Mark, Rev Medad Birungi (Director of World Shine Ministries), Mr Ivan Rwendeire (Engineer on the school project) and others involved in the Rwentobo School Project. Time was spent surveying the school site, the land immediately surrounding it, and also inspecting the foundations laid last summer for the 1st phase of a block of six rooms. A review of the site plan was discussed between Mark & Ivan re changes that may be necessary to the existing layout of the proposed buildings.

The house referred to in his report was purchased two years ago; this has since been renovated and is being used as temporary classrooms & two offices. On completion of the 1st block phase of the school, the house will then be used as accommodation for some of the orphaned pupils.

The drawing up of new site plans is a most generous donation from Marks’s company to W.S.M.

Rwentobo School Design Considerations

Background:

Rwentobo is a village on the main road to Kabale or Mbarara at the start of the foothills that become the hills that surround Kabale and eventually the mountains on the southwest border of Uganda /Rwanda.

The site is rectangular - approx 108 metres by 74 metres sloping away from the boundary close to the main road and down towards the panoramic views from the north east to the south east. It is a rural location surrounded by dwellings, shops, a nursery, and other spaces yet to be developed.

The village - and hence the school - is strategically placed for development as an airport is planned a few miles away to service the tourist industry in the south west of Uganda. Once this happens the whole character of the village is likely to change with a new demand for services to support the airport and a link road required from the main road.

The site is terraced with approximately 4 levels. This terracing is common to the area and is used to farm the slopes of the surrounding hills and area.

There is an electricity supply running above ground across the site. This will have to be moved and the costs of doing so absorbed if it cannot be accommodated and gets in the way of development.

As yet World Shine Ministries (WSM) does not own the whole site, but plans to purchase as soon as possible the two highest sites closest to the road. Direct access from the main road will then be possible and all the benefits of publicity and ease of location that this will enable.

Construction of the first building on the lowest terrace on the part of the site owned by WSM has commenced with single storey footings in place. WSM also owns a building (house and yard) on the lower boundary currently used as the school for 118 pupils.

Accommodation required:

The proposed school is to be a primary school only. WSM recognizes that a secondary school will be needed but this will have to be situated on another site. The school will also be residential allowing for boarding as this will become necessary e.g. for orphans.

The rooms required in the new school are as follows:

Teaching:

• Minimum of 10 teaching classrooms – maximum of 50 pupils in a minimum room size of 35 sq metres for children of age/ability to be in nursery 1, 2, 3, primary 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Older classes will require a bigger room is possible. Some storage in classrooms would be helpful.
• Specialist classrooms including a science lab / art room / IT
• Vocational training classrooms to include tailoring / woodwork / technical drawing / agriculture with possible parallel training to mainstream teaching
• Pit latrines

Residential:

• Boys and girls dormitories with associated bathrooms (the exact numbers yet to be confirmed, this would be dependent on what the site can achieve, but as many as possible would be valuable)
• Matrons rooms (1 matron per 40 children)
• Sick bay

Common:

• Dining room for up to 550 used for assembly and performances
• Kitchen with storage, preparation area, cooking, serving area and washing up facilities
• Chapel

Staff and administration:

• Resources room / library with TV (also used by pupils and for teaching but close to staff area)
• Teaching resources store
• Staff room for up to 30 teachers
• Offices: at least for the headmaster / deputy / secretary / reception / bursar; more if possible
• As much housing as possible
• Toilets

Recreation:

• Kiosk
• Outside corrals (also used for small group teaching)
• Play areas
• Tennis court

As the site is likely to be busy and densely developed, use of local facilities will be possible but time will be lost if these are used for lessons - so as much use of space on site is necessary.

Other:

• Parking for 12 cars
• Bins storage
• Shop for sales of vocational training goods
• Water storage
• Laundry

Security:

• Boundary fence
• Guards hut by main gate

Public use:

The site is to be used by others than just pupils. In holidays, the classrooms will be available for adult literacy courses; the dining room and chapel available for hire (e.g. functions like weddings) and vocational training may be going on in parallel to the main teaching programme. The resources room with books and TV is also likely to be in demand by outsiders so careful control of access, location on site, privacy to boarders, and ongoing security will be a physical as well as managerial consideration.

Proposed layout:

The plan of the site is predicated on the following considerations:

1. Existing building: this should be retained as the investment has already been made. It can be extended or adapted internally in plan if necessary but not demolished. Its foundations are suitable for a single story building but they could be strengthened for another floor if necessary.

2. Terraces: the natural way to develop the land is to use the levels of each terrace for each block. To build against the slope of the land will add cost and make the detailing of the buildings harder. Terracing is understood and could act as a visual teaching aid.

3. Organizational structure: there needs to be some way to organize the site so it can be orientated simply and easily understood. In this case a street running down through the site from main entrance closest to the road, connecting to the existing house at the other end of the site and linking the different levels of terraces is the best way to do this with all the parts of the site easily found and accessed from this ‘street’.

4. Phasing: the plan needs to acknowledge that all its constituent parts are unlikely to be built at once and some facilities cannot sensibly be built in their final form (e.g. dining room) till the site is up to full capacity. Buildings as they develop need to be flexible to be used as say offices before they are used as classrooms. Larger spaces also need to be considered as for example the chapel might start as a smaller dining room before being used in its final form as a place of worship.

5. Views: the views from the site are one of its main assets and need to be exploited as much as possible. Terracing will help views to be retained over buildings lower down the site.

6. Chapel: the site is likely to be unable to sustain two large spaces if the chapel has to be used to accommodate the same numbers in the school as the dining room. As the dining room can be used for assemblies the chapel could be smaller and its position made at the heart of the school underlying the values of the school.

7. Wheelchair access: as it is likely legislation will come in the near future requiring mobility access to the facilities on site some route to enable level access with reasonably graded ramps needs to be built into the routes around the site and able to cope with the difference in level from top to bottom

8. Space between buildings: there needs to be some way to maximize space between buildings for recreation and amenity as the site is a tight one.

9. Control of public use: this can be helped by careful positioning of facilities so the public do not need to go through the heart of the site to reach them. These facilities need to be zoned in some way and close to the entrances