Solar panels provide all the energy necessary to power this colourful brick dormitory designed by architect Louise Braverman to house healthcare employees at a rural village in Burundi, Africa .
The Village Overall health Works Staff Housing accommodates an 18-bed dormitory for the healthcare workers of a health-related centre in the 16-hectare village of Kigutu. It was made by New York-based Louise Braverman as component of a wider masterplan for the region.
Associated story: Education centre in Rwanda constructed from brick and wicker by Dominikus Stark Architekten
The constructing was constructed from locally made bricks, interspersed with a mixture of timber cladding and brightly coloured panels.
A single of the specifications was for a creating with a self-adequate energy supply, as the village has no electricity connection. As a outcome, the block generates its personal solar-powered electrical energy and is partially embedded in a hillside to use the earth as a natural insulator.
On the hillside to the rear of the creating, a row of solar panels heat tanks that give the creating with its only hot water supply.
Braverman hopes the building will become a model for sustainable improvement in the region. “Sustainability is not an added benefit in Kigutu. It is a necessity,” she stated.
Other sustainable initiatives include a corrugated roof that delivers sun shading across a walkway at the front of the block, although french drains – a kind of trench filled with gravel – channel rainwater away from the roof to irrigate the land.
Bedrooms are arranged two by two, with a row of rooms at the lowest level of the website and a additional row situated greater up the slope. Each and every area has windows on three of its walls, channelling air via the spaces.
Stairwells cut amongst every single duplex are painted vivid colours, contrasting with the light coloured brickwork. The measures lead to balconies that provide residents view of the mountainous terrain.
“The porosity of the porches encourages sociability, enhances airflow into the adjacent sleeping rooms, and frames unobstructed romantic transverse views of the landscape,” added Braverman.
The building angles out at 1 finish to also create a communal living area and kitchen for the residents.
Photography is by Iwan Baan.
Project credits:
Design and style principal: Louise Braverman
Design group: John Gillham, Jing Liu
Structural engineer: Liam O’Hanlon Engineering
Plumbing engineer: Plus Group Consulting Engineers
Construction management: Curtis Bertrand, Roy Greenwald, Matt Krupanski, Astere Niyonkuru
Global procurement: Gam Kagan
Web site program – 
Ground floor strategy – 
Initial floor strategy – 
Bedroom ventilation concept –
Dezeen
