Comment of the Holcim Awards 2005 Jury for Africa Middle East
The work is worthy of distinction in that it convincingly calls for a vision of community self-sufficiency. Most notable is the effort to catalyze sustainable livelihood in the region. Fostering environmental stewardship, the project is intended to serve as a specimen case study in ecologically sound construction practices for the region, especially in terms of tectonic principles and material choices that are responsive to socio-economic needs of a vulnerable culture.
The project is also significant in that it promotes the creation of new jobs and skills transfer throughout the local population, thereby empowering the community’s decision-making capacities to improve the quality of life. A sensitive ethical position is thus forwarded, one that emphasizes collectively driven design processes. Contextually, the selection of indigenous materials as well as strategies for addressing passive thermal control and day lighting have yielded a design which can be constructed, operated, and maintained by the community with minimal external, technical interventions.
Provisions for water conservation waste facilitation, as well as rainwater harvesting are among other outstanding achievements of a scheme that promises to greatly enhance the vitality of local culture and the environment.