Women’s House

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View on the ornamented facade. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

Place: Senegal, municipality of Baghere.
Status: architectural concept (competition).
For: Kaira Looro architectural competition.
Date: 2021.
Architects: Ivan Tolstikov, Lena Mironova, Adriana Silva Zobacheva, Julia Odintsova, Kseniya Rakova.

View from the public space. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

Description

Design idea
The community center consists of several parts: exhibition, management, organization, library and collective activities. Gathered around the central part, which is a place for dialogue (the forum), they form a star-like structure, open to the space around.
The main idea is to express openness and local culture through the use of folk ornaments, originating in boats and clothes. The main feature that shows creativity and character most vividly is colour.
Colour is movement, emotion; it depicts songs, dances, the freedom of human will. It is one of the ways African women express themselves, the most significant way.

Use of materials
Straw, Sheet metal corrugated, Red clay, Cement, Clay Brick, Fabric, Wood.
Steel nails, nuts, strings and other fixing materials to be detailed in the next design stages.

Mounting/construction process.

The construction process is divided into 3 main stages, according to the architecture plan. Please see the plan for details.

Main plan. Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

Construction process is simple enough: the main bearing structure are wooden frames (bamboo also could be used instead). Those frames have two fixing belts in the upper part. Between those two, there is a set (“a ribbon”) of fabric triangles, which are put on metal strings (which fasten the upper fixing belt). Those triangles are used to dissolve direct sun rays and also to enforce the convention in the upper belt.

Section. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

There is a water collection facility underneath the central part.

Axonometry. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

Exploded scheme. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

View on the public semi-open communication space. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

View on the semi-open gallery. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.

View on the inner street. / Women’s House in Senegal. Kaira Looro architecture competition.