Open Architecture Network

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Transience to Permanence: Encouraging Investment in the Slum and Slum Dwellers of Mukuru Kwa Njenga

Even though any slum dweller may view his home with a sense of detachment, with the essential hope that their residence in the slum will prove to be shortlived, unsanitary and dangerous squatter settlements persist and grow in size throughout the world. In Nairobi, conditions in such settlements are exacerbated by the government’s unwillingness to officially recognize their permanent need – a forced “transience” that has only been reciprocated by the residents, many of whom come to treat their residences much differently than if in proud ownership of their homes. Similarly, residents remain well dressed as if to separate themselves and their futures from the mud and corrugated metal that surround them.

SIDAREC recognizes the often untapped potential of these residents and works to educate and enable the community to improve its economic standing, health, and collective well-being. These programs, in their nature, demonstrate a reversal of the government’s standing in their lack of investment in the slum and its residents. Although the education provided by SIDAREC can be used to remove one’s self from the slum, its programs are also intended to encourage permanence in the slum – showing that a prosperous community can indeed be formed within the slum and not only in outside areas.

While any new structure that houses these programs would demonstrate further investment in the area, we propose that the new facility can extend beyond this. Instead of creating an entirely new structure on the site, we believe that the improvement of the existing buildings begins to speak to a different form of encouraging permanence in the area, one that suggests that all existing buildings in the slum can be improved upon and be considered a respectable home, as opposed to a design that suggests permanence can only be achieved through the removal of what exists. By effectively showing a new built form that incorporates the existing structures, we hope that such a design approach will demonstrate to visitors that corrugated metal can be a conscious aesthetic choice and that the existing structure can be used as the foundation for future improvements in their own homes.

Extending beyond this concept, the existing slum buildings can be used to help their residents sustainably manage limited resources as well – concepts that can be demonstrated in this new facility and then taught to interested members of the community. The building thus not only hosts the classrooms inside for SIDAREC’s programs, but becomes a classroom in and of itself.

In this facility, the existing buildings become the second envelope, the corrugated metal serving as the rainproof barrier that is separated by an air space from the interior walls and roof. This interior envelope, constructed using a KickStart soil block press, retains the heat that passes through the corrugated metal and releases it as the day cools. Air is allowed to pass through these envelopes, further mitigating increases in heat. This vernacular means of controlling temperature, created in part by nearby soil and small amounts of concrete, is inexpensive and can be made by residents in the community with the purchase of the press. The press, which would remain the property of SIDAREC after construction, could be loaned to members of the community if they wish to build a similar system elsewhere.

Rainwater is collected and stored in a large cistern attached to the building, with rain gardens also working to manage stormwater and treat sewage. Solar panels power the facility; composting toilets are added within the existing shipping container on site, providing fertile compost as a valuable source of income for the facility. Fruit and vegetable plants can be grown on site or even atop the shipping container to supplement the café – an addition to the existing bakery.

To accommodate the needed program space, walls have been extended from the main existing building, with corrugated metal remaining on the roof and a screen of reeds to mimic the corrugated metal on the sides of the building. The extension towards the street covers the open-air café to accommodate the relocated bakery, creating an additional source of funding for the facility to accompany computers with internet access. The main portion of the building provides space for this public access to computers, as well as the library, training center, and daycare center. These interior rooms, daylit from above to reduce energy costs, form the focus of SIDAREC’s education efforts. In addition, a moveable wall of bookcases in the library allows for a projection screen in the training center to be seen from the library for public viewing of soccer games.

The foundation of the small building on the side, now housing the offices and the bakery, would be used to accommodate the radio station and offices. With a scrolling electronic text facing the street to present news to the public, this building would be connected to the main building via an open hallway, which would then extend down the length of the main building to the medical building. A football pitch and basketball court serve as the main outdoor spaces, with the soccer field facing the relocated shipping container, doubling as a stage and the location of composting toilets.

As a result, the proposed facility not only provides spaces for SIDAREC’s various educational programs, showing investment in the slum dwellers, but it demonstrates how investment in the slum itself can bring about many valuable and promising changes.

Sources:

Neuwirth, Robert. Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World. New York: Routledge, 2006. Otiso, Kefa Mairura. The Voluntary Sector in Urban Service Provision and Planning in Nairobi City, Kenya. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 2000.