During our recent assessment trip, our dedicated team visited the Dezi Community School. We assessed their current facilities, conducted soil tests, and engaged in heartfelt interviews with students and community members. What became clear was that the existing structure is simply not enough for the students, with only two classrooms available.

After the trip, we conducted an Architectural Workshop, where members began the design process. EWB-IIT had help from Christner Architects licensed architects and engineers. We used notes and surveys gathered during our assessment trip to develop 3 alternatives for the project that would address the scope of the project.

We continuted to develop these alternatives throughout Project Team meetings, producing basic plans, elevations, and axonometric drawings in an organized layout to send to the community.

After surveying and recieving feedback from the community through a zoom call, we selected Alternative 2 to continue to develop.

The next phase was development of our chosen alternative. Each project meeting we itterated the design, communicating with our mentors, peers, and the community along the way. After extensive evaulation we decided a one-story design would be most practical and economical. Additionally, a one-story design allows us to develop the project in two phases. 

The first phase will produces 2 buildings (4 classrooms total). The second phase gives future EWB-IIT members the ability to learn from the phase one design process in order to produce a third and fourth building.  

The chosen structural system consists of wooden trusses, concrete ring beam and concrete columns. Mud bricks will be used for the exterior facade which the community will make. Concrete paths will also be added for circulation and a central entrance. EWB-IIT is partnering with the local non-profit, Uganda Water Project (UWP), to complete the water collection system. Water will be collected off of our corrugated metal roofs into a gutter system that leads to the UWP water tank design. 

During phase 2 EWB-IIT members will add two more buildings (2 classrooms each), rotated to further enhance the courtyard and campus design. Paths are added to complete the circulation, as well. This orientation is critical for the students and educators, because it encloses the students into a safe space that makes it easier for the teachers to watch over them. 

We began this phase of the project with a series of two structural workshops, where we learned and applied knowledge of structural calculations to develop our concrete column and wood truss systems. 

The first structural workshop was held remotely with the assistance of Christner Architects. Here, students and professionals addressed air venthilation and lighting through architectural desing. Window, door and roof designs were evaulated to maximize air circulation for sanitation and cooling purposes, as well as proper lighting throughout the year.

Once a roofing design and building footprint was chosen, began our structural calculations phase of the project. At this time we utilized SAP 2000 to evaluate our designs of trusses, beams, columns, and footings. Additonally, we manually caluclated each element as learned in classes such as CAE 304 (Structural Analysis I), CAE 307 (Concrete Structures I), CAE 432 (Concrete Foundations), CAE 457 (Geotechnical Foundations) and many other relevant classes taught at IIT.

We are in the pre-implementation stage of the project and are preparing to start the building process in August 2025. 

The Pre-trip plan consists of our plan and scope for the project, the alternatives we considered, information about the community and local partners, and an analysis of the site and implementation process.

The Construction safety plan is a report detailing possible hazards and steps to mitigate them for easy use during project implementation.