Studio Msasani
Parallel design studio Hasselt University (BE) – Ardhi University (TZ)
2016-2017
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Beautifully located at the Indian Ocean, the popular city quarter of Msasani Bonde La Mpunga is faced with multiple challenges: flooding, exclusiveness, density and economic viability, to name a few. The studio explores spatial concepts that transform its challenges into opportunities, whilst creating places of contemporary identity that carry within them all facets of a durable future: social, spatial, economic and environmental.
GARDEN OF WONDERS
Jolien BosmansDecoding the flooding by writing an urban strategy for the river
Garden of Wonders reverses the negative impact of flooding by creating a wetland park. A series of small scale interventions bring the beauty of water close to its visitors and trigger wonder and admiration for its presence.
Keywords: flooding, pavilion, wood, park, public space, empowering, water,research, awareness, energy production
Garden of Wonders reverses the negative impact of flooding by creating a wetland park. A series of small scale interventions bring the beauty of water close to its visitors and trigger wonder and admiration for its presence.
Keywords: flooding, pavilion, wood, park, public space, empowering, water,research, awareness, energy production
AQUALIBRIUM
Sander LambrixFinding balance in a hectic city
Aquilibrium is an architectural space of tranquility to escape the hectic city, It captures and purifies the floodwater to use it as a precious resource for the community.
Keywords: flooding, public space, oasis, purifying, meeting, leisure
Aquilibrium is an architectural space of tranquility to escape the hectic city, It captures and purifies the floodwater to use it as a precious resource for the community.
Keywords: flooding, public space, oasis, purifying, meeting, leisure
CHANGING THE GAME
Renske PoelmansEnhancing chances through sports and leisure
Changing the game is an architectural concept of small scale leisure and sports centers, combined with learning opportunities, that can be copied throughout the city’s informal settlements.
Keywords: sports center, learning, urban acupuncture, bamboo, flooding, leisure, public space
Changing the game is an architectural concept of small scale leisure and sports centers, combined with learning opportunities, that can be copied throughout the city’s informal settlements.
Keywords: sports center, learning, urban acupuncture, bamboo, flooding, leisure, public space
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My thesis ‘Impact of climate change in Dar es Salaam’ addresses the global problem of climate change and its effects in Dar. Thorough analysis of some reference projects shows the feasibility for a city to adapt to climate change through a holistic approach. These references can inspire the rest of the world. Garden of Wonders, applies the findings above to the issue of flooding in Msasani Bonde la Mpunga. Its goal is to reverse the disastrous combination of its topographic situation, the river, incoherent urban planning, floodwater, waste and climate change into new opportunities for the city quarter and its inhabitants. Restoring the natural balance between city and water is the first focus of the project. By reclaiming space for the river, the ecosystem can recover and the flooding can be controlled naturally. The newly created park adds breathing space and urban identity to the city quarter. Being a low-tech intervention, Garden of Wonders brings the beauty of water close to its visitors and triggers wonder and admiration for its presence.
Garden of Wonders unfolds in 4, or is it 5, interacting layers. Firstly, there is the variety of landscapes: the mangrove forest, the terraces and the Kijitonyama river itself, create three intriguing scenes. Secondly, 4 architectural interventions create centers of respect and wonder whilst their specific functions act as the backbone of the park: the brain building, the wind watcher, the purification pools and the contemplation circle. The brain building is the main building and acts as the park’s ambassador. It’s an open and accessible research center where academics collect data, search for new varieties and techniques for the park, natural purification systems…. On the other hand, the center opens up to neighbors and visitors. Its humble appearance, the organization of workshops, guided visits, the presence of academics and workers in the terraces and a rooftop café transform this center into meeting point for locals and passers-by. Thirdly, there are the amplifiers. These small scale moments of joy give tangibility to the positive effects of the park and can be easily copied by the visitors at home or elsewhere. The fourth layer, the connectors, ensures permeability of the park. Ultimately the ‘inhabitants’ and visitors, that enjoy the many wonders and bring life to the park.
Garden of Wonders creates a resilient landscape to accommodate changes in time and climate. Ecological, social and economic blend into a coherent experience that is exemplary for similar water affected city quarters in Dar and around the world.
Garden of Wonders unfolds in 4, or is it 5, interacting layers. Firstly, there is the variety of landscapes: the mangrove forest, the terraces and the Kijitonyama river itself, create three intriguing scenes. Secondly, 4 architectural interventions create centers of respect and wonder whilst their specific functions act as the backbone of the park: the brain building, the wind watcher, the purification pools and the contemplation circle. The brain building is the main building and acts as the park’s ambassador. It’s an open and accessible research center where academics collect data, search for new varieties and techniques for the park, natural purification systems…. On the other hand, the center opens up to neighbors and visitors. Its humble appearance, the organization of workshops, guided visits, the presence of academics and workers in the terraces and a rooftop café transform this center into meeting point for locals and passers-by. Thirdly, there are the amplifiers. These small scale moments of joy give tangibility to the positive effects of the park and can be easily copied by the visitors at home or elsewhere. The fourth layer, the connectors, ensures permeability of the park. Ultimately the ‘inhabitants’ and visitors, that enjoy the many wonders and bring life to the park.
Garden of Wonders creates a resilient landscape to accommodate changes in time and climate. Ecological, social and economic blend into a coherent experience that is exemplary for similar water affected city quarters in Dar and around the world.
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In rapidly growing cities, as Dar es Salaam, informal, open spaces are (becoming increasingly) scarce (in the quest to answer its economic and demographic pressure). Places of tranquillity are even more precious and rare.
This site in Msasani, situated in between informal settlements and the more up-class residential area, waiting to be developed, is the perfect location for a place of urban refuge, a place to escape the busy city and daily mundane world. With this intervention, both worlds, formal and informal, are acknowledged and united in the creation of an architectural oasis that preserves tranquillity in the city.The fact that the site presently serves as a flood basin, is the starting point of my design.The architectural intervention takes a reversed position by going deeper into the soil and using the exposed void as a place where any person can temporarily escape from the hectic city. The function of buffering the floodwater is continued as water is captured, cleaned and provided as a resource for the community.
Tranquillity and the availability of clean water create the synergy that supports this place of emotion. Void gradually descends and transitions into another world, a labyrinth where one can contemplate while searching for a spiritual endpoint in between the mass, which contains and cleans the water. Several centres allow for a transition of different atmospheres while the expression of materiality communicates the duality of the project.
By choosing to create a design highly depending on emotion and spatial qualities this assignment has also become a case study for my thesis: ‘Elements and techniques of the design process - Visualisation as reflection’. Herein a model is used to graphically decompose the many elements and techniques used throughout the design process. The complexity of designing is revealed by reflecting on the way my own design method has evolved.
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This site in Msasani, situated in between informal settlements and the more up-class residential area, waiting to be developed, is the perfect location for a place of urban refuge, a place to escape the busy city and daily mundane world. With this intervention, both worlds, formal and informal, are acknowledged and united in the creation of an architectural oasis that preserves tranquillity in the city.The fact that the site presently serves as a flood basin, is the starting point of my design.The architectural intervention takes a reversed position by going deeper into the soil and using the exposed void as a place where any person can temporarily escape from the hectic city. The function of buffering the floodwater is continued as water is captured, cleaned and provided as a resource for the community.
Tranquillity and the availability of clean water create the synergy that supports this place of emotion. Void gradually descends and transitions into another world, a labyrinth where one can contemplate while searching for a spiritual endpoint in between the mass, which contains and cleans the water. Several centres allow for a transition of different atmospheres while the expression of materiality communicates the duality of the project.
By choosing to create a design highly depending on emotion and spatial qualities this assignment has also become a case study for my thesis: ‘Elements and techniques of the design process - Visualisation as reflection’. Herein a model is used to graphically decompose the many elements and techniques used throughout the design process. The complexity of designing is revealed by reflecting on the way my own design method has evolved.
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Mastering the English language can be a game changer in the search for job opportunities, certainly in Dar Es Salaam where English is the second official language. Changing the game is a concept of architectural interventions throughout the city’s informal settlements, where leisure activities such as sports and performing arts are combined with learning opportunities. By upgrading present or providing new sports facilities, and run them parallel with an educational program where English is being stimulated, learning comes naturally and bonds the community.
A small-scale library forms the foundation of the centre, both literally and figuratively. It forms a concrete base, which sculptures the existing site to create new communal activities for its neighbours: a climbing wall, a vertical garden for fruits and vegetables, an outdoor theatre, cinema or playground. This base invites and challenges the community to collaborate and excel. It’s also the home base of some small mobile libraries that are send out to the locals to promote the centre and break the barriers to join.Bamboo volumes, facilitating a variety of sports and leisure activities, are added on top of this concrete base and give the centre its worthy appearance, to withstand the city quarter’s future growth and changing surroundings. The use of bamboo for the sports activities results from my thesis research ‘The use of bamboo as a construction material within the European context’. A literature study about the physical properties and general cultivation possibilities of bamboo in relationship to the environmental impact, is followed by research into possible morphologies that fit within the tight mindset of modern Europeans.
‘Changing the game’ proves this so called European morphology to be perfectly applicable in a fast-growing contemporary city such as Dar Es Salaam.
A small-scale library forms the foundation of the centre, both literally and figuratively. It forms a concrete base, which sculptures the existing site to create new communal activities for its neighbours: a climbing wall, a vertical garden for fruits and vegetables, an outdoor theatre, cinema or playground. This base invites and challenges the community to collaborate and excel. It’s also the home base of some small mobile libraries that are send out to the locals to promote the centre and break the barriers to join.Bamboo volumes, facilitating a variety of sports and leisure activities, are added on top of this concrete base and give the centre its worthy appearance, to withstand the city quarter’s future growth and changing surroundings. The use of bamboo for the sports activities results from my thesis research ‘The use of bamboo as a construction material within the European context’. A literature study about the physical properties and general cultivation possibilities of bamboo in relationship to the environmental impact, is followed by research into possible morphologies that fit within the tight mindset of modern Europeans.
‘Changing the game’ proves this so called European morphology to be perfectly applicable in a fast-growing contemporary city such as Dar Es Salaam.
studio msasani google site.pptxteam
studio coordinator Hasselt Universityarch. Peggy Winkels
studio team Ardhi University: dr. Daniel Mbisso, dr. Shubira Kalugila, dr. Swai Ombeni
related research teams: Arck Sustainability Research team, prof. dr. ir. arch. Griet Verbeeck
advisory team: prof. emeritus arch. Han Verschure, prof. Ir. Rob Cuyvers, prof. dr. arch. Els Hannes, arch. Jonas Knaepen, arch. Olivier de Schaetzen, prof. dr.ir.arch Griet Verbeeck, prof. Ir. Peter Op t Veld, prof. Ir. Robrecht Keersmaekers
studio team Ardhi University: dr. Daniel Mbisso, dr. Shubira Kalugila, dr. Swai Ombeni
related research teams: Arck Sustainability Research team, prof. dr. ir. arch. Griet Verbeeck
advisory team: prof. emeritus arch. Han Verschure, prof. Ir. Rob Cuyvers, prof. dr. arch. Els Hannes, arch. Jonas Knaepen, arch. Olivier de Schaetzen, prof. dr.ir.arch Griet Verbeeck, prof. Ir. Peter Op t Veld, prof. Ir. Robrecht Keersmaekers
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