Mpirigiti Rural Training Center

Studio FH Architects

ARCHITECTS
Studio FH Architects

MEP ENGINEER
Equatorsun

CONTRACTOR
Soleco Construction

LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
The Landscape Studio

MANUFACTURERS
Hafele

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Aquila Gallery

PHOTOGRAPHS
Will Boase Photography

AREA
1950.0 m2

PROJECT YEAR
2018

LOCATION
Kamuli, Uganda

CATEGORY
Other Facilities

Text description provided by architect.

Three courtyard buildings on a 13-acre site near Kamulitown in Eastern Uganda provide accommodation, teaching and working space for agricultural students from Iowa State University and Makerere University.

The architecture contrasts a heavily textured clay brick envelop with light-weight timber-glass and coloured render facades facing the courtyards.

An undulating roofscape organically embeds the buildings into the surrounding, and the folded metal gutters not only make an architectural statement of the rainwater harvesting that supply the majority of the Centre's water needs, but also act as light reflectors illuminating the underside of the walkway roofs.

The buildings were designed to minimise on the impact of the Centre on the natural environment.

Besides a centralised rainwater harvesting system, solar panels generate a substantial proportion of the electricity demands and an anaerobic baffled reactor with constructed wetland ensures an environmentally friendly wastewater treatment system.

Passive design principles including ventilated roofs supported by trussed purlins ensure a comfortable indoor climate throughout.