Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC

Fass School and Teachers' Residences

Fass School and Teachers' Residences

FASS SCHOOL AND TEACHERS' RESIDENCES

Toshiko Mori Architect

STATUS
Built

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Senegal

CATEGORY
Educational › Elementary School High School

Situated in remote Senegal, the new Fass School and Teachers’ Residence is the first school in a region of over 110 villages to provide secular education alongside traditional Quranic teaching.

Fass School and Teachers' Residences
Fass School and Teachers' Residences

A project completed in collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Le Korsa, the school can serve up to 300 students from ages 5 through 10.

Inspired by the ‘One Room School House’ in rural America where Josef Albers once taught, the school’s design can accommodate students of different age groups and at diverse stages of development.

Fass School and Teachers' Residences
Fass School and Teachers' Residences

In the design, four classrooms and two flexible spaces are arranged around an interior courtyard.

The oval shape allows for easy circulation between classrooms, allowing the school’s few teachers to move quickly between classes.

Fass School and Teachers' Residences
Fass School and Teachers' Residences

The variation of the perimeter walls in terms of height and proximity to one another creates a wide variety of sections and experiences through the building.

The building’s shape was inspired by vernacular precedents, while its construction utilized local, traditional skills and materials.

Fass School and Teachers' Residences
Fass School and Teachers' Residences

The local construction team was provided with instructional diagrams to assist with the sequencing of the structure’s precise geometry— this community involvement throughout every phase allows for easy maintenance over time.

Small steel members and bamboo support mud-brick walls, which are painted white to deflect heat, and perforated to allow for ventilation and airflow throughout the building.

An inversion of the traditional pitched roof, the thick thatch roof reinforces climactic comfort by providing an effective insulation against extreme heat. A stack effect allows hot air to rise into the peak of the roof while inviting cool air into the spaces.

With a roof pitch consistently 45 degrees or greater, the unique form also maximizes rainwater runoff, diverting water into a channel that encircles the building and empties toward an existing aquifer

Fass School and Teachers' Residences


Fass School and Teachers' Residences
Fass School and Teachers' Residences

Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC
T +1 212 3379644
Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC
145 Hudson St STE 402, New York, NY 10013, United States