Kao La Amani Children’s Village

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear

Kao La Amani Children’s Village 

Article 25

ARCHITECTS
Article 25

3 D VISUALIZATION
Hayes Davidson

LEAD ARCHITECT
Toby Pear

CIVIL ENGINEERING
Wsp Norge, Wsp

MANUFACTURERS
Power Providers

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Mosha Building Works

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Mha Structural Design

SITE ARCHITECT
Paulina Shari-stanley

MEP ENGINEERING
Hoare Lea

STRUCTURAL & MEP ENGINEERS
Estate Care

LOCAL ARCHITECTS
Multiphase

QUANTITY SURVEYORS
Mk Arch & Plan

PHOTOGRAPHS
Toby Pear, Paulina-shari Stanley

AREA
1020 M²

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Boma Ng'ombe, Tanzania

CATEGORY
Housing, Educational Architecture

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear

Article 25 have completed Phase 1 of an ‘off-grid’ Children’s Village in Boma Ng’ombe, Tanzania

Article 25 have been working with Tanzanian/Irish charity Tír na nÓg to design a new Children’s Village in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania for 60 children.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear

Phase 1 construction was completed in early 2023 and comprises 3 cottages for groups of children, each with its own live-in ‘Mama’, along with a large social block with a dining terrace, kitchen, games room, library, and laundry facilities.

The buildings house spaces for all moods and all times of day - cozy spaces for sleep, rest, and study, with more expansive and open spaces for play and socializing. The village is designed as a safe place where children of different ages can grow and develop together.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village

Highly sustainable, off-grid development

The design responds to the climate by providing generous overhangs to protect from sun and heavy rains. Courtyards at the center of the cottages enable cross ventilation to all the dorms and living spaces.

The butterfly roof of the dining block shades a series of external spaces – dining terrace, laundry area, and a gathering porch outside the kitchen – and allows cross ventilation as well as dual or triple aspect internal spaces.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear

The village is designed to be highly sustainable and is operable entirely ‘off-grid’. All power is generated using solar PV panels, all water is provided by a borehole on site and then heated using solar hot water heaters, and the waste is filtered via septic tanks and a constructed wetland.

These sustainability features allow the village to run at minimal costs while protecting its natural resources and ensuring the Children’s Village will continue to provide to children in this area for decades to come.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Paulina-Shari Stanley
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Paulina-Shari Stanley

Local materials and construction techniques have been prioritized throughout, with low-carbon technologies to the fore.

The roof trusses are of timber, as are the doors and windows. Upper walls are clad in locally-sourced sisal poles, and the bricks come from nearby kilns fired using rice husks, an agricultural waste product.

More Than a Building

Article 25 worked with a team of Tanzanian and international experts to develop the proposals for the Children’s Village.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Paulina-Shari Stanley
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear

MHA Structural Design, Hoare Lea, and WSP are part of a pool of engineers, architects, developers, and constructors that make-up Article 25’s ‘More Than a Building’ network, and have provided pro-bono engineering (structural, MEP, and civil, respectively) for the project.

Article 25 Managing Director Gemma Holding said ‘the pro-bono input we receive from our More Than a Building partner brings world-leading expertise to projects such as Kao La Amani Children’s Village and helps to leave a lasting legacy in those communities we serve’.

Phase 2 of the Children’s Village is now under construction and will add more living accommodations, an admin building, staff and guest housing, and extensive landscaping.

Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear


Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Paulina-Shari Stanley
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear


Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
© Toby Pear


Kao La Amani Children’s Village
Axo - Dining & Social Block
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
Axo - Cottage


Kao La Amani Children’s Village
Axo
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
Masterplan with Landscape
Kao La Amani Children’s Village
Masterplan