School
RMC – Regenerative Modular Construction
is a construction methodology developed to build sustainable and affordable schools across Eastern Africa.
Our proposal is conceived as a process and not as a final solution.
Our approach is local and participatory, a journey in continuous development and evolution.
Our ambitions are:
– Create access to education for disadvantaged children
– Divulgation of sustainable building methods through a participatory construction
– Promote social integration and community involvement
RMC has been developed by SP architecture workshop, in collaboration with C-re-aid, a non-profit organisation with more than 10 years of experience of building regenerative projects across Eastern Africa.
We propose a simple and modular approach, able to evolve and adapt to design closer to people’s needs.
A participatory design and construction process will involve end-users and local craftsmanship to stimulate the local economy and to develop a regenerative construction method that everyone can learn and re-propose on future developments.
The locally available earth is proposed as the main building material.
As a naturally occurring and readily available organic material, earth constructions are both economic and environmentally sustainable. Our intent is to achieve an affordable and easy to build project, accessible to everyone.
“Earth is one of the most widely and venerated materials in human history. But it is not just a building material; it is a process, and a catalyst. Earth is Weltanschauung.”
cit. Martin Rauch
Upscaling Earth
Building Components, Modules and Configurations
The RMC system is based on a simple construction methodology, easy to learn and replicate.
Local construction materials and building techniques are proposed for the construction of two key building components: A and B.
These can be easily assembled and replicated to form a range of building modules, each one responds to specific functional requirements.
The combinations of these modules allow to achieve several configurations and school layouts. The flexible design aims to respond to the requirements of each specific site, brief and budget.
Modules A1,2,3,… – School Building
These are conceived to respond to the functional requirements of a typical school building and include:
Classrooms, Sanitary facilities, Kitchen, Teacher room and Storage spaces.
We have estimated a construction cost for each module, which varies in a range between 14.000 € / 18.000 €.
Modules B1,2,… – Community Pavilion
These serve the school and the wider community, offering the opportunity to create not only a building for education but a space that can accommodate and stimulate social activities.
The estimated construction cost varies in a range between 12.000 € / 20.000 €.
Upscaling Earth
The school building module will be primarily built with locally available soil, which will be used to manufacture Compressed Earth Bricks or CEB.
These bricks are made from subsoil and compressed at high pressure in a machine already available to C-re-aid. This typology of bricks do not need a cooking process, but are naturally dried in the sun before they can be used.
In collaboration with experts, we are working to use an unstabilised earth mix, without the addition of lime or cement, fully recyclable at the end of the building life.
This beautiful construction technique is highly sustainable, does not require skilled labour and allows for a fast construction on site. A seven-person team can produce 1500 CEB blocks per day by following an efficient production scheme already tested in several projects successfully delivered by C-re-aid.
The CEB walls are complemented by timber beams which support the roof deck. This framework integrates a suspended ceiling structure to form a ventilation plenum and help release the hot air from the interiors.
Jubilant Tree School
Since 2020 C-re-aid have started a collaboration with Jubilant Tanzania’s Orphanage, a non-profit and non-government organisation based in Moshi, Tanzania.
All together we have engaged in a collaborative and participatory design process to build Jubilant Tree School, the pilot project for the RMC system.
This is a non-profit project to provide social spaces for the Jubilant’s kids and their community.
Scalable Impact
We see the RMC as an holistic vision, a laboratory for innovation in the fields of participatory design and sustainable construction methods.
Our aim is to share and divulgate a construction method across Eastern Africa, particularly in Tanzania and Rwanda, where C-re-aid organisation and its partners are based.
The RMC system will be in continuous development over time. Each completed project will ensure improvement throughout the process to design closer to people’s needs.