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Ecole du Scarabée / Scarab School
north of timbuktu, Mali
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No School for Tuareg-Kids without Global Communication.

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Category:
education
Phase:
in use
Design:
ar2com - kommunikative architektur aus darmstadt
Updated:
27 November 2011
introduction

No School for Tuareg-Kids without Global Communication

A school in the desert for nomad children?
Exactly, because there is no public education for them. An idea of tuareg parents north of Timbuktu inspired AmiMali e.V. to build a school appropriate to this region at the edge of the desert: a basic adobe structure, plus a wooden construction for better ventilation, covered by a roof made of impregnated wool - the traditional black tent.

Toilet and the Workshop

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Mobile Device for the Desert

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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cultural and social context

Direct communication between human beings beyond cultures and nations is an important task in building a social environment. The right for education is part of the human rights bill.

Vernacular buildings help us survive because we need local identity.

Communication within the BIG BUSINESS

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Communication between HUMAN BEINGS

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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materials and building techniques

The Scarab School in the desert combines two traditions: the local one of the city of Timbuktu which is adobe and the moving one of the Tuareg nomads from the Southern Sahara which is the tent. This combination of the two cultures is simple and real and that is the innovation: two vernacular ways of construction in one to solve their problems.

(1)The problem with earthen architecture is the destruction rain – now protected by the tent. (2) The problem of the tent is that the climate inside throughout the day changes immediately with the outside climate. Adobe has the slowest heat transition. That means it stays cold in the morning and gives back heat at night.

Transportation of Building Material

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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earth and climate

Streamline Design for the Desert - just another interpretation! Some explanatory images here.

For further information about the climate advantages of the school building, please read Materials and Building Techniques.

Geometries

image: CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Streamline Design reinterpreted

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Architecture in Timbuktu

image: Heinz G. Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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image gallery
Education before the Ecole du Scarabée was constructed. Pupils walked every evening 2 hours through the desert.

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Finally the Roof!

image: public domain
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The Scarab - a holy beetle

image: CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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During Construction of the Body of the Scarab

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Model to communicate the idea to the Touaregs.

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Transportation of Building Materials

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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North Facade

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Site View after the first Construction Period

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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The school was designed for 28 children. In the second year we had 45 pupils and now the third year 65 children (16 orphelines)

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Bathroom and Workshop

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Mobile Device for the Desert

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Mobile Device for the Desert - illustrating the 3 functions: school bag, writing desk and seat.

image: Didier Vander Heyden | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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The hat of the Workshop

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Bathroom in the Middle of the Desert

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Entrance to the School

image: Ibrahim Ag Mohamed | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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technical drawings
Section and Groundplan

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Views of the Scarab School

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Bathrooms for Boys and Girls

image: Jula-Kim Sieber | CC-BY-NC_black.png some rights reserved
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Location
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Keyword:
cli­mate (35)
participation (113)
desert (9)
low tech (30)
mud brick (27)
traditional technique (37)
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