The Canhoeiro Avore School, Maputo | Mark Horton

The Canhoeiro Avore School has been designed around four strong ideas: 

The Shaded Courtyard
The Canhoeiro Tree is often a focal point for the layout of a home in Southern Africa. It provides shade which would otherwise be expensive to make and also provides a connection to nature, something that is highly valued locally. 
A raised (+ 150 mm) walkway with full ramp access will frame this play area beneath the tree and provide easy, clean and dry circulation space for all of the children.

Open, Inclusive Classrooms
Open classrooms to allow for maximum natural light and ventilation, with low-sitting wall all-round. Roof and roof structure to make use of natural materials to provide a feeling of familiarity as well as connection to nature for the children.
Shape of classroom is circular to ensure that every child feels included and safe. 

Education  for Community
As one of the only public buildings in the area, this project should provide educational spaces for adults of the community as well as their children. This space should be positioned adjacent to the street making it seem available to access and not private.
Useful ideas for learning could include ‘child care for children with disabilities’, ‘nutrition and health’, ‘business skills’, and ‘general information meetings’. 
An internet cafe accessible into the evening (after work hours) should be included so that people can educate themselves.

Cyclone Resilient Construction
Certain buildings should be constructed to be cyclone-resilient. Every year there are several cyclones that damage buildings along the Mozambique coastline, and it is important that the children’s days at school are not severely impacted by this. 
These buildings would hold the main infrastructures of the school to protect equipment and services, but also should be able to provide shelter for the community during a storm. 
Employing the labour force of the community for this project would then teach them to build more safely for themselves. 

The Canhoeiro Avore School would provide universally accessible spaces for its children, staff and visitors, and would be energy and water self-sufficient with the use of solar panels and a large, underground cistern. 

This school would provide safe space for marginalised children where they would receive education and support, but would also provide the larger community with education for safe building, health,  and business, and would increase their ability to support their children, regardless of their health condition.