Within the Architecture graduation studio Explore Lab the idea started to develop our own Design-Build-Studio project. This means that the coming year will be dedicated to research and design and the realisation of the project on site by local craftsmen and students.
The graduation project is about building and designing a multifunctional community centre in Okana (West-Kenya) in a way that it acts as a pilot for rural areas around Victoria Lake. While being integrated into its direct climatic and socio-cultural environment and mirroring the identity of the people, it should be designed and constructed in a simple and local way that other communities are enabled to build their own public institution in the future.
In Okana, a small village nearby Kisumu in West-Kenya the first building will be built on the site of the NGO ‘Sustainable Rural Initiatives’. The community centre will serve as a platform for the people of Okana by facilitating an ICT-room for training courses, an internet-café, a small library, meeting rooms and a space for the community to gather.
Within the research phase, we spent three weeks in Okana learning about the culture of the place, the people and the use of local materials.
For more information you also can take a look on or website: www.pavilions-for-okana.org
