مشروع مدرسة المنارات بالقاهرة

Project Information

This 1500 k-12 private school in Egypt is built by a group of educationalist with long experience in school projects.
the owners chose to work with an architectural consultant specialized in educational building to realize their philosophy.
The architect firm worked closely with the owner as early as site
selection and through programming to designing. This is done to develop a
learning environment that can respond to the local cultural and
environmental requirements and adapt to up to date changing educational
theories

Architect Narrative

The major cause for the successful realization of
this private school complex is the close cooperation between the
owner’s educational institute and the architectural consultant. The
project was developed over a year, involving a board of the owner’s
educational consultants, a team of architects and market survey
specialists.
To create a rich school environment four themes were developed:
-The school as a small city :
The project building is designed like a small city with its uptown and
downtown areas. The uptown is the neighborhood of classrooms and
downtown is the school’s shared facilities and administration. The
plazas and midans are the school courtyards and play areas. This concept
is expressed in the school building form as well as in interior
circulation.
The downtown block is the main block in the compound which houses the
shared facilities (library, science laboratory, computer laboratory,
gymnasium, multipurpose hall, cafeteria, staff rooms and
administration.)
These shared facilities are open to all school grades and represent the
communal activities enhancing the student’s freedom of movement and
learning. Students go downtown for public gathering (multipurpose hall),
for sport events (gym), for working (laboratories), for research
(library), for eating out ( cafeteria) and to authority figures
(teachers and administration). A rich learning environment is created
not only with the interaction of students of different grades with each
other and with staff and administration, but also with parents and
visitors in special occasions.
The downtown neighborhood of class rooms is less formal, smaller scaled,
and more supportive to the student needs for individualized learning.
The two blocks of classrooms are divided to boys/ girls classrooms each
with its rest rooms and play areas.
Locating the shared facilities block in the middle of the two classroom
blocks enhances the movement between the uptown and downtown creating
an interesting and active school environment compared to typical mixed
facilities in large single building schools.
Places for learning and living:
Indoor and outdoor spaces are designed to provide a variety of areas
that enhance group gathering and interaction as well as providing
individuals with small corners. Whether it’s for learning, eating or
just sitting and chatting there always is the suitable space. Students
can find outdoor corners as well as conference and research rooms for
small group gatherings.
Green courtyards
Cairo is a hot arid city. With 18 million inhabitants, highly dense
neighborhoods, it is rare to find green areas, parks or gardens in the
city. The idea of interior courtyards used in the designs of old Arab
buildings is reused in the school buildings which gives a sense of
surprise when entering the school and creates a relaxing and
comfortable atmosphere. Such school environment is important for young
student’s mental and psychological development.
These green courtyards have many environmental advantages and help in
creating a cool humid environment in the hot desert area the school is
located in.
The school as a community center:
The shared facilities block in the school compound is designed with a
separate direct access which allows other community members as well as
parents to use the school facilities in designated hours. This takes
advantage of otherwise dead structure after school hours and in
holidays. By opening the school buildings to the community it creates a
strong link between it and the school and the buildings acts as a
community center.
Environmental concerns
Designing a school building in a developing country with hot climate -
i.e. without the possibility of artificial cooling devices- led the
architect to consider natural ventilation and cooling concepts as a main
choice. The following concepts were used to provide a comfortable
indoor and outdoor school environment:
-building east west orientation with the least heat load and facing prevailing wind
-green courtyard concept which generates air circulation in all building spaces
-raising the building’s ground floor to create a large shaded outdoor play area
-creating a green buffer surrounding the site to filter sandy wind and assists in providing shaded areas.

Project Pic

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