North African Transgression | Children's Refuge (Thesis Review)

  

North African Transgression | Children's Refuge (Studio Review)

My thesis project is a refuge for the street children of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains. The architecture facilitates children to dwell poetically, encompassing opportunities to eat, bathe, sleep, and of course, play.

Three primary coloured courtyards - the altar, the vessel and the womb dedicated solely to the acts of eating, bathing and sleeping - terrace up the mountainside, containing gardens, fire and water.

The courtyards are connected by a central hearth where the adult carers dwell; the secondary coloured blocks metaphorically protecting and providing for the children whilst giving them enough independence to explore and rediscover their lost childhoods.

Thesis Synopsis

North African Transgression | Children's Refuge Sketch Scheme

For my Major Thesis Project, I will be designing a Spiritual Retreat for the street children of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains providing residential accommodation as well as education and healthcare facilities.

My sketch scheme is derived from the concept of the earlier Children's Cachette project, which provided a secret world for children. From the outside the retreat appears as an assortment of agricultural outbuildings; the only hint at the function being the coloured window reveals. The roof forms are derived from the surrounding mountains, effectively shrinking the adult world down to a child's scale, they also aid in natural ventilation through stack effect. The spaces for education, healthcare, eating and bathing are organised around a semi-circular courtyard orientated in relation to the path of the sun; whilst the bedrooms are buried deep in the hillside, maintaining a comfortable temperature in both the hot summers and cold winters. A colonnade runs around the perimeter of the courtyard to provide solar shading to the south-facing facades, whilst those to the north have small openings to minimise heat transfer. The plan is divided by the access stairs into accommodation for pre-pubescent children and staff, and that for pubescent children. The older children are able to dwell independently from the younger children whilst ensuring that adults are nearby if needs be.

I am currently looking at using colour extensively for this project, in particular applied to the walls in the form of a traditional Moroccan plaster called Tadelakt which I will be exploring in Prototyping week commencing Monday, 14 March 2011.

North African Transgression | Children's Cachette (with Nezha Alaoui, Natasha Butler and Rachel O'Neill)

A short project designed in situ for a place to play for the street children or Marrakech. The tower is placed in the Jamaa el Fna - the heart of the medina - so as to provide much-needed respite for the children who are otherwise confined to selling tissues and biscuits on the street.

I worked with Nezha Alaoui, Natasha Butler and Rachel O’Neill to create a series of spaces at the scale of the child, based upon our own memories of childhood; climbing, digging, gathering and hiding.

The levels are arranged in a hierarchy based upon height, starting with a door handle designed only for a child’s hand. These layers provide protection a give a sense of secrecy to the children; a chance for them to find their lost childhood.

Follow Natasha's blog at emergentstudionb.blogspot.com

Follow Rachel's blog at emergentstudioro.blogspot.com