Village – The Shalom School is a holistic project and this is reflected in the huge range of activities that will be included. The scope and size of the project requires not only a series of buildings but rather a village with streets, paths and squares. We have used the motif of a flower as the template for the overall layout. The centre of the flower serves as the village green, an open space filled with shady trees. Surrounding the centre the overlapping petals organise all the different activities. The stem of the flower forms the main access road into the village which brings you directly to the village green. Located at the most prominent position, both literally and spiritually, is the church. It looks over the green and is directly in line with the main approach road. The project also makes reference to the architecture of traditional African villages. These are often based on a central community space circled by rounded buildings. Flower Icon – The ambition for the Shalom School is to create an exemplary project, not only for Uganda, but as an icon for similar school communities worldwide. The village, shaped in the form of a flower, offers a strong, harmonious, friendly and inviting character. Students, teachers and people working in the Shalom school will be encouraged to identify themselves with their school and its philosophy. Overlaying Harmonic and Organise Structures – Unconventional teaching methods and holistic philosophy call for an extraordinary environment with a large range of scales from the very big, the village, to the very small, the individual rooms. "Since this school is going to be a radically different school, then the buildings need to be radically different, not just to make a statement that this school is different, but to meet the needs of a different sort of school and to enable the school the develop in exciting ways" 'Vision for a Model Learning Centre for Teso, Uganda' The flower layout creates a combination of irregularly shaped building formed by curved and straight lines. The iconic nature of the layout and the variation of built character throughout the village will allow people to easily orientate themselves. The combination of organically shaped buildings and open spaces with shady trees will provide an uplifting experience as you stroll through the village streets.We have overlaid a hexagonal substructure on the flower pattern to form the interior spaces of the buildings. The overlay of these two systems creates a combination of regular and irregular interior spaces similar to the cell structure of a leaf. As a result rooms are individually shaped and combine straight and curved walls. This allows a functional room layout and yet encourages creative furnishing. Sustainability and Community Construction – The new village and its buildings will be based on principles of sustainability. Sustainable architecture fits perfectly the philosophical goals of both the Shalom School and BHD. Also in an area where building materials are hard to come by and mains services are limited a sustainable approach makes good, practical sense. Building materials, such as compressed earth bricks, will be fabricated on site using local labour. Many of the people that will help construct the school will also go on to enrol as students once it is completed. This will create a unique bond between the school and its students. In this way it is an example of sustainability in the broadest possible meaning. The design will be based on sustainable technologies wherever possible such as the re-cycling of rain water and grey water, renewable energy sources, incineration of waste to provide hot water and eco friendly sewage treatment.
