Industrial trade school

Abstract

The idea of an industrial trade school stems from the countrywide lack of skilled manpower and adequate institutions for their training and the need to have more comprehensive schools whose graduates are adaptable to varying situations and opportunities of employment. The school falls under the vocational secondary school group, the main intake is at the C.P.E. level. The pupils 50 through a four year course of academic work and training in various skills and trades leading to industrial training and employment, it offers a further two years of study for students from within and from other vocational secondary schools capable of going on to advanced engineering courses at university level. The school is located near the Kawanguare village, a predominantly Low income area--adjacent to a proposed small scale industries site. The school will serve a hinterland population of up to 32000 by 1979 and will provide spaces for up to 900 students. The site is sloping in all directions from a small hillock with an average grandient of 4%. The specialized technological and scientific studies require workshops and laboratories of a more specialized nature to be provided alongside the more conventional school accomodation. The objective is to find a solution which is responsive to the various activity relationships and requirements and which seeks to create a comfortable learning environment through buildings that respond well to the climate and environmental controls:- these factors here played a major roll in the actual layout and design of the buildings. In developing the layout the concept has been to group related and complementary activities around one or more courtyards or internal circulation route. The courtyards are then interconnected by covered walkways along which are located the more communal facilities like toilets, lockers ;--showerooms.. and the resource centre . , The characteristic and various requirements of the . activities have determined their actual location on the site. For example workshops, are a high noise zone requiring individual vehicular se~vice and controlled access for the users; while c,..53rOOll.:3require a less noisy environment. The communal and administrative rooms.require to be easily accessible for the public and the students while the specialist teaching rooms and the resource centre require central locations. The main construction is in reinforced concrete columns with infill walls of locally available natural cut storie--a material in common use in Kawanguare. The outside walls are exposed stone for negligeable maintainance. The roofs are in corrugated asvestors cement sheets. A box beam truss has been used to achieve a low pitch in order to reduce the asbestores surfaces exposed to view. In this country school buildings are mainly built by local communities on self help "Harambee" basis with or without government aid. A good number have been built by church organizations. Where the government is involved through the Ministry of Works Construction is over along period of phased construction. In all, the buildings are limitted to simple structures "due to the stringent funds available. It would be unrealistic therefore to propose school buildings that call for sophisticated methods of construction requiring ~eavy plant and expensive materials. This limitation requires that school buildings be nationalized through use of repetitive structures and methods of construction and through the use of locally available materials. The degree to which this can be done is further limited by the absence of competent factories where highly prefabrication systems can be developed reducing site works to mere assembly of components. This has resulted in buildings that maximise on locally available construction methods and materials, buildings which take advantage of natural lighting and ventillation and which provide thermal comfort through simple sun control methods and roof insulation. The successful functioning of the school will depend on the organization and the relationship of the activities and the spaces, the circulation pattern, the functioning of the internal space and how the buildings respond to the environmental and climatic factors.