„Design and construction of an environmental learning centre with the aim of enlightening the population and politicians about the vast environmental challenges that Sierra Leone faces.
development targets:
- Increasing the knowledge level for school classes, students and the local population.
- Create a building that will serve as hub for environmental organizations in West Africa and strengthen their collective efforts.
- Create a building with distinct visual landmark properties that signals the importance of the environmental organization’s efforts and highlights their existence.
- To demonstrate how to build with a combination of modern and traditional sustainable materials.
architecture: The project is based on experience from our staff housing project in Masanga, also in Sierra Leone. The building rests on a pillar-foundation, both to limit the use of cement and to minimize the environmental footprint. The building has built-in waterless VIP toilets that produces fertilizer for farm-use. Solar cells and water collection is part the permanent exhibition. The building makes extensive use of natural ventilation to demonstrate an alternative to resource-guzzling air condition. Through its exhibits the centre demonstrates simple, practical solutions in the fields of sustainable farming, forestry and energy. The centre itself is conceived as an example to be followed. It has a both scenic and strategic location at the edge of three different eco-systems: rain forest, mangrove and beach.
project team: Patrick Kogler, Camilla Kragh, Rasmus Hamann og Kym Lansell

The project has the purpose of contributing to the reinforcement of the social, ethnic and cultural background of the “Guambian” native community of the “Cabildo La Bonanza” by means of the improvement of its habitat, that is to say the living, hygienic, sanitary conditions and infrastructures. Beneficiaries are composed of 205 Guambian families coming from Resguardo of Guambia Silvia and compelled, since 1930, to move into the east part of Morales Municipality for the lack of lands to live on. The Community faced the difficulties coming from settling in a new land, with the risk of loosing its own identity as a native ancestral community.

Gambian Community asked for support in the reinforcement and improvement of its settlement, as well as in the process of social and cultural development. According to this request, ASF Onlus elaborated the following project in cooperation with the local community:
a) improvement of the present hygienic, sanitary, living conditions and infrastructure, necessary to guarantee the available habitat for the community. For this purpose, the project will provide to the building of 20 houses for 20 families together with the basic infrastructures linked to them, in status of “auto-costruzione”;
b) creation of a laboratory for the manufacturing of “guadua” (a kind of material similar to bamboo) and of wood, useful for the houses’ construction;
c) promotion of training activities in communitary organization, leadership, building activities, manufacturing, creation of small factories, with the aim of strengthening the communitary organization and starting up productive activities in favour of the whole community.

The project aims to make all the people involved (target group and local partners) able to develop their own technical and organization abilities by means of a communitary, synergic partecipation between the whole native population and the target group. Thus the project aims to contribute in making it easier to begin a sustainable development process.

The main goal of the project is to help the newly created municipal communes in construction, maintenance and modernization of public toilets in an ecologically sustainable way, accessible to all users and economically viable.  An important aspect of the project is also improving the overall health of residents of the municipalities and support local authorities in achieving various functions in field of public sanitation.
Vernacular architecture is the result of hundreds of years of architecture evolution and optimization, using local available materials and construction technologies known in particular area.
Traditional architecture often uses passive energy solutions to create good, comfortable living conditions depending on climate.

Our goal is to protect the local architectural heritage, and to support and disseminate passive solutions that use natural energy sources, such as wind or sun, to reduce construction costs and ensure the comfort of use of new buildings.