Building of the Year nomination
Please vote!
Our project, Kao La Amani Children’s Village in Tanzania, has been nominated for Building of the Year by ArchDaily!
We, and the children who live there, think this ground-breaking and life-changing project is certainly worthy of the prize - please vote for it before 13th February to give it the best chance!
>> Click here to vote now
(to vote, you have to create a free ArchDaily account which takes 1 minute.)
We’ve been working with Tanzanian/Irish charity Tír na nÓg since 2019, designing a new Children’s Village in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania.
More Than a Building members have played a crucial role in this build, with MHA Structural Design, Hoare Lea, and WSP all involved as engineering partners.
The children themselves helped to design their new home, and they love it.
“Everyone is happy. I’m happy. Children are happy. Staff are happy. We enjoy it!” Monica Tukai, Principal Carer at the Children’s Village.
Phase 1 was completed in early 2023 and is now home to around 50 children, living in a series of ‘family’ cottages. The village also has a large social block with a dining terrace, kitchen, games room, library, and laundry facilities.
The design responds to the climate by providing generous overhangs to protect from sun and heavy rains. Courtyards at the centre of the cottages enable cross ventilation to all the dorms and living spaces.
The village is designed to be highly sustainable and is operable entirely ‘off-grid’. All power is generated using solar PV panels, all water is provided by a borehole on site and then heated using solar hot water heaters, and the waste is filtered via septic tanks and a constructed wetland. In fact, it’s Africa’s first off-grid orphanage!
Local materials and construction techniques have been prioritised throughout, with low-carbon technologies to the fore.
Lead Architect Toby Pear says, “It’s so much more than a building here, because we’ve managed to create such a happy home.”
Thank you for your vote!
