Vocational Training Centre, Uganda
Patongo / Uganda
Main building, Vocational Training Centre, Patongo, Uganda.
Why we are working on this project
Patongo is a town in the Pader district of the Acholi region in Northern Uganda. It is an area that has been greatly affected by the country’s conflict and is home to one of the largest internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps in the region. The IDP camps are home to many children, some of them former child-soldiers who were abducted and forced to work. IDP camps offer next to no training opportunities for these young people, making it hard for them to turn their lives around.
Article 25 was appointed by Jubilee Action (now Chance for Childhood) to deliver a centre for children’s education and rehabilitation near the camp. We are known for our successful track record in completing challenging projects, which meant we were perfectly placed to work in this volatile region and collaborate on the design with local partners, teachers and students. Our experience in designing and constructing safe buildings that are earthquake resilient, as well as off-grid, self-sufficient spaces, was also a huge advantage given what was required for this project.
The design
The design, developed in partnership with Henning Stummel Architects, consists of a series of four, single-storey buildings arranged around a courtyard to create a welcoming and open central space. The combination of small and large rooms offer flexibility for training and rehabilitation, allowing both communal and individual activities and meetings to take place. The buildings open onto the courtyard via a series of hinged timber screens. The metal roofs are set at an angle with overhangs and gutters to allow for rainwater harvesting, and they also have roof vents which allow hot air to escape during the day, keeping the buildings at a comfortable temperature for learning.
One of the key wishes of the children in the consultation phase was to have a space to play football. We included a professional size football pitch in the design.
The emphasis for both external and internal safety was paramount in the consultation process, meaning the final design was not only earthquake-resilient, but also featured storage spaces in the centre of the building to keep valuable items safe from theft.
The delivery
Thanks to our core commitment to collaboration with every community we work with, we were able to create local jobs during the construction process by choosing soil blocks as the primary material. During the build, these interlocking blocks were made on-site by local workers. We also used locally sourced eucalyptus to create the roof trusses.
Article 25 completed the Vocational Training Centre in 2012. Since then, it has supported hundreds of displaced young people to recover from trauma, gain new skills, and find their way in the world.
PROJECT NAME: Vocational Training Centre
PROJECT LOCATION: Patongo, Uganda
PROJECT TYPE: Mental health / Childcare / Education
PROJECT PARTNERS: Chance for Childhood (previously Jubilee Action), Henning Stummel Architects - Partner Architects
ENGINEERING PARTNERS: Michael Hadi Associates - Structural Engineers, Max Fordham - Services Engineers
STATUS: Construction completed 2012
