Women's Centre, Rufisque, Senegal

This is one of my all time favorite projects and falls directly in the reason we should design for opportunity; you never know what is going to happen. The Women's Center in Rufisque, Senegal started off as a senior design project from students in the Architecture program at Helsinki University of Technology in 1996. By the end of 2001 their project was brought to life. In Senegal there is a strong emphasis on the gathering of knowledge and opportunity among groups of women. They teach and gather here to create a feeling of community were other wise these groups would be broken up and unable to gather as one. This act of gathering is becoming more and more important as the fishing industry in Rufisque is drying up and and men are left with out acceptable work. The sharing of knowledge's among women allows them to attain skills to support themselves and their families. The building was designed around traditional techniques (both Finnish and Senegalese) and holds an extremely strong bond to local and recycled materials. An Example of this is in the glass bottles that are set into the concrete wall to allow natural light in and keep the heat out while at the same time being very esthetically pleasing. Today the space is extremely popular and has been put to great use thanks to the forward thinking students that saw an opportunity and designed for it.

http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/2053

http:seanbryen.com/archnotebook/senegal-womens-centre.php