Simon van Heck
Project: Multipurpose Centre
During our internship we focused on two main projects to development the informal settlement Chazanga. First we designed a Multipurpose Centre to meet the need of the residents in Chazanga and after this we tried to find a solution for the water shortage and the bad sanitation in Chazanga. In this part of the report you can read what we did, how we did it and why we did it.
Multipurpose Centre
The Multipurpose Centre is located in Chazanga, a suburb of the capital Lusaka. In the last few years there has been a lot migration to Lusaka and therefore also to Chazanga. Through this migration pressure on housing has rapidly increased. Settlements are built unplanned and this causes a lack of facilities other than houses. Through the building of the Multipurpose Centre we hope to facilitate the missing needs and desires in Chazanga. Our target was: to design a Multipurpose Centre, which is efficient with the use of materials, self-sustainable because of entrepreneurial activities.
For the design of the Multipurpose Centre, we did a survey to find out what the desires were of the population in Chazanga. There was already an extended survey done by PPHPZ. Though, the raw data were not available. So we decided to do a spot check to see if our results were similar to the conclusion of the survey done by PPHPZ. We also did an inventory and an urban analysis. Also we could experience the location at his best. An elaboration of the questionnaire can be found in appendix 3. The questions are given with a summary of the answers that were given. On the basis of this questionnaire and the survey done by PPHPZ we decided which facilities would be facilitated in the Multipurpose Centre. The facilities that should be allocated in the Multipurpose Centre are:
Drinking water facilities: water kiosk
A water kiosk is a place where the residents can get clean water, pumped out of the ground. There is already a borehole on the location.
A supermarket
The supermarket should be of a size of approximately 100m2, a medium sized supermarket, where the residents of Chazanga can do their daily shopping. Proven by the researches, the demand of a supermarket is very high. In addition, the project will be made profitable by the rental cost.
A place to buy building materials, a hardware store
Due to the high growth of houses, the demand for low-cost building materials is high. Through this hardware store it is possible for the residents to buy these materials locally and to improve their living standards.
Rooms for education
When we were at the location, the residents themselves came up with the initiative to put education in the Multipurpose Centre. We think this is also very important for the development of this area. In addition, the education space can be used flexible. For example, use it as a meeting space.
Offices
An important element to make the project sustainable is to generate income. An opportunity is to combine the Multipurpose Centre with offices. This can generate an income.
5 small shops
The small shops will also contribute to generate income for the project. It also gives local residents the chance to start with entrepreneurial activities, because these shops are affordable for them to rent.
Recreation: sports field
Chazanga characterizes many children. Currently, for them is no recreation place. In the design a recreation place will provide a safe place for the kids, potentially a central meeting place in the area and families can leave their children behind while they go shopping.
Urban Design
The first step of the designing was to make an urban design, which contains all the facilities. We made different compositions of the different facilities. After we made these sketches, we analysed them. So at the end we came up with one urban design.
Afbeelding
Figure the original urban design
Design of the separate buildings
After some discussions about this urban design, we made some small changes of sizes and facilities. We decided to put the building material shop next to the supermarket, because there was already a small building on that spot, which we couldn’t remove. We also add the waterkiosk in the north, because the borehole was located at that site.
After we made these changes, we started in December with the floor plans of the buildings. We made an estimation of the size of the different facilities. On which we based the floors plans. The supermarket has 230m2, including space for an office for the employees, storage and space for a dustbin. Next to the supermarket, the building material space will be situated. This is 70m2.
The Multipurpose Building has two stories. The ground floor plan contains: an open entrance hall with stairs, 50m2 for education, 45m2 for office, 30m2 toilets, 12m2 kitchen and 12m2 storage. The first floor contains: 80 m2 for conference, 10m2 balcony, 42 m2 education/office and two toilets.
The floor plan of the 5 small shops: four shops are 25m2 each and one shop is 35m2. This shop is suitable as a bar.
We putted the floor plans in Revit, a computer program to design buildings in. This was possible because of our architecture background.
After the ground plan, we designed the architecture of the building. We choose the materials and the façade composition. For the materials, we originally wanted to use Hydraform blocks as building material, this is a cheap and relatively unknown building method. However, you need soil at the location to make the Hydraform blocks, unfortunately this was not available. So we switched to concrete blocks, still a cheap method.
For the façade, we designed big windows, to give the building a transparent attitude, while using roofing as sunblock. A sketch of the whole design is in figure ∆∆∆∆∆
AfbeeldingAfbeelding
Figure … Sketch of the final design Figure … Artist impression
The week before Christmas, we made some intersections and had a look at the details. After this we could send the design to an engineer, who could start calculating. In this phase, we worked together with Luke Musonda, a Zambian architect, working for PPHPZ. He helped with the details. After this, we made some impressions. The technical drawings and floor plans are available in the appendix∆∆∆
After our Christmas holiday we calculated how much the construction of the Multipurpose Centre would cost. We did this in association with Doveley Mupela, who had all the information and is specialised in doing this. Besides the construction costs, we also made a recovery model that shows it will take 5 years to payback the investment. This business model is shown in subsection 4B.
We also made a business plan for the Multipurpose Centre, to guarantee that it will generate income and become sustainable. To inform the people of Chazanga that the Multipurpose Centre will be build and to advertise that there is the opportunity to start your own shop, we putted a billboard on the plot. See figure ∆∆∆∆∆
We also included a time schedule for the building of the Multipurpose Centre. This can be found in appendix ∆∆∆∆