Architects: a.gor.a Architects Location: Mae Sot, Thailand Architect In Charge: Albert Company Olmo, Line Ramstad, Jan Glasmeier Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Franc Pallarés López
Constructor: GyawGyaw
The new training center is planned to be a campus of several building that will be grouped together on a piece of land not far from Mae Tao Clinic.
Despite the lack of development, the land has many advantages in that it is close to the Mae Tao Clinic and the Back Pack Health Workers Team office, yet is set apart from other developments, assuring security and privacy.
Mae Tao Clinic is a humanitarian organization based in the Thai town of Mae Sot a few kilometers from the Thai-Burmese border. Besides free medical treatment, providing shelters and dry food for over 3000 children, Mae Tao clinic also started an education programin health care, sanitation and disease control for Burmese migrants to help developing a social fabric in the border region and inside Burma in the foreseeable future. Space at the Clinic had been completely taken up with the need to serve the ever-increasing volume of patients. Therefor Mae Tao Clinic had to find new land to build a new low budget facility with 2 classrooms for 40 students each including a new rainwater drainage system.
To protect these walls from the impact of standing water, a 30cm raised concrete slab, as a base, had to be built first. The roof is a timber construction with composite roof tiles. The windows and doors, also made out of reused Timber, were later painted green & blue for the classroom and ochre for the office building. The materials used are locally available and well known for their users, which allows easy maintenance and results in low costs.
The first phase of the new Medical Training Center was completed in 2008 with the construction of new dormitories for trainees and a new conference hall. The second phase which has been completed in June 2012 includes new training facilities such as classrooms, offices and new temporary bamboo dormitories. Since the opening of both facilities, the trainees are able to conduct their training programs in a much more convenient space. The office building has been designed to be used also as a library room until a new library and computer room are implemented in a third phase.
By using earthen bricks, we aim to raise environmental awareness among the students and provide a friendly atmosphere to conduct the training programs.
