Boarding House for an Agricultural School / Technical University of Berlin / CODE Chair Construction + Design - Ralf Pasel

Curated by Danae Santibañez

Architects: Technical University of Berlin / CODE Chair Construction + Design - Ralf Pasel
Area: 235 m²
Year: 2017
Photographs:CODE + Johannes Belz
Manufacturers: Calco Cochabamba, Coboce Cochabamba, La casa de las calaminas, Pueblo ladrillero Sipe Sipe, Salqui Cochabamba, Synergy Cochabamba

Agronomy Campus Bella Vista: boarding house for an agricultural school in Bolivia / design and realization
The design task was to develop an agronomy campus for the department of the recently founded agronomy faculty being part of the existing vocational school “Sayarinapaj” in Bella Vista, Bolivia. In the first phase 40 students under the direction of Prof. Pasel and his team designed and built in collaboration of interdisciplinary partners a school building, which has to serve approximately 75 students as a supportive learning environment for their agricultural studies. It was awarded with the SEED Award 2017 and the Heinze Awards. The extension of the campus was recently completed by the construction of a boarding school, equally designed and built by the team. The objective was to develop buildings that would not only meet the outstanding architectural requirements based on the incorporation of local building traditions and production methods, but that would also serve as a role model in terms of energy consumption, as well as water and waste management.

The boarding house constitutes the second construction phase within the campus of the training center. The new building complements functionally the operating school i.a. with his dormitory for the students, a lecturer room, a kitchen, a dining-, reading-, recreation-room as well as its independent facilities. The technical requirements in this phase are correspondent to the complex space allocation plan and in line with the high comfort requirements. Consequently, the students have to work with trades concerning construction as well as trades concerning the interior, the building services and the surroundings. The first few weeks various workshops, surveys and field trips are scheduled in order to encourage an intellectual exchange among the students of the TU Berlin and the participants on site. During the same time the outstanding technical equipment is being purchased, the studios of the training center are being installed specifically for the project, the site is being inspected. Collaborating with a female labour group on site three five-man-crews are formed for developing the facades, the building services (electrical installations/ sanitary installations), the completion of the roof and the design of the surroundings. A larger group consisting of a seven to eight-man-crew is engaged with the interior design and construction such as furniture and wooden doors.

With simple but effective means the building responds to the extreme climatic conditions. The massive brick masonry compensates the daily fluctuation of temperature, thus allowing for a comfortable indoor climate. The ventilated roof construction prevents the rooms from overheating. Its orientation ensures adequate supply of daylight in the rooms and the optimal declination of the roof for the integration of the solar system.

As the project is based on an integrative approach to architecture the relevant factors include both the architectural product and the multi-layered process of its creation considering technical, social, cultural and academic aspects. Being developed by an international and interdisciplinary collaboration of experts, students and craftsmen/-women from both Germany and Bolivia the mutual transfer of knowledge between academia and practice, between the two cultures and between the different disciplines is consequently one of the superior characteristics of the project.

In terms of the architecture the overall task was to create a low-cost and energy efficient, climate responsive and resource saving building that would serve as a supportive learning environment and as a case study for sustainable building developments in low-tech environments, innovation and intelligent low-cost construction methods. This includes that the building was designed in a way that it could be constructed under the preconditions of “auto-construction”, which forms 98% of the local building activities.