The Project of the Construction for Basic School in Balbala
Background
The Government of Djibouti has identified 'better education and training' as one of the main goals in its development strategy and aims to disseminate primary education fully. In developing secondary school facilities, the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training has adopted a policy of developing dual primary and secondary schools that emphasise consistency in basic education as one of the strategies to continue learning from primary to secondary school. On the other hand, the Barbara district in Djibouti has a serious overcrowding situation, and the Government of Djibouti has designated the Barbara district as a priority area for the development of facilities, but financial constraints have made it impossible to take sufficient action. Because of this situation, the Government of Djibouti formulated a plan to establish a new combined primary and secondary school offering the full range of basic education, including primary and early secondary education, in Nassib, a new development area in the southern district of Barbara where the population is increasingly concentrated.
Project Description
The building is based on an open corridor two-storey building, taking into account the climatic conditions and standard facility type in Djibouti, with buildings arranged in parallel around an east-west axis and at intervals that do not interfere with each other, surrounding a courtyard, with the elementary and junior high schools each located in the north and south of the site and connected by a central sports field. The plan and cross-sectional structure were the same for the elementary and junior high schools, and the spans were unified to simplify the construction and structure. In addition, a screen wall made of perforated brick blocks was built in front of the exterior wall openings that receive solar radiation to shade each building and unify the exterior design. In planning the facilities, attention was paid to gender and disabled children, and plans were made to make the ground floor and the entire exterior area barrier-free, and to install separate men's and women's toilets with booths for disabled persons.