Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Women's Centre/ Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects

Architects: Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects
Location: Rufisque Senegal
Project Year: 2001
Photographer: Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects
Website: http://www.hollmenreutersandman.com/p1_text.php?project_id=1

- 19 March 2015
- Kililo Mtamu
Communal Centres , Contemporary African Directory ,

The general African way of women organising themselves in groups, with the number of members ranging from tens to hundreds, also occurs in Senegal.

An active and strong women's group seeks to ease its members' everyday life amidst poverty, and to guarantee them a reasonable 'social security'. Women's level of schooling is improved through independent initiatives and literacy courses. The organisations supplement their income by selling home-made food and needlework. They also assist women to adapt to the change in their life when they move from the countryside to the city. The women's groups are structured organisations, which is a step forward from the traditional social network created by family and friends.

The women's centre, built in a suburb of Rufisque, offers facilities for the activities of the various organisations formed by the women. The idea and the spatial programme of the centre were born in co-operation with local women's groups. The building was carried out as an NGO project through 'Tekniska Föreningen i Finland', and was financed by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the Senegalese-Finnish Association ARC, as well as by scholarships received from various foundations. The plot was donated by the city of Rufisque and donations were also received from locals.

The building is grouped around an internal courtyard according to the West African custom; the line between private and public is clear but flexible. The simplicity of the street façades adapts the building to its surroundings; the corner facing a road crossing forms a small public square where the facilities reserved for trading are located. The building's red colour gives the house its own identity amidst the general grey tone of the city blocks.

The building frame is a cast-in-place column and beam structure, with the walls made of concrete blocks cast in a mould and dried on site. The roof is corrugated metal sheeting supported by a system of steel beams, with thick woven straw matting forming an insulating ceiling structure; the space between is ventilated, which guarantees that the air indoors is kept pleasantly cool. The choice of materials emphasises localness and recycling; for instance, wood is used only in places where it no other material could be used. In detailing, old car wheel rims are used as ventilation holes and the bottoms of old glass bottles for windows. The reinforcement irons in the concrete are made of recycled iron.

The project is a beautifully simple project, true to its function and material with cultural footings. It’s a low cost, low maintenance yet very successful project.

The centre was completed in October 2001 and Hundreds of people participated in the opening festivities

- © 01-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 07-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 08-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 04-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 05-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 09-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 06-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 10-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 11-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 03-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...
- © 02-Women-Centre-Photos_Hollmén-Reuter-Sandman-A...

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

If you want your own avatar and keep track of your discussions with the community, sign up to archiDATUM >>

SELECTED WORKS

- The Plantation: A film By Jaco Jonker For the People of the Forest
- 06 Jun 2016
Jaco Jonker smiles when I ask him how his thesis should be read, almost as if it is an obvious allusion to further clarify that it simply...
- Datum Antique: Pancho Guedes' Saipal Bakery
- 10 Sep 2015
Every so often architecture smacks you right in the face and forces you to remember why it is exactly that buildings touch us so deeply. ...
- Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre / Peter Rich Architects
- 21 Mar 2016
How do you design for fallen glory? For a people who were once the most sophisticated and dominant force in culture and social system, to...

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIRECTORY

- Urban Patios / Pedro Sousa
- 19 Nov 2017
The Angolan urban patios explore the home as a city and the city as a home. Architecture and a city are different manifestations of the s...
- Mahali Mzuri Safari Camp / Real Studios
- 30 Sep 2015
It is a sight of beauty, a merging of man and nature, a design endeavour that only fans of both architecture and nature "archinatures" ca...
- Embassy of Switzerland in Nairobi / Roeosli Maeder Architects
- 16 May 2018
The Swiss federal office for buildings and logistics recently acquired a piece of land for the construction of a new embassy in the Rossl...