School in Bangladesh

A school-handmade by local craftsmen, pupils and teachers together with a European team of architects, craftsmen and students.
The philosophy of METI (Modern Education and Training Institute) is learning with joy. The teachers facilitate the children to develop their own potential use it in a creative and responsible way. The building reflects these ideas in terms of materials, techniques and architectural design. The aim of the project was to improve existing building techniques, maintaining sustainability by using local potential and strengthening regional identity.

The building was constructed together with local labourers from traditionally locally available materials-earth and bamboo. Local techniques were adapted and improved for better durability and to fit the dimensions of the school building. The ground floor walls, made of compacted earth using a technique similar to cob walling, serves as a support for the upper story made of bamboo, consisting of a triple-layer floor construction and a bamboo framework spanning perpendicular to the building. The bamboo construction was developed using 1:1 prototype test rigs in Germany and Bangladesh. The elevation cladding, made of bamboo strips is mounted on a timber supporting construction. Bamboo panels are spanned between the floor joists and filled with a straw-clay mixture. The connections between bamboo rods are anchored with steel dowels and bound with nylon rope. No special machinery was required-with the exception of holes bored using an electric drill, all work was undertaken by hand.