Madonna’s Solar School In Malawi

L'école solaire de Madonna au Malawi.

Thursday, 04 February 2010
GreenMuze Staff
Via: BD Online (Building Design)

Big-hearted singing star Madonna is currently working on creating a sustainable school for girls in Malawi, Africa. Designed by New York-based Studio MDA, The Academy for Girls Malawi, is a campus powered entirely by solar energy and built with locally sourced materials.
The school will also include other eco-elements like hydraform bricks made from soil on the building site and double roofs that create natural ventilation.
The project is expected to be completed in 2012 and will accommodate 450 students.
Madonna now joins other influential celebrities undertaking large-scale humanitarian projects including Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie (Millennium Village in Cambodia), talk show magnate Oprah (The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa) and Brad Pitt (Make It Right Project in Louisiana).

Source: GreenMuze.

PICTURE OF THE DAY
Madonna's Malawi school on-site
3 February, 2010
By David Rogers

New images of a planned school in Africa being funded by Madonna have been unveiled.
The pop star is bankrolling the Academy for Girls in Malawi – the African country which her adopted son David hails from – which is currently on-site and will become a campus for 450 pupils when it is completed in two years’ time.
New York practice Studio MDA, which was founded by former Zaha Hadid Architects partner Markus Dochantschi, is behind the design which aims to use locally sourced materials such as hyrdaform bricks made from soil on site.
Double roofs are designed to catch the wind to provide natural ventilation while photovoltaic panels on the roof of the buildings will help the school be energy independent.
In addition, large overhangs on the roofs create outdoor shaded space and prevent direct light from heating up the interior of the building.
British engineer Adams Kara Taylor is also working on the scheme along with the New York office of Arup.

Source: Building Design.

Materials Girl: Madonna Uses Hydroform Bricks in Malawi for Immaculate Construction
BY Ariel Schwartz
Thu Feb 4, 2010
Via Ecofriend

Leave it to Madonna to be at the forefront of any and all trends coming down the pipeline. This time around, the aging pop legend has taken on energy efficiency by bankrolling the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, a planned school in her son David's homeland.
The 113-acre school will consist of a dining hall, gym, administration building, wellness center, sports field, 30 12 dormitories, 30 classrooms and 18 staff houses. Most of the buildings will be made out of Hydraform bricks, which are constructed from on-site soil. That's just one of the slew of sustainable features at the site--the gymnasium's roof will be covered in solar panels, double roofs on all the buildings will catch wind for natural ventilation, an education center will teach kids about sustainable agriculture, and wetlands will harbor graywater to be used as irrigation for the sports field. See? Madonna can out-green us all.
The majority of the credit shouldn't go to Madonna, of course--Studio MDA, Arup, and British engineer Adams Kara Taylor designed the school, which will harbor 450 students when it is finished in 2012.

Source: Fast Company.

Madonna’s energy-independent school springing up in Malawi
Anupam | Feb 4 2010
Via: BD Online (Building Design)

Eco Factor: Sustainable school powered by on-site photovoltaic panels.
Pop star Madonna is funding the Academy for Girls in Malawi, Africa to develop an eco-friendly school that relies solely on the energy of the sun. The school is expected to be completed in two years, after which it will become a campus for 450 pupils.
The school has been designed by New York practice Studio MDA and will be constructed from locally sourced materials such as hydraform bricks that are made from soil on site. The sustainable school will feature double roofs that are designed to catch the wind for natural ventilation.
Moreover, photovoltaic panels on the roof of the building will provide all the energy the school needs. Large overhands on the roofs have been designed to create outdoor shaded space and prevent direct light from heating the interiors.

Source: Ecofriend.

The plans below for the 'Raising Malawi Academy for Girls' were published on Raising Malawi website on October 29, 2009.

Les plans ci-dessous pour l'Académie Raising Malawi pour Filles ont été publiés sur le site Web de Raising Malawi le 29 octobre 2009.

Images: Adams Kara Taylor/Studio MDA.

Plans for Raising Malawi Academy for Girls in the works
By StudioMDA Staff on 10.29.09

StudioMDA is a New York-based architecture firm doing pro bono design for Raising Malawi. The following is a message from their staff members who are currently designing the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls.

Yesterday afternoon, Madonna planted a Moringa tree to mark the start of construction of Raising Malawi Academy for Girls in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe. When the Academy is finished in 2012, the campus will accommodate 450 Girls. We believe this school will set new educational and sustainable standards for schools in Malawi and other developing countries.
The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls campus will include a Library and Administration building, Dining Hall, Gymnasium, Wellness Center, Sports Field, 30 Classrooms, 12 Dormitories and 18 Staff Houses on a 46 hectare site. Our design concept for the Academy will utilize cutting edge environmental analysis with appropriate technologies to achieve sustainability goals such as passive ventilation, and natural light. Most construction materials are sourced locally, such as Hydraform bricks, made from soil on site, avoiding the use of burned bricks which have been largely responsible for wide spread deforestation in Malawi.
A field of photovoltaic panels on the roof of the gymnasium will help the school to be energy independent. Two constructed wetlands will process all the black and grey water generated by the school allowing it to be used for irrigation that will keep the playing field green even in the dry season. Learning landscapes, and educational agriculture areas will help to educate the student on the range on ecosystems in Malawi and help to develop the future of sustainable agriculture in the country. The result will be a comprehensive educational campus that will create a safe and nurturing environment.
At StudioMDA we have closely collaborated with Adams Kara Taylor of London, dLand Studio of New York, Transsolar Climate Engineering of Stuttgart and New York, John Todd Ecological Design of Woods Hole, ARUP Consulting Engineers in New York, Alcatel Lucent New York and ePod Solar of British Columbia to develop the design of the project. We have also worked closely with local architect Ismail Patel of IMDesign and the local Malawi design team including RD Consultants, M&E Associates, ULC Landscapes and SFS Property Consultants.

Source: Raising Malawi.