LAGOS, Nigeria — A three-story structure comprised of wood panels floats on the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Lagos. Children in matching yellow and blue outfits arrive at the structure via rowboat. This structure is a new school and the children are its students. Pictures taken by Iwan Baan of the school and its students recently appeared in The New York Times Magazine article, “School at Sea.”
Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi built the school for children in Makoko with help from the United Nations and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, an organization that promotes international human rights. Adyemi and his studio, NLE, used wood planks of bamboo for the structure and solar panels for energy to design the school at a low cost. The school serves 100 elementary-aged children during the day and acts as a community space during the evening.
Makoko, a severely impoverished fishing village in Lagos, exists on stilts planted in heavily polluted water. Each year, residents of Makoko struggle to access safe drinking water, sanitation and adequate education. According to a 2013 Al Jazeera article, in “Nigeria’s water-starved ‘Venice of Africa,’” the lack of education perpetuates sanitation and health issues for the region.
In the article, Dr. Theophilus Damijida, a physician from the area, explains that the residents of Makoko believe the water is clean and will even clean wounds with it.
UNICEF statistics indicate that 40 percent of children under the age of 11 do not attend school in Nigeria. The World Bank estimates that 46 percent of Nigeria’s population lives below the poverty line, and often families cannot afford school supplies, need children to work during the day or do not believe in non-secular school programs, especially for girls. In other cases, rural areas lack proper school facilities for students or have damaged school facilities.
The new floating school will resolve some of these issues for students in Makoko. According to Dezeen Magazine, a publication that showcases architectural and design projects, Makoko had one English speaking school before construction of the floating school.
This school, as well as most of Makoko, floods frequently, leaving the facilities unusable and children without a school on numerous days of the year. The floating school provides a solution to these challenges as the structure adjusts with current water levels, rendering the school usable during the flood season.
The NLE project description for the school’s construction stated, “Makoko Floating School is a prototype structure that addresses physical and social needs in view of the growing challenges of climate change in an urbanizing African context.” Adeyemi and NLE hope that the school’s design may be applied to other needed structures in African regions with severe weather conditions.
The project description also provides illustrations of the school’s sustainable structure, demonstrating the use of barrels and water collection inside the bottom level combined with a triangular building design — a Makoko building tradition — to sustain flotation.
The architect utilized many of Makokos’ local resources to create the structure, including the barrels for flotation and bamboo for the wooden panels. The use of Makoko’s triangular building shape and local products suggests that residents of the area could construct similar sustainable structures. Perhaps Makoko’s floating school will be the first of many similar structures along Africa’s coastal regions as it continues to demonstrate success for students in Lagos.
Sources: Dezeen Magazine, Aljazeera, Heinrich Böll Foundation, The New York Times, NLE, UNICEF, World Bank
Photo: New Scientist