In southern Senegal, the school transcends its condition as a mere building to become the heart of the community. More than an educational facility, it is conceived as a social infrastructure capable of gathering, sustaining, and projecting collective life. It is a space where children not only learn, play, and grow, but where relationships are forged, encounters are celebrated, and a shared identity is strengthened. In this sense, the project seeks to preserve and reinforce the existing social fabric, transforming the school into a symbol of cohesion, learning, and unity, a fundamental support for the community’s growth and development.
Guided by this premise, the design places the construction of a sense of belonging at its core. Architecture is understood as a device that fosters proximity, everyday interaction, and collective appropriation of space. The proposal reinterprets the traditional Case à impluvium of the Casamance region, a typology deeply rooted in local culture that organizes domestic life around a central open-to-sky courtyard. This spatial system, historically tied to the climatic and social conditions of the territory, informs both the form and the spirit of the project.
Drawing from this reference, the school is conceived as a composition organized around a large central courtyard, adopting a cloister-like configuration that articulates classrooms and shared spaces. This courtyard becomes the true nucleus of the project: a place for gathering, play, informal learning, and community celebration. Rather than an empty void, it operates as an active space that organizes, unifies, and connects all educational and social activities, becoming a point of convergence that reinforces collective bonds.
From an environmental perspective, the central courtyard also functions as a climatic regulator. Its proportions and orientation promote cross-ventilation between classrooms while generating shaded areas that improve thermal comfort in a warm and humid climate. Perimeter galleries protect interior spaces from direct solar radiation and seasonal rains, while simultaneously creating intermediate zones that extend the pedagogical domain outward. These transitions between interior and exterior enable learning to unfold across multiple spatial scales and conditions.
The project’s materiality relies on accessible construction techniques and the use of local resources, promoting an architecture of low environmental impact and ease of maintenance. The construction system seeks to balance durability and simplicity, enabling the community to actively participate in processes of building, repair, and future adaptation. In this way, the school not only integrates into its physical and cultural context, but also becomes an open infrastructure, capable of transformation and growth.
In a territory where public infrastructure is often scarce, the school assumes an expanded role: it is classroom, courtyard, shelter, and civic space. Its architecture aims to provide both physical support and symbolic grounding, creating a place capable of accompanying the community’s everyday life. Thus, rather than an isolated building, the project proposes a collective structure that sustains learning, strengthens social ties, and projects a shared future.
