What does the site of the City of UBUNTU look like?
The City of UBUNTU is located about 200 km from the capital Yaoundé, in the savannah of western Cameroon, in the Bangangté area, near the village of Sanki. About an hour's walk lies between the 12-hectare property and the nearest village. It is connected to the main road network at the northern boundary of the property by a simple clay road, which can be used by larger vehicles. The terrain itself slopes from north to south to a depression and then rises again to the southern property boundary. The soil in the southern area is well suited as building ground due to its rocky nature.
What does the development concept look like?
After an initial analysis of the site conditions, the Viennese architectural team of Symbios Architektur identified the following initial development steps and design strategies for the structural and physical measures in the City of UBUNTU:
- Zone focusing on livestock
- Zone focusing on arable farming
- Zone focusing on construction
- Central mediation building
- Accommodation
- Workshops, studios, etc.
- Building for knowledge and culture exchange
- required outbuildings, farm buildings
- necessary infrastructure
etc
What are the next steps?
- in the core area development, in the vicinity of the future central mediation building
- Dormitory for about 20 women and 20 men, sanitary facilities, common area, cooking and dining area.
- partly weather-protected, partly sun-protected
- modular, simple construction
- highest achievable standard within the framework of the boundary conditions (sustainability, ecology, sanitation ...)
Transit, infrastructure, etc...
In the entrance area of the property
What does the first project community shelter look like?
Ecology
- Solar generation (PV, hot water)
- Wind power (e.g. drying, harvesting, storage,... power generation)
- Floor cooling/ground heat - Indoor climate
- Adaptation of traditional systems
- Heat/cold storage (walls, earth box, floor, buffer storage...)
- Power storage (battery,...)
- Adaptation of traditional systems
- Collection (roofs, paved open spaces)
- Storage for use (service water, irrigation, drinking trough, cistern, energy storage...).
- Recycling
- Discharge from consumption points into central processing
- Biological treatment (from dirty to clean)
- Return of clean water to groundwater - seepage case (circuit)
- Enable solar energy generation
- Transformation light into heat (winter)
- Ventilation (protection from overheating in summer, hygiene)
- Self-shading (summer / winter / sun positions)
- Light / shade (light / dark rooms depending on function)
- Structural protection against rain (erosion earthen construction - apply proven technologies).
- Protection from ground moisture (distancing from the ground, depending on the function).
- Ecological construction methods
- Transformation of local building traditions
- Optimization of primary energy demand for building construction (avoidance of intermediate waste storage in construction versus sensible use of waste with added value in construction; i.e., what happens to the waste after the life of the building?
- Planning of the buildings on the basis of easily produced prototypical, flexible basic modules (e.g. living space, storage, sanitary area, kitchen, etc.), which are easily adaptable and adaptable to changed requirements. In each construction cycle there is the possibility to optimize the modules and adapt them to new findings or requirements.
Project Gallery
The architectural team of the City of Ubuntu
right to left: Dominik Bauer, Philipp Broinger, Ozan Dağli, Herwig Ferch, Javier García Fernández