Undergraduate students Alexander Robinson and Anne Sewell, had the amazing opportunity two years ago to collaborate together on a design-build project for a runner’s residence located in Kenya. Since developing the design, the team has had the chance to fly to the site in Kenya to construct the project. Now, Alex and Anne share some thoughts on the entire experience.
Diagrams of the design
All of us in Waterloo Architecture are extremely hard working, focused individuals that take great pride in our studio projects and portfolios, but those aspects of our education weren’t the primary contribution to this opportunity to build a runners’ residence in Kenya. How we got this project taught us much about the importance of establishing relationships with people who have common interests, not only in architecture.
We got to know John Carson through our conversations during treatment at the sports medicine clinic as well as on the masters swim team here in Cambridge. He planned on building a resource center that would house marathon runners training at high altitudes in Kenya and casually asked us to take on the project. It became our side project during the next co-op term and definitely proved to be an exciting learning experience.
Milling wood from local trees
We consulted many times with John and skyped constantly throughout the co-op term. We even connected with a woman in Kenya who shared some information about the very primitive building techniques used and what sorts of materials would be available to us. It was exciting to design with so many limitations such as no power hook-up, and no way to ship materials to the site. Our solution was to source almost all materials from around the site. During our time there, we felled a 50 foot tree 500 meters away from the site (running for our lives), then hired a man with a chainsaw to cut dimensioned lumber after we had removed the foliage with machetes. Bricks were sun baked on the site, concrete mixed as slurry in the soil next to our building, and rocks were quarried from a nearby site and laid as the foundation.
Alex and Anne on site preparing the foundation of the building
Roof construction
It rain heavily for a good portion of the year in this area of Kenya, and we saw this as a great opportunity for additional water collection. We managed to acquire metal roofing, which channels water into the courtyard and feeds it to a cistern on the site. To provide the runners with light and power, John installed solar panels making our project completely disconnected from the grid (which really doesn’t exist there).
Building in use today
The following year after we finished the design and one or two construction documents (that would barely be used), John flew us both to Kenya. We were dropped in the middle of no where, in the middle of the night, to be guided to our small mud hut where we slept for the next two weeks. We learned how to milk cows, made delicious chapati bread with Kenyan tea, and realized how difficult running is at that altitude. We asked to consult with an Engineer in the closest neighboring town, Eldoret, and were able to find a membrane to lay under the concrete. With four people on one motorbike, we picked up the membrane from a nearby town and even bought some Tusker for the workers. It was extremely different from anything we had anticipated. Some workers helped shovel in bare feet, they said drinking milk would protect their throats against the cement dust. Most didn’t understand what design, or even style meant, because there, they only built for purpose.
Interior courtyard and typical sleeping room facade
We learned so much from the incredibly kind and extremely hard working people in Mosoriot, Kenya. They taught us their way of living and in return we shared knowledge of new building techniques using familiar building materials. It was special seeing so many local people excited and invested in the project. Already, there have been a group of Russian runners, a French trainer and of course locals who have stayed in the resource center. Who knows what’s to come!
