Design for Tomorrow

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Will you design the classroom of the future?

BT and Architecture for Humanity (AFH) have teamed up in search of an innovative and cost effective design for the next generation of BT Academies through this year’s 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Portable Classrooms.

According to the World Bank, putting all children worldwide in school by 2015 will constitute, collectively, the biggest building project the world has ever seen. More than 10 million new classrooms will be needed throughout 100 countries.

To meet this challenge, BT and AFH are appealing to architects all over the world, students, teachers and professionals alike, to design a universal classroom space that can be used for incremental development and can be adapted to fit a variety of landscapes and locations throughout central Uganda.

Under BT’s cost-sharing model, local community members will provide over 25,000 hours of donated labor to construct each academy. The classroom must be large enough for 50 students, utilize local materials and should account for mostly unskilled labor. The target material costs for each classroom is $3,000.

BT’s winning design will be used for all BT Academies constructed over the next two years. All entries must be submitted by June 14, 2009.

Building Tomorrow has opened four primary academies to date, has two currently under construction and is set to break ground on two more this summer. Current BT Academies consist of seven classrooms, an office, a library, toilets and a soccer field and provide learning space for 325 children.

To learn more visit www.buildingtomorrow.org/site/open-architecture-challenge or www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/challenge.

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