The Kamwokya Community Centre, designed by Kéré Architecture for the informal settlement of Kamwokya, Kampala, has officially opened. The community center will host different activities in sports, music, dance and culture, and will develop adult literacy activities, informal education for children and health education for people living in one of the most neglected areas of the Ugandan capital.

Kamwokya is located in a valley among the hills of Kampala’s central district, with an extremely high population density, insufficient infrastructure and poor health conditions.

The Kamwokya Community Centre is the fruit of a partnership between the local non-profit organisation Kamwokya Christian Caring Community (KCCC), which gives access to basic services and addresses health and social development needs in the area, and the Ameropa Foundation, which is engaged in projects throughout the world that aim to improve the lives of marginalised people.
The centre, designed by Kéré Architecture, is open to everyone regardless of religion, gender and background, strengthening the site’s fundamentally public and free character. The design provides a space that is conducive to the activities that were already taking place on-site, such as education in health, literacy and numeracy, sports training and matches, spontaneous games, informal gatherings, community events, skills training workshops and music and dance classes.
 
“With the Kamwokya Community Centre, we created a lasting, innovative architecture that will provide inspiration and a public space for the community, improving the quality of life for all.  It is my hope that it will function as a symbol of pride for the people of Kamwokya.”
Francis Kéré.
 
“The centre is a development that demonstrates that the marginalised communities deserve better and it gives children, adolescents and adults moments of hope, happiness and sustainable solutions to their needs, in addition to providing them with new aspects of better living.”
Francis Mbaziira, CEO of KCCC.


Kamwokya Community Centre by Kéré Architecture. Photograph by Iwan Baan.


Kamwokya Community Centre by Kéré Architecture. Photograph by Iwan Baan.
 

Project description by Kéré Architecture

The Kamwokya Community Centre is the fruit of a partnership between the local non-profit Kamwokya Christian Caring Community, which runs sports, leisure and artistic activities in one of the poorest areas of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the Ameropa Foundation, which works internationally on projects that aim to improve the lives of marginalised communities.

The goal of the project is to maintain and enhance the public and free character of the site, seeking not to impose, but to gently uplift it. The playground provides a more conducive space for the activities already happening on sites, such as sports training and matches, spontaneous gatherings, community events, workshops, and music and dance classes.

The entire project is raised on a platform featuring an efficient drainage system to protect it from recurrent floods during heavy rains. The platform is divided into distinct areas by slight differences in level that allow multiple activities to take place simultaneously without interfering with one another. The main sports field, drained and shaded, is surrounded by tribune-like steps to watch the games or gather informally. On the platform, two naturally ventilated buildings house a small gym, an internet café, various multi-purpose rooms for classes and workshops, a music studio and an office, as well as an adjacent sanitary block. These spaces are covered by two butterfly roofs raised by steel structures to allow for airflow, which gives a strong identity to the site in its urban context.

Beyond its practical function, the project aims to transform the community by becoming a source of inspiration and pride that in turn can create a sense of agency and ownership.

More information

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Architects
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Project team
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Local Architect.- j.e.nsubuga & associates, Kampala, Uganda.
Structural Engineer.- AECOM, London, UK.
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Client
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Ameropa Foundation, Binningen, Switzerland & Kamwokya Christian Caring Community (KCCC), Kamwokya, Uganda
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General Contractor
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Soleco Construction co Ltd., Kampala, Uganda.
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Area
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1,600 m².
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Dates
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2016 - 2022.
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Venue / location
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Kampala, Uganda.
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Photography
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Jaime Herraiz. Iwan Baan.
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Diébédo Francis Kéré (b.1965, in Gando, Burkina Faso, west Africa) trained at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, started his Berlin based practice, Kéré Architecture, in 2005. Kéré Architecture has been recognised nationally and internationally with awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first building, a primary school in Gando, Burkina Faso; LOCUS Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2009); Global Holcim Award Gold (2011 and 2012); Green Planet Architects Award (2013); Schelling Architecture Foundation Award (2014); and the Kenneth Hudson Award –European Museum of the Year (2015).

Projects undertaken by Francis Kéré span countries, including Burkina Faso,Mali, China, Mozambique, Kenya, Togo, Sudan, Germany and Switzerland. He has taught internationally, including the Technical University of Berlin, and he has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Accademia di Architettura di Mendriso in Switzerland.

Kéré’s work has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions: Radically Simple at the Architecture Museum, Munich (2016) and The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community, Philadelphia Museum of Art (2016). His work has also been selected for group exhibitions: Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010) and Sensing Spaces, Royal Academy, London (2014).

Among his main works are the Primary School (2001) and the Library (under construction) of Gando, Burkina Faso; the Health and Social Promotion Center (2014) and the Opera Village (under construction), both in Laongo, Burkina Faso; the Satellite of the Volksbühne Theater at the Tempelhof Airport, in Berlin (temporary installation, 2016); or the Pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery of the year 2017.

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