Arkitekter Uden Grænser

Udvikling, Arkitektur & Planlægning

Building

Bio-centre in Kinawataka

Can a joint sanitation-project in a slum settlement be the starting point for achieving land rights and housing finance? That is what we examine in this project, inspired by a method developed by UN-Habitat.

Project info

In this project we build a so-called Bio-centre in the slum settlement Kinawataka, located in Kampala, Uganda. A bio-centre provides public toilets, showers, clean water and public spaces which are in high demand in the slum. The building furthermore produces biogas which is a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to burning charcoal for cooking. The bio-centre will be built in collaboration with local partners and be operated by a local cooperative organisation.

We expect the project to make the urban environment surrounding the bio-centre cleaner and healthier, as many residents are expected to favour it over existing pit-latrins or using the open sewers that criss-cross the slum.

Millions live in slums in Sub-Saharan Africa, with no improvements in sight and often with the threat of forced eviction looming over their heads. The miserable living conditions often result in poor health which is part of what keeps people trapped in poverty.

The project is therefore conceived as precursor to a subsequent land rights project with the aim of testing possibilities for cooperative ownership of land and housing. In support of developing sustainable models that can improve living conditions for the poor urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Building going up…
Foundation slab finished
Preparing foundation rim
Covering substructure
Complete substructure
Closing substructure
Building substructure
Clearing the site..
DEVELOPMENT TARGETS
  • To improve health and thereby reduce poverty, by providing access to toilets, showers and clean water.
  • To transfer knowledge around slum-adapted bio-centres from Kenya to Uganda by involving Kenya bio-centre experts as consultants.
  • To establish a local bio-centre cooperative that can become a dialogue-partner in a potential, subsequent land rights project.
  • To build skills and create local jobs during and after construction

Read more about about our pavilion at BLOX, built in connection with Copenhagen World Capital of Architecture. The pavilion is an abstraction of the bio-centre and tells the story of its goals and creation.

Join us for the opening of the bio-centre pavilion at BLOX on June 10. Find out more here.

The bio-centre is inaugurated in Kampala, on June 6, 2023. See latest news here.