Project info
- Location: Sierra Leone
- Year: 2010 - 2012
- Client: React, Friend's of Masanga
- Size: Varying
- Collaborators: React, Friend's of Masanga, the management and staff of Masanga Hospital
- Financing: Statens Kunstfond, Dreyers Fond, Friend's of Masanga.
- Project team: Rasmus C. Hamann, Camilla Kragh, Silje Erøy Sollien, Petter Brandberg
- Contact: [email protected]
The project departs from the reconstruction of the Masanga Hospital, centrally located in Masanga, Sierra Leone. The hospital was shut down in 1997 and reopened again in 2006, led by the Danish doctor Peter Bo Nielsen after it was greatly damaged during the civil war that ended in 2002. The hospital is now well-functioning and treats around 150 patients each day.
However, one of the most significant issues is the lack of decent staff accommodation, which could help recruit qualified hospital staff, otherwise left to live in primitive huts without sanitation. The aim of the project is therefore to build a series of dwellings for the staff.
It has been of high focus to develop housing that took climate, functionality, and the re-use of local materials into consideration. The intention has also been to integrate parameters such as natural ventilation, daylight, and cooling. Because of a minimal financial frame, low-cost solutions have also been of high priority. Each unit is to be inhabited by a family or three nurses.
DEVELOPMENT TARGETS
- Masanga Hospital to attract qualified labor by offering decent accommodation for staff.
- The hospital can increase its capacity and provide better service to people living within its catchment area through more and better-trained staff.