Temporary-Modular Classroom Setting in the D.R.O.C

Education is perhaps one of the most powerful tools we can give to our youth, an instrument for change and growth. However, while many of us take our proximity to school and its resources for granted, many others cannot say the same. I was recently tasked to take a look at under privileged areas and ways to provide them better access to education, and stumbled across a displacement camp area within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here, quality education is hard to come by, particularly because of the lack of stable and useful infrastructure respective of the number of people in the area. With that in mind, I thought about creating a temporary - modular classroom setting for the children in the area, and the rest is my whole process regarding it.

**Make sure to check the conclusion for the final product & more**

Online Rendering:

1. Computer
2. Prome.Ai account

Physical Presentation:

1. Board
2. Paper (Preferably Graph Paper) and Pencil
3. Scissors
4. Tape and/or [hot]glue
5. Printer (For images)
6. Small samples of carpet and metal

Before visualizing or designing our classroom, we need to take into account the location that we intend to build in. The setting that our piece will exist in is very important, as aspects like the weather and general life normalities will affect everything from the way it is built, to its features and even the materials. In this specific project, I decided to take a look at the Democratic Republic of the Congo and more specifically the city of Goma, and with it came across a few specific things we will have to include in our project.

1. The area has a very prominent “wet season” from March to May, which may lend certain locations within it to being prone to flooding or other issues of the sort
2. There are many displacement camps in the area, taking in and letting go of people all throughout the year. We will never have a set amount of children at one moment in time, as populations change frequently in the area. We will keep this in mind in the design process of the projects.

With these two points in mind, we will have to create something that not only can withstand the elements and work around the potential natural disasters, but also something that can handle an uncertain number of students, whether more or less than a prior time period.

With some guidelines in place now, it is time to start putting together some ideas that will work towards the goal we are trying to achieve (A classroom in our specific setting) while still being temporary to fit the objective of the contest. Being as I have worked with them before, my idea immediately went to using modular domes as a way of hitting both points. The reasoning for this choice came from prior research regarding modular domes, but to break it down simply in a few points:

1. Domes are very structurally sound to fight against mild earthquakes (The DROC also happens to be near a couple of fault lines)
2. They also for wind and especially rain to pass over more efficiently than say a standard rectangular building
3. They capture a lot of light, especially if made of translucent material - this will benefit us greatly as the area might not always have reliable access to enough electricity to power a large classroom

As for the modularity aspect:

1. The construction will be completed through a system of placing glass panes upon support structures, but lying upon the ground as is.
2. There will also be entrances within the domes themselves connected via tunnel, allowing for cross classroom travel depending on the goal at hand.

Together, the idea of a dome classroom setting that is modular successfully tackles both the issues at hand in our location and the challenge itself. The domes maximize resource use and protection against the elements, while the modularity allows for units to be added/removed depending on population in a given time, and it obviously temporary (And can always be deconstructed or built back up if needed).

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Now, with our planning out of the way, we can start designing some raw sketches of what the classrooms would be like. In the picture above you can get an idea of what the classroom will look like and how it will function. Featured are some very basic floor planning ideas (Which I will make better in the next step) and some more insight into the modularity itself.

Now that we have our ideas all lined up, we can start getting more intentional with the aspects of the domes. As seen in the floor-plans created above, my system has 2 classrooms, which I intend to be used for two different purposes. One will be a lecture style dome, with rows of desks surrounding a teacher and a few screens/boards in the room, and the other to be a collaborative space, with workstations and a presentation stage. To get more detailed:

1. Dome 1 - Working our way in, we can look outside the dome first to notice the material the dome is mainly constructed out of, ETFE (I will talk more about it on the next step). Additionally, you can see the doors used to enter the dome and the tunnel to connect to the next dome. These marks are intentionally much darker than the inside lines, which is used to distinguish the walls and more prominent architectural implements as opposed to the interior and furniture. Speaking of the furniture, if you take a look inside, you can notice 5 main elements. First off we have the main space, where the teacher will talk. Surrounding that are 2 rows of tables, giving everyone an equal view of said teacher. In the back wall of both sides are boards intended to be used for drawings and writings. Scattered around the outside are several TV’s, which would be a nice luxury to have if opportunity presents itself, and of course some plants to break away from a monotonous look.

1. Dome 2 - Like mentioned earlier, this dome will be a more collaborative space as compared to an instructional one. The same ETFE exterior, tunnel and thick lines are present here, only this time with some more potential tunnels on the top and bottom for the possibility of more domes if needed. As for this interior, there are still multiple plants and boards for the same reasons as before. As for the differences, the main one is the stage in the back. If we want to give these children the best education possible, a stage would be a great way to not only present, but potentially incorporate some more creativity in their education too. In addition to the stage, we have several workstations where the students can get some hands on crafting experience, another way to really try to diversify the learning experience as much as possible!

As for some tips for floorplans, I am by no means an expert, but do have some tips; Make sure your line thickness is distinguishable to separate aspects of your plan, never place two objects too close to each other to ensure adequate space in between each, use industry standards symbols for doors, windows and more, and labeling certain design inclusions never hurt either!

As any designer knows it’s not only what you make but WITH what you make it, which is exactly why choosing the right materials is so important for any job. In addition to the aesthetic look you are trying to accomplish, certain materials are crucial for performance and qualities in your construction. If we think back to my transparent dome shape, we need to think about what we will make said dome out of. I intially thought glass as it’s the most obvious clear substance, but after a bit of thought, I decided to choose ETFE. ETFE, also known as Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, is a more easily moldable plastic substance compared to glass, while still retaining strength. This will be the main material used in our classroom.

While the ETFE is a great material due to its allowance of light and shapeable quality, we need to then look at how that amount of light would play in a classroom setting. What I mean is with the amount of light coming in, we need something to mute it a little, rather than amplify it. Think about snow on the ground on a sunny day, and how bright it is. If we allowed all the light from the outside in and have it bounce off of light-colored surfaces, the students would not be able to focus. That is why I decided to carpet the ground in this dark brown - almost black color - and accent it with a similar slate-colored metal for the ETFE support (As the ETFE panels would need some kind of support to hold the whole shape up). In addition to absorbing the a lot of the excess light, the contrasting and simplistic color scheme would separate the space from the outside environment, which I feel would be a good thing.

And then for some of the furniture, I chose to go back to some of the lighter colored materials. Making the chairs, tables and other wooden structures out of this nice light oak, and the plants a bright vibrant green would make sure the interior doesn’t remain TOO dark or muted, while being small enough additions to not amplify the light or create any real noticeable glare. Paired against the darker flooring and support beams, and the clear ETFE exterior, the classroom will have a nice modern look that promotes a healthy and engaging learning environment, while taking making the most of the area the classroom finds itself in.

Taking all of our concepts, floorplans and site, it’s time to render an image of the domes. We will start with seeing how the outside of the domes looks like. Inputting descriptions of my desired look of the domes into Prome.AI, we can get an idea of how the domes may look exteriorly in terms of materials used and integration within the location.

There are several options to create an image, but in my experience, text to image is by far the easiest and most accurate. In my specific case, I told the software to make 2 ETFE geodesic domes with slate colored support beams connected via tunnel. I asked for one to have a large entrance and for the system to be placed in a jungle-esk setting with several trees and bushes, which mimics what would be typical in my location. In my instance, they added a concrete flooring surrounding the domes which I didn’t ask for and had a hard time trying to get rid of, so just be away that there could be some error or wonkiness when using the software. Overall, however, I feel the render does a pretty good job and giving us insight on how the domes may look from the outside.

Now that we had our exterior rendering, it was time to move into the interior. Here I created 2 separate renderings to represent the two separate domes in my build.

For the first dome, the instructional one, I asked the software for an interior rendering of a geodesic ETFE dome, with curved rows of tables surrounding a central space, several boards and television screens along the edges of the dome and various plants scattered around too.

For the second dome, the collaborative one, I asked to keep the same dome from before but with changes to the furniture. I told the software to include a large stage in the back of the dome, several workstations throughout the interior around a main table, and the same inclusion of boards and plants as prior.

These two renders I feel turned out very well and accurate to the floor-plans I drew up earlier. I didn’t get them perfect on the first try, and had to make several adjustments in my prompt to achieve the exact result I wanted, which you will probably have to also. With enough troubleshooting though, I got a nice final product!

With all our drawings, pictures and materials gathered, there was one last step, to plaster it all on a board for presenting. When showcasing an idea you have for a potential architectural project, a culminating-board of all your work is a great way to organize ideas and implementations (Apologies that the quality is not the best). In my case, I had 6 separate boxes, each for a different aspect of my work. As you move from section to section, you can get a really good idea of the reasons behind the designs and the administrations of them too. If you’re following along, I really recommend this as a final piece of the puzzle. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my Instructable today!

PSA: As a growing student, educational growth and experiences are very important to me. On that note, I was recently selected to be a part of a STEM research and volunteer program in Portugal. I was thrilled to receive the news, but as you may expect the cost is a bit daunting. If your feeling generous enough to, I would appreciate any little bit of support you all can provide me with the program with the GoFundMe link here: https://gofund.me/5e4fb145

Regardless, I appreciate every single one of you for your time and kindness!