The floating locality of Makoko has around 100,000 habitants, a congregation of fishermen that settled in the area 200 years ago. Dubbed “Africa’s Venice,” it is situated on a lagoon at the edge of Lagos and faces constant threat from flooding and other extreme weather. Keen to uplift the community, architect Adeyemi, who heads the studio NLÉ and has worked very closely with Rem Koolhaas for nearly a decade, recently built a solar-powered floating school as the community’s first pilot project.
This amazing floating school addresses social, physical and ecological needs. Built on top of 256 recycled blue barrels, the triangular bamboo and wood structure was built in collaboration with Makoko’s inhabitants making good use of their skills while providing dignity and a sense of ownership. With three levels, the 32x32x32 foot solar-powered high school has room for 100 local kids and recycles rainwater to operate the toilets.
Following the success of their cool floating school, the Nigerian-Dutch studio has bigger plans ahead to build theLagos Water Communities Project.
+ NLÉ
Via Experimenta
Photos by NLÉ
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSnQfeIYMWI[/youtube]
