University of Bambey Building, Diourbel, Senegal Architecture, West African Images
University of Bambey Building, Senegal, Africa
15 July 2020
University of Bambey Building, Diourbel, Senegal, Africa
Design: IDOM
Location: University of Bambey Building, Diourbel, Senegal, West Africa
In Senegal, shade and water are everything. This lecture-room block project, a close relative of another in Gaston Berger, San Luis, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and the World Bank, is set in the city of Bambey, located 120 km west of Dakar. With a population of 20,000, Bambey stands out for its peanut and cattle farming, its scarce urban infrastructures and the surrounding harsh life conditions.

The University of Bambey is around 5 km away from the metropolitan area, occupying an area of 64 Ha and catering for 2,000 students. Its buildings, erected between 2004 and 2007, have seen their capacity reduced due to the growing numbers of the student body. Therefore, the extension project was calculated for 1,500 students, with lecture rooms for 50 and 100 people, a 500 seat lecture hall, laboratories, computer rooms and offices for the teaching body, all distributed over an enclosed built-up area of 4,200 m2 and 11,500 m2 of urbanized area.
The project aims to respond to this context as a perfect machine, beautiful in its efficiency and without an engine. We found inspiration on campus by reproducing a great tree as a contributor of shelter, which would offer shade, coolnes...