RAW Architecture has designed a zigzag roof of thatched bamboo for a school in Indonesia, which is raised up on stilts to deal with its swampy site in Tangerang city.
The Jakarta-based practice built the 300-student Alfa Omega School, which is longlisted for a Dezeen Award, on this challenging location in just six months.

A shallow ramp leads up to school, and a dramatic corridor sheltered by a roof leads to a bamboo pavilion providing space for activities.
Structurally, the school buildings are split horizontally into three layers. On top of the 2.1-metre-high concrete stilts sits a steel base infilled with curved masonry walls, on top of which is a lightweight bamboo upper floor topped with a thatched bamboo roof.

"Steel, with its variation of thickness and treatments, gives chances for versatile details of design. While bamboo, on the other hand, is flexible matter that requires little maintenance," explained the studio. At the level of the lower brick sections, Alfa Omega School's classrooms sit set-back to create a series of walkways around each, shaded by the overhang of the floor plate above.

To streamline construction and minimise waste the design has square modular classroom units, arranged into four long thin buildings.
These four blocks are laid out in a hand-shaped plan around a central amphitheatre and courtyard. Green spaces in between each block allowing for ample natural ventilation.

Full-height glazing within the building's steel frame provide...