Studio Mozambique

Course Summary

Each year, schools damaged by natural disasters often leave hundreds of thousands of students with no access to education. Therefore, there is an urgency for design research that responds to the demand for affordable, innovative, resilient, and environmentally sustainable school buildings. Studio Mozambique focuses on the cultural, economic, political, and spatial history of schools in cities susceptible to natural disasters.

Early education has a significant impact on society. It serves as a platform to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to make rational and informed decisions. It is through education that communities can achieve their goals for growth and development. Natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, cyclones, and earthquakes, often cause property damage, including schools and educational institutions, disrupting children’s education every year. The following research sought to examine the multiple aspects in which schools and education as a whole struggle to find solid grounds post-natural
disasters. In many areas of the world, a natural disaster coupled with poverty is not merely a temporal transition or a reversible state. Rather, it has detrimental long-term effects and often results in school shutdowns.

Course Objectives

Tropical cyclones are expected to increase due to climate change, which has contributed to an increase in Atlantic hurricane activity. In Mozambique, over 3,400 classrooms were damaged or destroyed in cyclone-affected regions. In some cases, schools require extensive rehabilitation after being used as emergency shelters for children and families displaced by the storm. School facilities in affected regions of the world should be reconstructed to withstand recurring natural disasters. Studio Mozambique will focus on the development of a new high school project and a master plan for Hlauleka high school in Chokwe, Mozambique, which was recently hit by Cyclone Idai in 2019.

Read the full article on the UT College of Architecture and Design website