This project examines the potential of typological overlaps, combining cruciform and courtyard typologies to create spaces between interior and exterior. These shaded spaces are created in the overlap between courtyard and cruciform and at the corners of the building surrounding the courtyard, where misfitted parts form interstitial thresholds. The plan is punctuated by a staccato of thick concrete block screen walls and built-in storage, creating layered envelopes around public spaces. Without access to electricity, the building will use this strategy, along with an earthen berm that surrounds the northern half of the building, for passive cooling. In preparation for the future development of a second story, the earthen berm also provides access to the roof. This topographic change not only supports passive cooling but will make it possible to transport patients between floors without the help of mechanical conveyance.

Intended to serve as a model for Nigerian health care facilities – providing low-cost healthcare in remote low-income developments – the project deals with the programmatic pressures of a trauma ward, clinic, staff offices, and doctor’s residence. The residence is situated in a separate building to the north, and each remaining element occupies a bar of the courtyard building. The south bar contains an entrance and lobby that afford space for waiting for patients and vehicles with an arcade on the exterior and arcaded benches on the interior. It also holds public restrooms, security, mechanical space, and a pharmacy. The east bar of the scheme contains outpatient treatment facilities and the nurses’ station. Treatment rooms on the east receive borrowed light from above, with the earthen berm creating privacy for the patients. The west bar contains a trauma ward for in-patient treatment, operating rooms, and patient records. The north bar contains doctors’ offices, a lab, and a morgue obscured from the public space.

All spaces have direct access to the courtyard for outdoor physical therapy. While the cruciform figure remains uncovered, four covered exterior spaces are protected by green roofs at each corner, providing ample shading on hot days and screening light to cool the interior. The cafeteria inflects the northeastern corner, creating an asymmetrical pinpoint where a stair connects to the elevated portion of the site and roof. Curtains hang throughout, representing the ultra-thin against this super thick encrusted wall. Each curtain delaminates the walls and, at once, surrounds a volume to create an impression of luminous masses.

Client: BBS Care Inc., Josephine Ezenwa, President and CEO
Location: Nkisi, Onitsha, Nigeria
Planning: 2019
Construction: xxx

Design: Constance Vale Architects

Size: xxx