The SEED Association

This school was chosen as the prototype for the renovation due to the urgency of resuming their services. Indeed, the Gox Mbacc school is deeply dilapidated and has had to close two of its classrooms.

The project

The project led by the SEED association, in partnership with the GIE Suxali Alaam, the City of Saint-Louis, the City of Lille and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Lille, has four specific objectives:

To propose bio-sourced construction solutions for public buildings in a complex context, to enable experimentation on the resistance of local materials, and to facilitate the adaptation and transposition of these solutions to the whole of the Saint-Louis territory.
Supporting the transfer of best practices and peer-to-peer knowledge in the development of local construction models, and supporting the training and professionalization of young people, particularly young women, in these alternative solutions.
Support the resilience of local communities and limit pressure on the environment by helping to create a common culture around bio-sourced construction models, resource management and protection through awareness-raising and experimentation with local communities.

Encourage individual, collective and public commitment to alternative practices by supporting the creation of a decision-making tool for choosing local building materials on a departmental scale.

This prototype building is designed as an immediate response to local needs (reopening of classrooms), as an incubator for experimentation to support the urban transition of the City of Saint-Louis, and as a new demonstration object to raise awareness among local communities of new, sustainable, quality construction systems.

The project is planned in several stages:

1 – A preparation and design phase

• Identification and inventory of local resources
• Co-design of prototype and strategic orientation
• Design of plans by ENSALP students, accompanied by the architect hired by SEED.

2 – A construction phase

This stage enables the demonstration of various construction techniques with an educational role
In the form of a training site, the construction of the school enables the training of a local workforce in sustainable construction.
Several groups are targeted to benefit from this training: traditional construction professionals, young people and women.

3 – Capitalizing on practices

• A compilation of training modules and acquired knowledge will be carried out, in order to produce an operational document for professional training and self-training, and to initiate interdisciplinary peer-to-peer exchanges
• Pedagogical workshops organized throughout the project, targeting a wide range of local players (educational teams, parents and children, municipal services, representatives of civil society).
• Bioclimatic architecture” workshops
• Environment and protection” workshops
• Introductory workshops on environmental and ecological issues
• Workshops to raise awareness of local construction

The project will be implemented and monitored by Adramé Ndiyae, a setec Afrique employee involved in the Foundation’s work. Since the 2021 thematic campaign, Adramé has played a key role in monitoring projects in Senegal through field visits, reports and meetings with project leaders. His investment continues with the implementation of this new project in Saint-Louis, for which the Foundation is very grateful.