Tutoring Center in the Mango Grove
Mango Madness 2015 raised money to begin construction of a tutoring center in the mango grove across the street from the Ko-Falen Cultural Center. Additional funds were raised in 2016 using “gofundme”. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Building Progress 2016/17
Ko-Falen outgrew its tutoring center space and has built a new tutoring center across the street in the Mango grove. Images from the construction process are shown below. Actual construction departed from the original architects proposal because of the difficulty of managing the project long distance from Portland to Bamako. A simpler roof construction based on ideas from Francis Kéré’s Gando Library project was created by onsite staff.
Making concrete bricks for Ko-Falen’s Tutoring Center
Making the foundations
Building up the walls
Continuing walls with windows/doors
Inside classroom, finishing cap ring for roof and preparing floor for cementing
Completed walls
Preparing bracing for pouring concrete ceiling
Pouring concrete roof with “pop-out” bucket placeholders for ventilation and lighting
Interior classroom with “aerated” ceiling
Classrooms with cement surface “skinning”
August 2016 – Windows and floor complete – waiting for paint
The staff and students seem quite happy with the results. Comments are made on how much cooler it is inside the building compared to outside. In March 2017, a pair of temperature recording devices were sent to the site. One was installed in the shade of the mango trees, and the other was placed inside one of the tutoring rooms. The results of a several day test are shown in the graph below:
The temperature inside the building is about 2 degrees cooler than outside the building in the shade. Not a huge difference, but it is very noticeable to the people on site. It is possible that the temperature can be lowered further when and if additional shading to the structures.
