In 2023, we started a collaboration with GIZ to design and build nine school canteens in Zinder, Niger.
Cantine Zinder
Rethinking and refining the school canteen concept in Niger.
Rethinking and refining the school canteen concept in Niger.
Cantine Zinder
In 2023, we started a collaboration with GIZ to design and build nine school canteens in Zinder, Niger.
The challenge
How to improve the food situation of pupils in remote areas through architecture?
The solution
Creating the appropriate space in which to store food, prepare meals and consume them together.
A large roof offers protection from the extreme climatic conditions and creates community.

The project revolves around the dry and safe storage of food and its consumption. The centre of the building is therefore the storage room, which is surrounded by layers of spaces and functions connected to it.
To the south, the kitchen for preparing meals opens up to the outside space; to the north, the building's perimeter wall encloses the large dining room, which in turn can serve as a classroom if necessary.
Both functions are connected by corridors that, on the one hand, climatically isolate the storage room from the outside space and, on the other, structure the flow of movement within the structure.
The large raised roof, cantilevered in all directions, has three functions: it provides as much shade as possible against the scorching sun, protects the wall bricks from the weather and allows natural ventilation of the interior.
The compact building measures just under 4 metres in height, 8 metres in width and over 16 metres in length.
The storage room can safely store up to 3 tonnes of grain, the kitchen employs 8 women and in the dining room a community of 80 people can share their meals.

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