Hello Ireland think tank!

Hello all,

I’m an architecture student from Lisbon, grabbing my first (possibly) real project ever…

Currently I’m designing a small college project focusing on a technical school, bearing the fact that it has to be done as “cheap architecture in an African Country that is rich in natural resources”.

I am having some difficulties finding resources that have any ties to this sort of project!!
Therefore, if any of you could help me out here… 🙂

I’ve gone through entire shelves and sections in large bookstores, digging up only a few poor examples…
If anyone here has come upon this sort of information, could you please point me out, here on the internet or eventually in a paper book edition?

The general idea is to provide a population (who is not specialized, altough eager to learn) with means for technical independence, through the construction of a cheap, yet effective, schoolbuilding for teaching common people to work with machinery, repairing equipment, etc. to equip a territory with means to be independent technically of the great cities in the region, attracting investment to it’s own region!

The first step for this sort of intervention is the creation of a technical school, which is the focus of the exercise.

This is the only way to avoid such a population (far from urban centers like the capital of an african country, which usually gathers and absorbs all investment) from being swallowed and forgotten by a government.
It needs autonomy, it needs educated technicians. It needs these technicians even more than higher educated people, to be able to strutcturalize and use the rich surrounding means, to be able to breed animal stock, to plant crops, to make these lands of Africa give what they give best, which are food and natural resources, and nice warm sunny environments to go with it…

Basically, this is it!
If you know anything, any project or study that scarcely resembles this sort of solution or if you have any ideas to point out, be so kind as to do so, because I’m looking and looking, and I still haven’t come across something that might help me!

Thanks in advance,

Demétrio Ruivo