Where Walls Wander | Community Center

Inspired by the quiet memories of childhood—drawing on walls, playing hide and seek, and tracing the marks of growth—Where Walls Wander introduces a rammed-earth school in Senegal where structural walls weave program and circulation organically together.

• Project: Where Walls Wander

• Programme: Educational / Community Architecture

• School: Kaira Looro 2025 Competition

• Authors: Tsz Kiu Felix Wong & Yau Wai Lam

• Instagram Yau Wai Lam: @ede.sign.code

• Instagram Felix Wong: @felix_wong_official

• Status: Competition Entry Project

Designed as a holistically integrated community center, Where Walls Wander is inspired by the quiet memories of childhood: drawing on walls, playing hide and seek, or tracing the marks of physical growth. From these small, playful acts comes the concept of a central Wall that is not only structural but emotional and symbolic. Built in rammed earth, the Wall stretches along the north-south and east-west axes, dividing the school into three distinct zones: a vibrant playground, a community garden, and a frontage space.

Rather than placing classrooms in isolation, the walls weave programme and circulation together. The playground, community garden, and frontage zones support a holistic experience, blending learning, play, and social connection. The community garden, in particular, becomes a space of shared care, inviting local participation, food cultivation, and moments of intergenerational learning between children and their community.

The Rammed-Earth Axis and Earthy Mass

The massive rammed-earth walls serve as both high-performance thermal mass and the primary structural system, providing indoor thermal comfort while carrying the full load of the roof structure. By using locally sourced subsoil, the project achieves an incredibly low carbon footprint while anchoring the structure securely to the Senegalese landscape. The massive earth walls absorb daytime heat and release it during cooler nights, maintaining a stable indoor microclimate.

Weaving Programme and Circulation

Enclosure is achieved with locally made laterite brick, forming rooms that interlock with the central Wall. Corridors dissolve into courtyards and open spaces, allowing learning and play to blend freely. With classroom doors open, indoor and outdoor areas become one, completely blurring the boundary between structured instruction and spontaneous exploration.

The classroom corners are gently lifted, softening spatial edges and offering a more inviting geometry for children. Perforated brick screens at these corners promote continuous natural airflow and dissolve the boundary between indoors and out, ensuring that the learning environment remains well-ventilated and visually connected to the surrounding community garden.

Programme and Spatial Journey

The programmatic arrangement is carefully coordinated across the north-south axis, transitioning from highly active play areas to quiet, contemplative learning zones. The community frontage acts as a welcoming public threshold, while the classrooms are tucked deeper inside to maintain acoustic comfort.

Reciprocal Bamboo Framing and Rainwater Collection

The roof structure is built entirely from sustainable bamboo, assembled into highly efficient reciprocal frames that cantilever outward like wings. This reciprocal structural geometry allows the roof to span large distances without internal columns, keeping classrooms completely open and flexible. Rainwater is gently guided along the roof slope toward collection points for reuse in daily activities, gardening, and community agricultural needs, responding directly to the region's dry season.

Active Spatial Circulation and Design Development

The architectural form went through several iterations to balance solar shading, wind capture, and structural efficiency. The parametric evolution shows how the central wall stabilizes the interlocking rooms, creating a highly wind-resistant and earthquake-resistant structure.

Recycled Plastic and Translucent Light

The lightweight bamboo structure is finished with translucent tiles made from recycled plastic bottles, allowing soft, natural daylight to filter into the classrooms while expressing a sense of weightlessness above the grounded mass of earth. This circular design choice not only solves local waste challenges but creates a beautiful, glowing lantern effect at night, serving as a beacon of hope and education for the community.

Axonometric Construction and Details

An axonometric breakdown reveals how the foundation, rammed-earth load-bearing walls, interlocking laterite brick screens, and reciprocal bamboo frames fit together in a simple, community-buildable assembly system.

About the Authors

Tsz Kiu Felix Wong and Yau Wai Lam are collaborative architectural designers specializing in community-driven architectural interventions, sustainable contextual materiality, and parametric design structures. Discover more of their work on Instagram at @felix_wong_official and @ede.sign.code.