In Sabah, Malaysia, many thousands of stateless children have become marginalised due to their legal status. These are mainly children of illegal or legal Indonesian migrant labourers.  The migrants come to Sabah to seek an income on the plantations so they can have a decent life.

The Etania schools are learning centres for their children, who have no access to education until a school begins for them. Therefore, Etania schools run a full learning program 6 days a week with all the necessary curriculum subjects.

In these learning centres, children enjoy safety, security and happiness and most importantly their right to learn. Etania, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, has an ambitious plan to build 30 school across Sabah. They asked billionBricks and Architecture BRIO to prepare a prototype for a green school design for 350 children aged 5-13.

Environmental Challenges

The school is located along a river with a history of massive floods once every 10 years or so. The destruction of the original rainforest and their replacement by oil palm plantations has increased the flood risk even further. Therefore the design strategy proposed to raise the school, not unlike much of Borneo’s vernacular architecture, from the ground. However the classrooms rise above the ground in an unconventional way.

Recycling

Five decommissioned shipping containers, and a mound created from soil excavated for a water harvesting pond, support the classrooms. This minimises the structural components, and stabilises the framework. Additionally it creates a covered space below the classrooms for a lunch area and gathering space. The containers themselves accommodate store rooms and toilets.

Organisation

The school children can move around the school in multiple ways. They can climb the first floor either via a centrally located staircase, from two ladders. or from the slopes of the mound. This way, the Etania Green School becomes a place for exploration and overcoming challenges in line with the educational philosophy of the school.

On the first floor, three blocks are placed alternately on either side of a central verandah. Two blocks contain four classrooms. The third block on the mound contains the teacher room and library. Because they orient along the east west direction, they minimise the heat gain, and avoid direct sunlight hitting the long elevations. This also means that the classrooms all face the river and enjoy a natural draft of air that flows across the rooms in the north-south direction.

Between two classrooms, the children can use two smaller rooms for group work. They are extra spaces that give teachers the flexibility to teach classes, since often multiple years are clubbed into one. One of such rooms is a reading room with a netted floor for children to find a comfortable place to read books.

read the Washington Post article on palm oil plantations in Borneo © (Mattias Klum/Tierra Grande AB)

Workshop

Fox and the chicken on the playground

the school bus

View from riverside

Front view of the school

Axonometric

Classroom block

Playground under the classroom block

Access to the classrooms

View of interior corridor

Corridors spaces

Ground Floor Plan – Prototype School

First Floor Plan

Section AA

Section BB

Section CC