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Arup Community Engagement

Same Polytech

Project overview

Project overview

  • Providing quality educational, social, cultural, economic, and civic advancement for rural communities of East Africa
  • Emphasis on value: exceptional teaching, mentoring, and advisement; scholarship; career and personal advancement; continuing education; research, development and innovation; and service to the community

East Africa is one of the most impoverished regions in the world and education is a key driver of poverty reduction and human development. While significant progress has been made to increase access to region’s primary and secondary school systems in recent decades, the higher education system has seen little improvement during the same period. While primary and secondary education is essential, the knowledge and experience necessary for marketable job skills are built at the higher education level.

Recognising this disparity, the Mbesese Initiative for Sustainable Development (MISD) – a US registered charitable organisation – has developed plans to establish the Same Polytechnic College, a vocational training institute, on a 150 acre site in the northern highlands of the United Republic of Tanzania. Arup has been working with MISD in collaboration with the District of Same, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and Killefer Flammang Architects to prepare a master plan for the campus which defines the purpose and goals of the college and articulates a framework for the orderly and efficient growth of the campus.

The following professional services were provided by Arup on a pro bono basis:

  • Comprehensive master planning to develop both strategies for the design of the campus in the fields of carbon neutrality, land use and site planning, transportation, energy, water, storm water, materials, and waste, and guidelines for the eventual design of the campus buildings, infrastructure, and landscaping.
  • Seismic hazard assessment desk study using publicly available information and resources to determine seismic design parameters for the site.

The Same Polytechnic College will be dedicated to providing quality educational, social, cultural, economic, and civic advancement for the citizens of East Africa. Through a student centered "learn by doing" approach, The Same Polytechnic College will emphasise and value: exceptional teaching, mentoring, and advisement; scholarship; career and personal advancement; continuing education; research, development and innovation; and service to the community. The College will help address East Africa’s need for increased access to higher education for students entering the system and for the greater population and work force seeking to further their education and advance their skills and expertise.

The College will offer a wide range of degree programs and selected continuing education programs designed to meet the general needs of the nations of East Africa and the specific needs of the rural communities. Special emphasis is placed on addressing the region’s need for effective, skilled and knowledgeable farmers, builders, teachers and entrepreneurs. A commitment is made to developing and promoting partnerships with public school systems, colleges and universities, and professional sectors in East Africa, as well as partnerships with higher education centres in other countries to form a network of innovation to support the dissemination of effective, practical and applicable methods, practices and technologies. The curriculum of The Same Polytechnic College is based upon the community’s needs, the needs of business and industry, and the desires and demands of the students.

Although the development sector has embraced green thinking in recent years, opportunities to create educational institutions where sustainability is practiced at every level – outside the classroom as well as within – are as rare in East Africa as they are in the rest of the world. Arup is working with MISD and the other project partners to make the campus a model of environmentally friendly development that will educate through its very design and operations, helping to prepare graduates, faculty, and regional partners for the energy and resource challenges confronting the regional and global community.

In Partnership with Mbesese Initiative for Sustainable Development

Timeline

Timeline

18 August, 2014
Nick Long from Arup's Hong Kong office, discusses electrical utility standards and design considerations with the District Director of Tanesco, the Tanzanian electrical utility company
Arup and KFA staff accompanied faculty and staff from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo to the Kilimanjaro Region of the United Republic of Tanzania to present the campus master plan to local government officials and local community stakeholders and get any final input from them before finalising a book documenting the design.  The team also visited the site and other projects in the area to gather further information to support the next phases of design.
14 April, 2014
Arup staff Trevor Mino and Laura Mino discuss civil and structural design considerations with the students

Arup and KFA staff travelled to San Luis Obispo, CA to hold a design charrette with the students at California Polytechnic State University to review passive environmental design strategies and appropriate construction technologies as the students prepare to develop conceptual designs for several of the campus building typologies.

19 March, 2014
Cal Poly faculty and staff return to Arup Los Angeles after site visit and finalize design masterplan

Students and faculty from the Graduate Architecture Studio and 4th year Interdisciplinary Design Studio at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo returned to the Arup Los Angeles office to present the revised campus master plan following input from Arup and KFA staff provided throughout the course of the academic year.

11 March, 2013
Cal Poly faculty and graduate students review the initial concepts for the campus master plan at Arup's Los Angeles office

Students and faculty from the Graduate Architecture Studio at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo traveled to the Arup Los Angeles office to present and review the conceptual design for the Same Polytechnic College campus master plan based on the research and recommendations developed by Arup staff.

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Project team

Project team

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