Imst/Tyrol, 23rd July 2020 – The prizewinning graduation project by Lisa Kogler and Hanna Draxl from the Technical High School in Imst is a “success” in many ways: Firstly, it builds an “architectural” bridge between Tyrol and Ghana and attracts attention to the “Jordan Medical Center” (JMC), which is reliant on donations. Secondly, it is notable for its references to the traditional local way of building and its embodiment of the idea of climate-friendly building.
As usual with a graduation project, the students worked together with a practicing office, in this case with ATP Innsbruck. Amongst those offering support was our BIM Manager Philipp Zimmermann.
The next step for Kofi Attah
The project idea came from the pupils’ teacher, Dipl.-Ing. Harald Brutscher, who knows the client Kofi Attah. The latter has been converting an apartment building in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana’s third-largest city, into a hospital for a number of years with the help of Tyrolean hospitals and companies.
Ecology via low-tech ...
The ward designed by Lisa Kogler and Hanna Draxl seeks to convert maximum design quality into minimum energy needs and a good quality of living. This is why the project envisages the replacement of air-conditioning by a triangular form, which reduces insolation, extensive greenery, a “wind tower” positioned above water channels, and a permeable brick wall through which the wind can whistle.
… and high-tech
The pupils have also developed a fictive High School robot to help with the realization on site. This can be simultaneously controlled and monitored and bases its actions on a 3D plan. In line with this plan, “Rob” lays the mud bricks, which are produced on site in a mobile pressing machine, in a traditional “Kente” pattern.