Architect Manuel Herz has completed a new hospital dedicated to maternity and paediatrics in Tambacounda, a city in eastern Senegal, the only major hospital in the region. The design consists of a two-story building featuring a curvilinear floor plan, offering approximately 150 beds. The building was commissioned by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and local charity Le Korsa, a nonprofit organization founded by Nicholas Fox Weber to develop the Foundation’s philanthropic initiatives in rural Senegal.

The architecture addresses the challenges posed by the extreme local weather extremes with several passive climate design innovations. The reduced section of only seven meters is the result of a reflection on the passive ventilation of the rooms, which is further filtered and cooled by the implementation of a facade device inspired by the traditional mashrabiya of Islamic architecture: a narrow grid of windows, loggias and balconies. The grid-like pattern of red bricks offers the advantage of blocking the sun and facilitating air circulation. A second roof covers the main roof, repelling most of the direct sunlight.

“Designing the pediatric and maternity clinic at Tambacounda Hospital was perhaps the most rewarding experience of my architectural career to date,” said Herz, who collaborated on the project at all stages with local leader Dr. Magueye Ba, relying on community expertise and working almost exclusively with artisans and engineers from Tambacounda and surrounding villages. “From the beginning, it was a process based on collaboration with the wonderful doctors and staff at the hospital. This collaborative process has resulted in designs that have been amazing, that are much more interesting, better adapted to local conditions, and more beautiful than any design written by an individual could have provided.”

The synergy created between the actors during the project has also allowed the construction of second infrastructures in the contingent areas, such as a new school always built by Manuel and Ba Herz based on a test facade of the hospital, created to examine the climatic effectiveness of perforated bricks. The experience will also be recounted at the Venice Architecture Biennale – set to open on May 22 – where Manuel Herz will present “The Many Lives of Tambacounda,” an installation that explores the multiple narratives and lives in which the Tambacounda hospital is embedded.