Malaysia, Etania Green School

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, the Etania schools run a full learning program, 6 days a week with all the necessary curriculum subjects. 

In these learning centres, children have safety, security and happiness enjoying their right to learn. Etania has an ambitious plan to build 30 school across Sabah. They asked billionBricks to prepare a prototype school design for the first school for 350 children aged 5-13. Architecture BRIO was invited to be a collaborator on the project and work with the main design team. 

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 prototype school is, not unlike much of Borneo’s vernacular architecture, raised from the ground. However, the classrooms are here lifted off the ground in an unconventional way. 

Recycling 

Five decommissioned shipping containers and an artificially created mound 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 are used for storage and toilets. 

Organisation 

The school children can move around the school in multiple ways. The first floor is reached either via a centrally located staircase, two ladders. or from the slopes of the mound. This way, the 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, and the third block on the mound contains the teacher room and library. They are oriented along the east west direction to minimise the heat gain, avoiding 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. 

The school has been built for the children of illegal or legal migrant labourers who do not have access to a formal education.

View of the Roof Truss

Corridors run along the periphery of the school

Children at play around the school

The classrooms have been raised by using decommissioned shipping containers

The school with its multiple staircases and ladders acts as a playground and draws the children towards it

Classrooms are separated by timber panels

Children exploring the school

A flow of wind from the river nearby naturally cools the classrooms

Classrooms set against the natural landscape

Section through a shipping container

Section through the stilted area

Section through the mound

First Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

The school responds to the climate and its surroundings and harnesses the wind to reduce the need for artificial cooling. The earth dug out for a water harvesting pond was reused to create a mound which children can climb to access the library

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