Hope with every brick: Zimbabwe’s Rising Star School overcomes resource scarcity

Formed in 2005, Hopley, a temporary settlement in Zimbabwe’s capital, continues to grow in population beyond its capacity. It was created to foster the victims of Operation Murambatsvina—an inhumane slum-clearing campaign by the government that displaced thousands of Zimbabweans in the African nation. Already lacking adequate infrastructure and basic amenities since its inception, the dire living conditions in Harare’s suburbs continue to plague its residents. As survival became a struggle with the displacement, thousands of students were unable to go to school.

In 2010, the citizens of Hopley took the initiative and founded the Rising Star School to ensure that children got access to education, in whatever capacity possible. However, the lack of resources limited the school’s functioning, with tarpaulins and clay shelters being employed as classrooms. These were too narrow, had little light and offered scant protection in the rainy season. The resolution of Hopley’s residents was confined by one limitation—infrastructure.

In 2013, the school’s design and construction was undertaken by German NGO, Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V, (Engineers Without Borders Germany). The educational architecture of otherwise austere materiality stands out as a behemoth in its context consisting of tiny residential structures. The tale of its conception has been far from steady, with construction unfolding ever so slowly over seven years and progressing through seven phases of building.

One major challenge was dealing with high groundwater levels during the monsoon, which made it impossible to lay the foundations during or right after the season. The school’s phase-wise development allowed the students to occupy it since the completion of its first phase. The organisation described it as ‘everyday co-existence’, where children attended classes in the completed portions of the building while the builders continued their work on the next phase work on the next phase nearby. Marked by perseverance and ingenuity driven by a lack of resources, the Rising Star School Buildings now serves as Hopley’s landmark, with its characteristic brick structure marked by arches.

The educational institute consists of 14 classrooms situated in three single-storey volumes. The Kindergarten is housed on the ground floor of a two-storey structure, where the first level is occupied by the school administration rooms. The education buildings take into account the inability to provide active solutions for thermal comfort and hence, heavily incorporate passive solutions. The educational design reflects an influence of the filigree architecture, with an arched walkway protecting the classrooms from receiving direct solar radiation while allowing natural light to enter. Built with 35mm walls, the school building acts as a heat sink during the day and maintains better ambient temperature and the openings in the facade design and outer walls promote cross-ventilation. A double roof enhances comfort in the classrooms by allowing hot air inside the building to escape, letting in fresh air and enabling continuous ventilation.

With a lack of regulated and reliable water and electricity supply, apart from inadequate resources, the use of heavy machinery for construction was impossible. The brick architecture is entirely handcrafted, with almost 6,00,000 bricks being laid entirely by the bricklayers and only a few technical devices to help them with the construction. Sourced from a nearby brick supplier, these were licensed-fired clay bricks, ensuring the high strength and durability necessary for the arches’ construction.

“This is why the quiet construction site, from which Hopley‘s new centre emerged almost imperceptibly, is no less impressive than the result. Details of connections and constructions are considered and optimised over the course of the seven-year construction period and finally result in the construction of the two-storey part,” the German organisation shares.

With the dire lack of resources that plagued Hopley, the school’s design was born of a need to optimise design and construction—as even the use of brick seemed not a consideration, but an inevitability. Kristina Ziadeh, Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V.’s architect and project manager for the school tells STIR: “The inspiration for the design lies above all in the possibilities of the materials available on-site and in the area around. At the start of the project, it quickly became clear that brick was a material that was readily available and could be an exciting material for school construction thanks to people’s knowledge of how to build with it. The aim was also to utilise all the possibilities that the brick itself offers in construction. For example, round arches made it possible to achieve the necessary span for a classroom. The succession of the so-called arched walls makes it possible to reduce the use of timber, which is readily available in the country but much more cost-intensive.”

The intangible impact of the project was also focused on supporting local businesses, retailers and workers. Buying all building materials from Harare, the sustainable structure was constructed by builders who lived in the school’s immediate vicinity—creating jobs in a low-income neighbourhood while imbibing a sense of ownership into the residents that ensured future maintenance. The official statement by Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V. states, “Our goal was to work together with the residents of the settlement on an equal level. We worked with an experienced foreman, bricklayers and a large number of young, unskilled assistants and offered them the opportunity to learn to build.”

Ziadeh recounts how in the face of scarcity, ingenuity from their builders enabled them to be resourceful and sustainable in their design approach. “Instead of buying a product on the market or in stores for a single use, we often improvised and made our tools—for example, various tools for compacting the soil. A piece of an old railway track was turned into a rammer by the local welder, or one of the water drums that was no longer needed was filled with concrete and fitted with a handle made of reinforcing steel bars. This resulted in a roller for large-scale compaction,” she elaborates.

Often, an architect’s vision—alongside the veiled superiority complex—convinces them that ‘their designs’ are going to make the world a better place, often blinding them to the realities of the world. Even as the Rising Star School spans expansively in its context, it does not exhibit unachievable fantasy. Built of the same brick as every house in Hopley, the school showcases the potential of grit and evokes a sense of aspiration and hope.

An exemplary specimen that reflects a deeply embedded ethos of community engagement, the Rising Star School Buildings in Hopley serves as a beacon of hope. Ziadeh shared the lessons she learned: “Even if something seems too complex, a solution can still be found. I am very grateful for my experience of working and living in a strong community. I really appreciate the fact that there is always someone who can give you a helping hand.”