Tambacounda Hospital

Maternity and Pediatric Hospital
Tambacounda, Senegal

Client: Josef and Annie Albers Foundation with Le Korsa
Architect: Manuel Herz Architects, Basel
Project Team: Manuel Herz, Alexis Schuman, Moussa Belkacem, Penny Alevizou
General Contractor: Dr. Magueye Ba
Completion: Spring 2021
Photography: Iwan Baan

On the ground floor are the main parts of the maternity ward and the operations unit. One floor higher, we find the remaining rooms of the patients of the maternity and the pediatric clinic. The existing building of the former pediatric clinic will be converted into a home, office, and consultation space for both clinics. The existing building is connected to the new building by a short covered walkway.

Tambacounda Hospital is the only hospital in a large region of eastern Senegal. It serves the 100,000 inhabitants of the city of Tambacounda - declared the hottest metropolis on the planet - and more than a million people from the surrounding region and Mali, whose border is about an hour and a half away.

The new maternity and pediatric clinic at Tambacounda Hospital is a two-storey, curvilinear building. It combines the two clinics - pediatrics and maternity - in the same building. It is located to the north of the existing pediatric clinic and revolves around it, then changes direction to create a new, semi-closed, north-facing courtyard. The curvilinear layout creates a building with sensual quality while ensuring that almost no trees need to be cut for its construction.

  • How can the hospital go beyond itself? How can we as architects operate regionally? Our approach to the Tambacounda region is composed of several interventions on architectural scale, but also comprises activities that go beyond beyond the realm of construction: we collaborate with the governor in the field of public health for Tambacounda region, we emphasize and support economic self-sufficiency in rural communities and we try to change the planning culture in the urban setting of Tambacounda.

    Beyond the actual design of the hospital, the process of planning was great importance to the overall project. Instead of imposing a design developed from the distance, we followed a planning process that grew out of research, and was based upon collaboration with local actors and the hospital community.

    The hospital has trouble attracting good medical staff, as it until now cannot offer good housing to its staff. Doctors often return back to Dakar after few months in Tambacounda. We are therefore con- structing staff housing for Tambacoun- da Hospital including 9 units for shared housing and 4 units for individual family housing. The housing is designed according to passive cooling techniques and is meant to establish a new standard of housing for the city.

    The hospital is the largest building currently being constructed in eastern Senegal. It provides work for approximately forty families, that are mostly coming from the rural areas south of Tambacounda, suffering from few employment opportunities. In addition we are training craftsmen in crafts such as metal works, woodworking and brick laying. Virtually all the construction materials are sourced locally, minimizing transport and supporting local businesses.

    With the hospital we aim to introduce a different strategy to child birth in the region. Currently caesarian section are popular, even in cases when there is no indication for it. We are working with the maternity doctor, with rural medical facilities and regional public health administration to change this and promote natural child birth.

    Out of a personal and private initiative, my wife and me decided to design and fund the construction of a playground for the hospital. It will be the first play- ground in all of eastern Senegal, and will be accessible to all children of the region, and of course to those staying at the hospital. We believe that offering facilities for joyful play is almost as important as offering medical facilities.

    Initiated by the general contractor, Magueye Ba, a testfacade was expanded into a small building, now serving as a village school for the village of Makabing-Sidi, ca. 50kmsouthofTambacounda. This small village now has a proper school serving a group of 40 children.

    The village of Sinthian is one of the larger villages close to the banks of the Gambia river. We have constructed a kindergarten in Sithian together with Magueye Ba. It is connected to the elementary school of the village and uses the same bricks as used in the construction of Tambacounda hospital. The children of Sinthian can therefore for the first time enjoy a kindergarten that offers a comfortable climate.