Expressions of Interest sought: pro bono design services for the Ligingi Community Learning Centre, Uganda

UPDATE: The deadline for EOI's has been extended until 14 December 2012 due to the silly season...we know things get a bit crazy this time of year, so thought we'd give you an extra week. Thanks to everyone who has already expressed interest - we'll review all applications after the extended date.

 

Architects for Peace, in partnership with the Ligingi Community Learning Centre (LCLC), are excited to invite Expressions of Interest for pro bono services to design a new community centre to house LCLC operations  in the village of Ligingi, Uganda.  

Views of the existing brick building on the LCLC site

The LCLC is a not-for-profit community based organisation, that aims to foster community knowledge and competencies to adapt, thrive and actively engage in a rapidly changing world. The LCLC was co-founded by Ugandan, Dennis Obel and Australian, Anna Trembath in conjunction with the Ligingi community. Dennis, a highly-experienced international development professional, is ancestrally of Ligingi village. Some of his immediate family members still live in Ligingi, and he calls all the people of Ligingi his kin and Ligingi his true home.  Anna is an experienced researcher with particular expertise in gender and development, an international development practitioner and a writer. Dennis and Anna travel regularly to Ligingi and will be the primary conduits for communication between the architect/s engaged for this project and the Ligingi community.

Ligingi is a small and beautiful village, located in eastern Uganda, around 45 kilometres from the Uganda-Kenya border. The village is primarily a subsistence farming community, in a remote location with no electricity or water and sanitation infrastructure, and very little service provision or outside organisational presence. Ligingi is home to a number of different clans who are all J’opadhola people, a Luo-speaking tribe associated with the Nilotics who migrated from Sudan in the sixteenth centry. A recent survey revealed the village population to be 2,959. 

The proposed Centre is planned to be used as the organisational premises for the LCLC, including a community space for learning, training and other programmatic activities, and accommodation for staff, volunteers and visitors.

The new premises will allow the LCLC to develop and expand the programs offered, and to better involve and inspire both Ligingi community members and international volunteers and guests. The LCLC represents a unique initiative to facilitate meaningful, community-driven change over the long term on a sustainable scale for a community whose members have limited future opportunities.

For further details on the LCLC project, please download the design brief and supporting documents here.  You can read more about Ligingi Community Learning Centre here.

Please email expressions of interest and CV detailing relevant project experience to
Katherine at probono@architectsforpeace.org by Friday 14^th December at 5pm Eastern Standard Time (EST).

 

The Architects For Peace pro bono policy, with important information for prospective service providers regarding the way the pro bono service works and the selection process involved, is available for download here. Please make sure you read over this document before submitting your expression of interest.

   Community meeting at the Primary School, with the existing LCLC brick building behind

   

Timor-Leste's weaving centres - EoI CLOSED

Since calling for expressions of interest from registered practices and/or practitioners to the proposed two weaving centres in two villages in Timor Leste, we have received overwhelming response! We take this opportunity to say thank you for your support.



The Design Brief can still be viewd by clicking on the image above.

Culture House, Timor Leste
photo courtesy: Alternative Technology Association

Our client, East Timor Women Australia (ETWA) is a Melbourne based, not for profit organisation and run by volunteers. Please come back for more updates on the project.
To see our previous post regarding information on this project, click here.

Laverton Community Centre + Neighbourhood House

LCCNH is a not for profit Neighbourhood House managed by the local community. It offers family support, social and educational activities to all sectors of the local community, especially disadvantaged community group.

LCCNH  applied for a community grant to assist them in upgrading their current premises.  They currently operate from a small house with minimal storage and inadequate space for their 5 staff members.   The rear of the house contains classrooms where adult training is provided. Courses include cooking, English language and computer skills. 

A pro bono service provider was required to assist LCCNH with their grant application. Architects for Peace Pro Bono assisted in matching two applicants, Brad Hooper & Brooke Thorne, to assist with the grant application.  Brad Hooper (director of Brad Hooper Architect) and Brooke Thorne (interior designer & lecturer at Swinburne University) formed a team and worked with the client to produce initial concept drawings and an opinion of probable costs for the project.

The client was then able to incorporate these documents into their grant application.  The grant application was submitted at the start of March 2009 and we are awaiting a response. 

The team that was formed between Brad and Brooke was a great example of how architecture & design firms can team up with graduates and students to support each other and help provide pro bono services.  The skills of both service providers complimented each other.  As well as being an architect, Brad's previous experience as the Chair of the Management Board at the Port Melbourne Neighbourhood House meant that he understood the complexities of such projects and organisations.  Brooke's passion for pro bono work, interior design background and drawing skills assisted in providing design input and relevant drawings to the client.    

Neighbourhood house project in Timor Leste

The cities of Yarra and Darebin in Victoria developed a Friendship Agreement with the province and township of Baucau following Timor Leste’s independence. At next month’s words night, members of Friends of Baucau and Yarra and Darebin councils will speak about a recent building project in Timor Leste. With the help of agencies including Australian Volunteers International and the Rotary Clubs’ Roofing Project, a building damaged during the independence violence was restored and established as a neighbourhood house.

Friends of Baucau are planning to restore a building adjacent to the Buka Hatene neighbourhood house and on the night will be presenting details of the new project and happy to speak to anyone interested in getting involved. Speakers will include Clare Murrell, Project Officer at Friends of Baucau and Roderick McIvor, Manager of Social Policy at Darebin City Council. More details coming soon!

The Collingwood Housing Estate

The Collingwood Housing Estate has a 3000 square metre sunken carpark which has been out of use since the 1980s. Over the past five years there have been occasional arts and community events in the unique space.

Peter Johns and Karen Tanfield, members of Architects for Peace, are assisting the Estate in making this a permanent facility.

Status: feasibility, funding submission.

Latest Update: the funding submission developed by Peter and Karen with the Collingwood Housing Estate Arts Committe is being reviewed by state government funding bodies.

Architects:

• Peter Johns, Antarctica Group Pty Ltd


• Karen Tanfield, Architectural Research Group

See in YouTube here