in loco program

in loco fellowship launched in Lesotho

March 1, 2018By 2 Comments

Twenty of Lesotho’s most promising young entrepreneurs have been selected to join an 8-month design & build fellowship program which will run from February to September 2018. The fellows consist of 14 male & 6 female graduates and diploma holders from cross-disciplinary areas including architecture, civil & electrical engineering, construction management, interior design, carpentry, social welfare & community development from Lerotholi Polytechnic, Limkokwing University, National University of Lesotho, Institute of Development Management and Central University of Technology.

in loco has an innovative and unique approach to the Design and Build Training Programs. Created to have a real impact in the lives of all participants our approach builds on the Live Projects teaching model and learning from life, skills sharing and capacity building.

in loco engages with local communities, local NGOs, students and young graduates from local architecture and construction courses, as well as international participants with an interest in architecture, development, sustainability and the built environment.

This year’s inaugural project takes us to Maseru the capital of Lesotho, a country land locked inside of South Africa. Here, the in loco fellows will carry out much needed construction work to improve the quality of life for orphans who currently live in very cramped conditions in an existing orphanage called God’s Love Centre (GLC).

Following a “hands-on, bottom-up” approach, we will be working in close collaboration with members of the local community on the completion of this building and simultaneously start the design and construction of new dormitories, facilities and external play areas on a new site about 1km from the existing site.
At the same time, the fellows will go through a practical entrepreneurship-training program helping them to set up their own businesses and a pipeline of community construction projects throughout the country, with a particular focus on rural and semi-rural development.

Read the first of a series of blogs by one of the fellows – Palesa Rapolo. Stay tuned to follow their progress!

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in loco program

Participatory Design Workshop

February 28, 2018By 0 comment

An intense 10 days of learning about human centred design and then putting those learnings into practice by going into the community and finding out their exact challenges, needs and wishes for a better quality of life at the orphanage. The in loco lead Architects, Pedro Clarke and Luca Astorri visited Lesotho from Portugal and Italy respectively to run the workshop.

The in loco fellows learnt about various participatory design activities before going into the field and put these methods into practice. They split the community at GLC into 4 groups – children, two groups of adolescent youth and staff and spent an entire day collecting data and information.

 

 

 

 

 

Then came back to the studio, analysed the gathered data, identified the gaps of information and went back out into the larger community to collect more info and met with Ministry of Social Development, Maseru City Council, community members living around GLC’s existing and new sites as well as local entrepreneurs. They then put their findings together, presented to GLC who were given the opportunity to prioritise their wish list according to importance so that the fellows could then design accordingly which they are busy doing now.

 

A visit to the historic town of Morija, was also an important part of the workshop, so that fellows could learn about vernacular architecture and building techniques, including seeing the country’s oldest building made out of mud bricks built 130 years ago!

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