Mother Teresa Children`s Centre South -Krizevac Project

Chilomoni, Blantyre

C003_Mother Teresa Childrens Centre South_1_compressed

MTCC South View

C003_Mother Teresa Childrens Centre South_2_compressed

A woman carrying a child

“The students, even at their young age, can recognise that the building is special, and the environment that has been created here is dramatically different from what they are used to.”

(Fortune Machado, MTCC Room Leader)

Location

Beehive Main Campus, Chilomoni, Blantyre, Malawi

Type

Children’s Centre / Nursery Teaching Spaces

Year of Construction

2010 – 2012

Design Architect

Marty McColl

Project Architect

Giacomo Zanardo

Design Engineer

Sam Youdan

Geotechnical Engineer

Zedi Nyirenda

Project Engineers

Hendrix Mgawana, Chris Sadler and Melvin Hurst

Total Building Area (Approx. GEA)

904m²

Number of Storeys

Construction Cost

129,474,677 MWK for MTCC North and South
(£132,157 GBP – rate correct as of 24th August 2020)

Cost per m²

75,539 MWK/m²
(£77 GBP/m²)

“Evidence shows that the first years of a child’s life set the stage for all future growth. In the earliest years of life, especially from pregnancy to two years old, babies and children need nutrition, protection and stimulation for healthy brain development.”
(UNICEF, Malawi)

Mother Teresa Children’s Centre was devised in order to provideseverely lacking pre-School education to one the poorest townships in the Southern region of Malawi. The Centre aims to offer an International-standard of pre-School education; two-thirds of the students, who are aged 1-5 years, have fully-sponsored or heavily subsidised places, so as to ensure that the facility is accessible to the community’s neediest families.

An international-standard of construction and design was required to match the Centre’s educational aspirations. The building comprises 8 classrooms, set across 2 storeys. Each unit has an area of 70m2 and includes integrated WCs and a Kitchen area, removing the need for students to leave the room during the day. External learning spaces are located adjacent to the classrooms, allowing for a range of teaching methods to be implemented.

The building utilises Beehive’s site-made ‘Hydraform’ interlocking blocks (which are formed using local soil) as an infill to the reinforced concrete structural frame. The roof structure comprises a series of timber trusses, which are expressed internally at higher level to create a dramatic and interesting 3D ceiling-scape to the classroom interiors.

Natural ventilation and lighting is successfully created in the classrooms through the use of centralised ‘chimneys’, honeycomb brick detailing at high levels on the external North walls and full-height, glazed openings to the South facade. The classrooms are cool and comfortable, even in the hottest of months. The building’s circulation is via two external ‘balcony’ corridors to the North of the building, reducing the amount of ‘internalised’ spaces in the building. Playful, scattered windows populate the East and West facades, many placed at ‘child-height,’ providing impressive views out to the nearby Michiru Mountain.

Social Impact

Bible stories, songs, quizzes and role plays are integrated into the children’s education

Spiritual Wellbeing

Qualified Teachers are currently employed at the nursery

Job Creation

Children attend the nursery

All Teachers have an Early Childhood Diploma

Quality Education

children on scholarships a year

children partly subsidised a year

Supporting the Vulnerable

“The building has created jobs for the community, helped less privileged children access quality education, care and meals. Relationships have also been built through the interaction of us workers and parents, as we come from different areas.”

(Doreen Mwale, MTCC Assistant Daycare Team Leader)

Mother Teresa Children’s Centre currently has 140 children, with a staff to student ratio of 1:4, providing a unique learning environment for local children. It is the first of its kind in Malawi to be based on the UK SureStart model, centred around learning though play. A high quality of teaching is provided and all Teachers have an Early Childhood Diploma. Monitoring and evaluation practices are in place, to maintain a good standard of care, structured around 4 KPI’s; ‘Enjoy and achieve,’ ‘Stay healthy and Be Safe,’ ‘Make a positive contribution’ and ’Achieve Economic Well-being.’ All students benefit from the Family Support Office (FSO) and the Extended School Workers (ESW) programmes. The FSO team conducts home visits to assess each child’s home environment and gives support to those families in need. Growth monitoring is undertaken and students are provided with a free school meal a day. The ESW team support students in transitioning from daycare to primary school – which we hope will soon be Beehive’s St Kizito Primary School once its open in September 2021.