SOLA, Afgan-led Girls School
The School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA) is the first boarding school for girls in Afghanistan, run by Afghans themselves. Their goal is to give Afghan girls a strong education that helps them think critically, find purpose, and respect others. I had the privilege of working with SOLA and Gensler to design a safe and permanent campus, setting a new example for girls' education in Afghanistan.
During the summer of 2018, I was an Interior Design Intern at Gensler, Boston. I worked on different projects and also spent one hour every Thursday for 8 weeks working on the SOLA project with 10 other interns. My job was to understand girls' behavior, daily routine, and plan the dorm layouts to create a comfortable and pleasant environment.
Role
Spatial Experience Designer, Gensler
Team
Summer Interns 2018, Design Manager
Timeline
Q3 2018
Tools
AutoCAD, Revit, Phototshop
RESEARCH
01
02
IN-DEPTH
INTERVIEWS
To get insights, we decided to conduct a workshop remotely. We prepared a workshop kit and send it over to girls in Afghanistan. The kit included different sets of paper, pens, colors, and other stationery material for them to express their definition of home. We prepared a kit for the teachers to conduct the workshop so they can explain what needs to be done.
Remote workshop in Afghanistan
To design the secure campus we as a group decided to focus on finding the needs of girls that would help us understand their notion of home and school. I and my team of 4 were assigned to focus on space planning and activities. Due to the inability to reach the girls, I and the team decided to investigate what is the definition of home to these girls so we can understand and design accordingly.
“My favorite thing about my hometown is having the opportunity to do anything
I want. The opportunity to study, to walk, to dress up in the way that I want...”
“My favorite thing about my hometown is having the opportunity to do anything I
want. The opportunity to study, to walk, to dress-up in the way that I want… etc.
Unlike some of the provinces of Afghanistan, in my hometown, Kabul, I have the right to
study, to go to reuter, to go to school or university that most of the girls don’t have.
I can dress-up in the way which is my favorite.”
03
INSIGHTS
“A place to see the moon and
sky during the night.”
05
A DAY IN LIFE
04
Abida wakes up for her early morning prayer with other girls. She goes with the girls to the prayer room, which is adjacent to the dorm. They are back to their dorms by 6 am after the prayer.
MORNING
AFTERNOON
EVENING
DAWN
Abida gets ready for the classes. She shares her wardrobe with her roommate. Abida loves her roommate as they have the understanding to share and live happily together.
Abida and her friends are back to the dorm from the classes. They had a tiring day. The girls are tucked in and sleeping peacefully in their beds.
As per tradition, Abida and her friends make a circle and do their homework. After doing the homework, Abida and her friends play games and enjoy themselves together in the dorm room.
NIGHT
After the long day, Abida and other girls are tired and prepares their bed. Abida packs her bag for tomorrows class and is off to bed.
DORMS
"DUALITY"
The design of duality is inspired by a girl’s vision of the sharing of daily life. In dream catcher, they emphasize on wanting common area and especially learning from each other. The duality of privacy is defined as how girls experience privacy in their dorm space. The duality of activity is defined as how various activities can be integrated into a multipurpose space.
sleep
socialize
study
stuff
DUALITY experienced between
1 I 2 I 4 I 8 I 16 I 32 & other girls
CONCEPT EXPLORATION
SHARED LIVING
CORE
SHARED LIVING
The "Core" reflects a network of dorms that work as an organized, programmed whole, giving the campus feel to SOLA while providing a variety of paths and experiences that promote personal freedom. To satisfy the girls’ desires for multi-functional green space through which they can connect with nature, and provide these experiences in as many varieties as possible.
For the internal spatial experience, the design of duality is inspired by a girl’s vision of the sharing of daily life. In dream catcher, they emphasize on wanting common area and especially learning from each other. The duality of privacy is defined as how girls experience privacy in their dorm space. The duality of activity is defined as how various activities can be integrated into a multipurpose space.
LAYOUT
INDIVIDUAL
SHARED
Girls
Wall or partition
Floor or Bunk beds
Shared wardrobe and storage
The design of duality is inspired by a girl’s vision of the sharing of daily life. The look and feel of the dorm were designed with the intention of shared living which brings together a group of girls in the dorm. The look, feel and material palette for the school was based on two concepts -
Girls coming from different cities in Afghanistan bring different cultures and traditions along with them. Inspired by their culture and sense of belonging, we developed two concepts - Blank slate and close-knit. We choose monochromatic palettes which will work as a subtle background for girls to add their things to the pallet and create close-knit.
LOOK & FEEL
SHARED LIVING
BLANK SLATE & CLOSE KNIT
CLOSE KNIT
06
SHELL
DORM LOCATION
ACCESS TO DORM
TESTING
The heatmapping helped the team to analyze the accurate medium of shadows and extract data to check the intensity of the sun and heat in the open activity areas. The idea was to make sure the open areas are well shaded for girls to play and relax in the outdoors. The map also helped to understand the level of depth which could create sense of security for the girls.
Dorms
86,000 sf
Middle & High school
69,600 sf
Mosque
24,000sf
Faculty residence
19,200
SPATIAL DESIGN
USER SCENARIO / SPATIAL STRATEGY / SPATIAL RELATIONSHIP / SPACE PLANNING / LOOK AND FEEL
What I learned
User research and strategy for spatial experience: Apart from working on a group project for architecture projects for the first time, the project required to use of several user research methods to understand the context and perspective of young girls before diving into spatial design. User research enlightens us with some important insights that derived the entire concept design and final proposed solution to the client.