Kangemi Youth Centre Architecture

In the following galleries you can find our final proposal for the KYC teacher’s housing and guesthouse. It contains selected model pictures and construction drawings.

In case you want to support this project or have any questions, please feel free to contact us at kangemi.studentteam@gmail.com; for question concerning donations please head over to nyendo-lernen.de or contact them at info@nyendo.de.

In the three months following our time in Nairobi we came up with many different concepts, discussed them with each other, our friends and tutors, discarded them, came up with new ones and repeated that process time and time again.

This post is there to show a little glimpse of our work, and also to appreciate everyone who helped us out, whenever we got stuck.

Barbara Schudok, Prof. Kéré, Oliver von Malm, Alberto Pottenghi, Daniel Dabringhausen und Ines Dantas from the Chair of Architectural Design and Participation for the constantly inspiring input and the crucial initial believe into this project.

Irmgard Wutte and George Antony Karori of nyendo-lernen for initiating this project and working with us through the tough and the easier times.

Joseph Simiyu, Caroline, Theresa, Ken, Caleb and Charles Edwards for our warm welcome in Kangemi and your friendship!

Christine and James, Jolvet, the boys from the neighborhood , George Antony Karori and the Louise-von-Rothschild-Schule for the organisation, financing and hands-on labour for building the bridge.

Agnes Weinhuber, Wolfgang Wiedemann and Lukas Raffl from the Chair
für Geodäsie at TUM, as well as Tobias Bendzko from the Chair for Bodenordnung und Landentwicklung for renting out your precious land surveying tools.

Annette, Thomas, Lena and Amrei for all the important discussions before and during our journey about what to expect from the people and culture in Kenya.

Tobias Wagner from the Chair of Gebäudetechnologie und Nachhaltiges Bauen and Prof. Mark Michaeli from the Chair for Nachhaltige Entwicklung von Stadt und Land for your vital input to our design process.

Sorry for the delay, here comes the missing part of our journey!
Our last day in Nairobi was a busy one, we started rather early by meeting up with Simiyu and showed him some of our newest ideas we crafted in our hotel room. Together we analysed the pros and cons of different possibilities to make use of the space best.
After an hour or so we were joined by a couple of other headmasters: Veronica (Love School), Christine and James (Sweet Angels), Susan (Skylife) and James (Kanyorosha) were introduced to our plans and gave some amazing input. We closed the meeting with a walk of the building site, where we had staked out two of our ideas.

After that we were able to take a quick detour to Sweet Angels, so that Muriel and Julius were able to see the finished bridge. There we also took some more nice pictures of it.

Then we made our farewells to everyone, collected our luggage at Oskei Farm, where we met Irmgard one last time and hurried to the airport. The journey home, didn’t really go smooth, buts that is another story.

After an relaxing two nights at a farm near Mt. Kenia called “Sandai” with a little of horse riding, some walks and good food, we today made our (5 hour) way back to Nairobi.

We arrived at Bora Bora Hotel in Kawangware at 3pm and just as we arrived the rain started. We already thought our plan of stripping the archs framework was not going to happen, but after an hour of heaviest storm (hail, thunder, everything) it cleared up quickly. Sepp and Felix called a Picki Picki (Ben is the man!) and quickly drove to Sweet Angels, while Muriel, Lena and Julius took care of Supper and did some drawings.
At Sweet Angels Felix and Sepp were again welcomed by our friends Christine and James and some of the neighbourhood boys. We right away started to demolish the wooden framework supporting the arch. This job was a little scary, but the moment it came down, while the arch was supporting itsself was amazing!

We continued to break down the wooden construction, some of the timber right away found its new use in the schoolyard fence, which had broken down during the rain.

After that was also done (with amazing help from some bystanders and neighbours), there was only little time, before we had to hurry back through the dark slum. Nevertheless, we were able to shoot some nice pictures, so enjoy!

Saying Goodbye was not easy, we hope to see our friends again soon! The boys even gave us a little parting gift, some car tire sandals for Felix and a beutiful shirt for Sepp. We will were them with pride.

Another day of saying goodbye to half our team in the morning. Sepp and Muriel went to Sweet Angels to work on the bridge, while Felix and Julius spend their day at KYC to dig a hole for ground analysis and stake out two of our favourite drafts on site.
At the moment the bridge is probably way more intresting to you, so let’s talk about that. In the morning Sepp and Jolvet (handyman/father) took care of the building site, while Muriel and her good friend Lena (who coincidently is in Kenya since Tuesday) went to the marketplace with Christine and James (Sweet Angels administration). They got some nice carrots, peppers, tomatoes, flour and lentils, which they then prepared for lunch.

In the afternoon construction of the stairs and sides of the bridge continued, until at around 6pm we actually topped out! Now everything left to do is to strip the formwork, which we will do on Tuesday.

Tonight we were invited by Tony (local nyendo-employee and good friend by now) to spend the night at his place. For easter holidays we will retrieve to Mt. Kenia to spend two nights there with some friends. Tony will also join us at Mt. Kenia, together with his girlfriend/Irmgards daughter Kathi, their baby Mia, Lena and Kai (an american nyendo pupil). We really look foreward to some leisure time, but have planned to do some drafting nevertheless!

Today was no routine, but a lot of Uber (which works great here). We started with a drive to Galleria Mall, where we had an awesome (but Western) breakfast and coffee at Java. From there, we continued to Irmgard Wutte’s (Nyendo-founder) Nairobi-base “Oseki Farm”. We had a long and inspirational talk to her about our work so far and how the project will develope in the future.
After that, we rushed back to KYC and had some lunch. We used the afternoon to create some more drawings and absorb the peaceful energy of the place. It becomes clearer everytime we are there, what a unique plot of land this is, especially considering its environment. As you can imagine, we did not take many good looking pictures today, so here are some genral ones of the premise:

Another day of hard work lays behind us. Again we distributed our workforce on to two subjects: in the morning Muriel and Julius finished up on the measuring at KYC and Simiyus current flat. At lunchtime the terrain surveyers visited Felix and Sepp at Sweet Angels, where the bridge workers had rounded the wood construction with clay from the river.

In the afternoon we did a little switcheroo and Julius went back to KYC with Felix. We took a quite a few more photos for scale and filmed a couple of small videos for us to remember / show to others. Sadly, we are not able to post any videos here for now, we might add them later! In the meantime enjoy this:

At Sweet Angels Sepp and Muriel helped complete the arch structure. Again there was a huge community support and interest in the ongoing project. Now everything left to do is put up some Handrails and stairs, and then strip the formwork. We are confident to be able to complete this by next week!

Today actually felt like a total continuation of yesterday. Julius and Muriel had a long day at KYC and actually managed to finish all work, that needs the spaceship-like measuring equipment provided by Lehrstuhl für Geodäsie (
https://www.geo.bgu.tum.de ). Thanks again to Agnes Weinhuber and Wolfgang Wiedemann for the ongoing support! Additionally, there still is a lot of hand measuring to be done.
For lunch the measuring-team got invited by Simiyu’s wife Caroline together with the nyendo lernen-pupils from Germany. There, they were able to talk to Caroline about how to properly furnish a Kenyan kitchen.

Again, Sepp and Felix helped locals with the bridge building at Sweet Angels School. We were greatly supplied by Headteacher Christine and Teacher James with superb lunch and some sweet porridge. There is amazing support from the community, some local teenagers and again much help of Jolvet, the skilled father.

In the evening we joined for another nutritious supper at Sleek Restaurant. Slowly, we know every single meal on the menu!

Today was a big one! At KYC we finally started to use the measuring tools, that were so hard to get into the country. Julius and Muriel set up the equipment and put in the first location points of the site. We took the measurments of all the existing buildings, and also of the proposed building site we are drafting for. The GPS tools we used for that do not only save length, but also (very important to us) they measure the exact height of the points. As per usual we got some help from local students:

At the headteacher Christine’s Sweet Angels School (part of CIFEFA and supported by nyendo) we started the construction of an arched bridge. Tonny (nyendo-employee), Sepp and Felix got help by teachers, students and one father (a well-versed craftsman).

The old bridge was made of timber and got stolen several times to be used as firewood. Thus, the design-task was to build a solid bridge from material, that was not going to be stolen again. As a solution we introduced the arch, which (apart from the foundation) is completly made up of natural stone and mortar.
In addition to its obvious purpose (getting students to school safe and sound), this little project can serve as a little introduction to us. We get to know the materials hands-on, we see the processes needed, but most importantly: We are able to work together with our Kenyan friends, to build a mutual foundaton of trust.

We used the weekend for a little getaway from the hectic life in Kawangware and Kangemi. At Oseki Farm we were able to improve some of our early drafts and floor plans. Huge “Asante sana” to Irmgard Wutte (Nyendo-founder) for letting us sleep and work at her place!

Today, we were able to head back into the busy city with newfound energy and a couple of nice ideas in our scetchbooks. This was the first time we could talk to Simiyu (KYC-Headmaster) about actual floorplans, necessary room sizes, different circulation systems and the modular construction process.

Please bear with us, we will have some nice drawings uploaded here soon! For now these messy lefthanded scetches are all we can share with you:

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Slowy there is a routine evolving. After breakfast and a picky-picky ride to KYC we started with stakeing out the perimeter of the proposed site. We were assisted by some motivated helpers:

We also interviewed a couple teachers about their current and their dream living conditions. After drawing the floorplan of our own flat we asked them to do the same. After a discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of that, we asked them to develope a solution to the problems they face. From every new interview we do, we learn important new input for our drafts.
In the afternoon we got a visit from Oliver von Malm, a staff member at the academical chair of Francis Kéré and also founder of start somewhere (
https://www.startsomewhere.eu/ ). He brought with him Jürgen Mayer, innovation manager from PERI Schalungen. At their NGO, they not only developed a new type of concrete brick, but also a concept about how to start a social business with it in Kibera Slum. The brick itself doesn’t need mortar and can follow curved lines, as well as straighten itself out.

As per usual we wrapped the day up with a volleyball match, this time Oliver joined us!

After our usual breakfast with Ndazi, Carrot Chapati and Kenyan tea, we took a Matatu (private bus) to a building material supplier. They showed us just about everything available at Kenyan building sites:

We tried to get as much information about size, weight, quality and availability of each material as possible. Using a luggage weighing scale, folding ruler, recording device and tons of pictures we were able to get a nice overview about the commercially acquirable metarials.

For lunch we went back to KYC and had another meeting with Simiyu, as well as another match of volleyball and some on site scetching.

This morning we got picked up by Caleb Abayo Owino , our guide for the day and the headteacher of Pama Education Academy. The plan was to visit all the CIFEFA-Schools in Kangemi (apart from Five Star, see https://kycarchitecture.design.blog/2019/04/05/nairobi-day-three-2/ ). Overall there are 14 CIFEFA-Schools – 7 in Kawangware, 7 in Kangemi.
We learned a lot about the Kenyan education system and the challenges they face. For example many girls drop out before grade eight due to pregnancy and renting schoolgrounds eats up most of the fees, that parents are able to pay. Other challenges include: very little space for classes (up to 70 students per 20qm), expensive clean water, too few toilets, in rainy season flooding of classrooms.

Again we had a very tasty lunch, this time at Sweet Angels School with headteacher Christine. After lunch we head back to KYC and had our first floorplan dicussions with headmaster Joseph Simiyu and parent representative Zablon Shikuku. They were very helpful and gave useful insights into the Kenyan way of life.

Today was all about getting to know the other CIFEFA-schools. We walked around Kawangware (neighbourig slum) the whole day and visited 6 different slum-schools. We shaked many hands, learned many names, saw many faces. We had cold soda, hot milk-tea, local vegetables and the worlds best bananas.

The schools are all in different stages of developement, one could describe the typical growth in the following steps:
-start with a nursery taking care of little children
-the children grow too old and parents demand further education
-more space needed, they rent a hall (mostly of a slum church)
-maybe tables, portable deviding walls or toilets are added
-having classes only devided by portable walls becomes unbearable
-they gain recognition from outside, which brings funds
-they rent or aquire another lot and build metal sheeted classrooms
-there are different projects started (brick houses, external income, teachers accomodations, …)
This process takes place over 20, 25 years. We are yet to see what’s next!

After an awesome lunch at Skylife School went went back to KYC, where the male part of our team had a match of football, while Muriel did an drawing of the schoolground:

After an inspirational and relaxing weekend, we came back into the city today. We met up with the awesome team of KDI (check them out at:
https://www.kounkuey.org/ ) and got a tour to some of their projects in the Kibera Slum by our friend Ibrahim Nyaburi. The Kibera Slum is one of the largest slums in Africa and thus in focus of many international charities. It was very impressive to see how lively and happy the inhabitants are, despite being among the poorest humans on earth.

The KDI is a non profit foudation that starts social projects in the Kibera Slum. To make these projects self-sustaining they always cooperate with exsisting social groups and design interventions in close contact to them.
After completion of the building phase they hand over the full responsibility to their partners. KDI themselves are financed only by donations and awards (of which they won a few). So if -after some research- you think they make an important job (which they do!), please think about supporting their cause!

As we stayed in an Resort directly next to the Nairobi National Park tonight, we had an amazing morning view on the landscape and some ostriches, buffaloes and gazelles. The rural environment, generous roomsize and the first shower in some days let us forget the hectic city life instantly.
Today, a conference hosted by nyendo-lernen with all 14 headmasters of the CIFEFA-School-Network took place the Hotel. So we had the chance to present our backround and project details in front of the whole community. Also, it was amazing to listen to their speeches about how to strengthen their schools by self empowerment, community building and new business ideas.
All the schools are mainly financed by school fees, some raise money by renting rooms, selling vegetables they grew or soap they produce. The Nyendo-Lernen initiative enables them to not only survive, but also invest in their future.

Especially during the lunch and tea breaks we got closer to some of the headteachers.

In the evening we went to have dinner with Irmgard and her family. We were joined by Bart Eddy and his team who did a carpentry workshop at the Kangemi Youth Centre for the last two weeks and will fly back to Detroit tomorrow. They will come back next year bringing specially developed water filtration systems.

In the morning there finally was some rain, the locals waited a long time for it to come. The rain makes the streets less dusty, but it intensifies the smell and makes some of the streets unusable.
Anyways, after breackfast we were on our way to the Kangemi Youth Centre again. Because we didn’t manage to teach the grade 8 yesterday, we caught up on that first thing. They produced some amazing paintings and even taught us a new song!

Afterwards, we had a meeting with a couple of KYC teachers to find out how they live at the moment and also how they imagine their new homes to be.
This day was all over the place: Next we went to the neighbouring Five-Stars-School (also part of the Cifefa-school-network). There we were met by its headmaster Charles Edwards (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGYuza4o4Ti4hCcrFOaoEQA/videos ), who first invited us to play a match of volleyball and than sat with us for almost an hour, also discussing the differences and similarities of Germans and Kenyans.
For lunch we were than invited to Simiyu’s (the KYC-headmaster) home, where his wife had prepared a fabulous meal.
After lunch we quickly made some rough measuring of the building site.

Then we travelled back to the Irmgard’s place (the Oseki farm), where we will stay for the weekend and attend a large meeting with all Cifefa-headmasters. Hopefully being in this less busy environment we will also be able to jot down our first chaotic thoughts about the design of the teachers housing.

Today we went to the Kangemi Youth Centre with the plan to get to know the students. We had prepared a drawing lesson, with the plan to let the children draw themselves and their most important friends, family, hobbies, food etc. The objective was to jumpstart a disussion about the life of the students. Because we didn’t want to make this cultural exchange a one-way street we also joined the children and drew things important to us.
Drawing materials are on short supply in Kangemi, so we brought a lot of crayons (supplied by the awesome population of Pietzing at the Simssee) and paper.
You can see some of the beautiful paintings of students grade 4, 5, 6 & 7 here:

We ended each of the four lessons with a collective song, accompanied on the Gitalele by our one and only Julius Gut. The older classes also got a small introduction into perspectival drawing inspired by our former teacher Peter Schmid.

After a beautiful breakfast (thanks to Abby and Kathi!) we head into town. Before we finally went to the Kangemi Youth Centre, Irmgard Wutte (nyendo founder) connected us with a local artist and a project manager, both gave amazing insight on how to work in Nairobi’s slums.
After lunch we checked into our hostel and were driven to the KYC were met with the headmaster Joseph Simiyu. He told us about the school’s history and we exchanged first ideas about the future of the project. He also gave us a tour of the school ground and introduced us to the majority of the pupils and teachers.

Packing way to much stuff (seven bags plus hand luggage), we made our way to Nairobi yesterday. We started early in the morning at 4:30am and after a short stop in Frankfurt landed at Jomo Kenyatta Airport at 20:10 local time (which is 1 hour ahead of German time).
Surprisingly for us, noone at the Customs really cared for our extensive set of tools.
We were kindly picked up by Sammy Wathika at the airport and driven to the Oseki farm. There we were warmly welcomed by Irmgard Wutte and had a well needed rest.