Smiling Gecko is an NGO devoted to rescuing children from trafficking networks in Cambodia and accommodating their families in a farm-based community in Mea Nork, two hours north of Phnom Penh. Our studio, led by Prof. Dirk Hebel was mandated by the organization to design schemes for the 1’000 community students.

Working in pairs, our proposal, eventually selected as a base for the final school design, was grounded in our ability to architecturally translate a myriad of inputs. We sought to minimize speculative decisions by informing our narrative and spatial concepts from exchanges with future students, a detailed analysis of the local vernacular architecture, knowledge extracted from a broad variety of electives courses, or advice from specialists in pedagogy, structural physic, landscape architecture or passive system design.

Ensuring the use of local material and supporting local labor, our design helps to maintain the best climatic conditions through natural cross ventilation, the blocking of solar radiation, the material thermal inertia, and protection from the yearly monsoon. Following the needs of the students, the design offers a broad variety of exterior covered spaces, special rooms for smaller groups of students, shower and laundry rooms, a public library opened to local monks, a vast common dining hall, and teachers’ on-site accommodation.

Collaborative work with Stephane de Weck.

Analysis & improvement of the generic Cambodian school building

Compendium of our architectural elements

Climatic & shading analysis | Adapting our design to the thermodynamic needs

Spacial models testing the structural system

Shots testing the outdoor’s spatiality

Master section & plan