In Senegal, street vending is a problematic venture for all sides involved. Shop owners struggle with organizing their goods, and customers have to select from unhygienic products. The under-the-table arrangement cuts the government out from tax dollars.
PAB Architects has created a more organized way to go about business. The Senegal Ministry of Commerce and Chamber of Commerce commissioned the firm to design Senegal City Market, a modular retail complex consisting of groups of 5x7-meter shop units.Â
The steel-frame units are prefabricated and mounted on site. The modules can be customized. Exterior can be made of either bricks or dry process panels. Glass windows and metal or bamboo shutters are optional.Â
The layout of the complex can come in different varieties, as shops can be set around a courtyard, or they can have alleys connecting them. The layout maintains the social aspect that comes with outdoor shopping in Senegal.
âThe main design principle for these market settlements is to create an introverted space since the market sites are indefinite which makes it hard to control the boundaries, neighboring sites and external factors both in terms of creating a planned outdoor space and also to sustain security at night time,â PAB wrote in a press release. âSettling around a courtyard is also advantageous in terms of climate control; creating shadowy outdoor areas and directed natural ventilation.â
The first marketplace will be built in Kaolack, Senegal, and 12 more marketplaces are planned.
Â
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
A new residence complex is in design for United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE, near Abu Dhabi. Plans for the 120-acre mixed-use development include 710 clustered townhomes and apartments for students and faculty and common areas for community activities.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the âWall of Lightâ is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Bookworms in Silver Spring getting new library
The residents of Silver Spring, Md., will soon have a new 112,000-sf library. The project is aiming for LEED Silver certification.
| Oct 12, 2010
Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.
27th Annual Reconstruction AwardsâSpecial Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction AwardsâBronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loewâs Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction AwardsâSilver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards â Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cuyahoga County Soldiersâ and Sailorsâ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio
27th Annual Reconstruction AwardsâGold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiersâ and Sailorsâ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction AwardsâGold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
From âPlain Boxâ to Community Asset
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps provide 55,000 meals a day to the hungry. Who would guess that it was once a nondescript mattress factory?