Multipurpose Hall at St. Bernard's: An Amphitheater of Community and Light, Mannya, Uganda
Serving the rural community of Mannya, the Multipurpose Hall at St. Bernard's Secondary School provides a vital gathering space that blends dining and assembly functions for hundreds of students. Funded by the Cotton On Foundation and designed by studio FH architects, the structure responds directly to the site's topography, carving a sweeping amphitheater into the gentle hillside. The architecture embraces local craftsmanship and passive design, creating a vibrant, sheltered heart for the campus.
The Vision
The project was conceived to unite the school community, forming a combined assembly and dining hall that comfortably accommodates up to 650 students. By sinking three curved, bench-height steps into the natural slope of the land, the design creates a multi-tiered auditorium that is equally suited for stage performances or communal gatherings. With a depth of 2.7 meters, these generous steps allow for the perpendicular placement of dining tables and benches, establishing a highly flexible volume that encourages interaction and shared experience.
Tectonics
The building's structural expression is deeply rooted in its context, featuring tilted reinforced concrete columns that are richly clad in stacked layers of locally available materials, including clay bricks, tiles, and stone slates. Hovering above this earthy, textured base is an expansive metal roof boasting a twenty-one-meter span. The roof planes are wedge-shaped and installed at varying angles, allowing natural daylight to filter beautifully through narrow triangular strips of vertical translucent sheeting, which softens the contrast between indoor and outdoor illumination. To mitigate the industrial nature of the steel canopy and drastically improve interior acoustics, baffles crafted from locally available hemp fabric are suspended from the ceiling.
The Living Building
Designed to operate respectfully within its rural environment, the hall integrates a suite of low-tech, high-impact sustainable systems. Concealed rainwater harvesting mechanisms capture precipitation for campus use, while solar chimneys integrated into the adjacent, curved white kitchen building dramatically improve natural ventilation. Furthermore, the incorporation of fuel-efficient firewood stoves ensures that the daily preparation of meals for the student body is resource-conscious and practical.
Data Sheet
Project Name: Multipurpose Hall at St. Bernard's
Location: Mannya, Rakai, Uganda
Architect: Localworks
Completion Year: 2016
Area: 680m²
Key Materials: Clay bricks, tiles, stone slates, reinforced concrete, steel, translucent roofing sheets, and hemp fabric
Typology: Educational / Assembly / Dining
Client: Cotton On Foundation
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