BloomBox 4.0 @ Malawi Institute of Education, Zomba, MW
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Sustianable global development architecture in bloom.
At a time when education and access to knowledge are more important than ever, over 280 million students are unable to attend school, and hundreds of millions more do not have adequate access to the educational technology that would prepare them for productive futures. It is estimated that 666 million people around the world do not have access to electricity, and therefore to connectivity to the world’s ideas and knowledge. This means that the world does not fully benefit from the vast imagination and energy of millions of people in communities around the world as it contends with the grand challenges of our time, including societal health, poverty, conflict, climate change, and planetary health.
BloomBox 2.0 @ Othakarhaka Community Center, Mulanje, MW
BloomBox Design Labs (BBDL), a social enterprise founded by Stanford Sustainable Architecture + Engineering student Sofie Roux, is dedicated to the application of design thinking and sustainability principles to advancing access to high quality education, especially in underserved, rural, and remote environments. Many of these environments represent emerging populations and markets with vast human potential and unmet needs for infrastructure for education, commerce and housing. Conventional methods of construction and energy distribution are unable to keep pace with population needs for infrastructure and for participation in the ideas economy. BBDL employs modular and configurable strategies to democratize access to state-of-the-art education in STEAM fields. This includes the upcycling of shipping containers as well as custom made retractable structures; solar power; precision design of indoor/outdoor spaces for specific and adaptable uses; high speed internet connectivity; digital educational resources; and local production, sourcing, supply chains, and employment. Modularity, transportability, and security and virtual connection are key features of design.
To date, BBDL has designed and installed solar-powered STEAM learning labs with computers and an array of digital resources and educational technologies, high speed internet connectivity, and inviting indoor/outdoor learning spaces, in 4 austere urban and rural educational environments in Malawi, a country in which 80% of the population is off grid. These labs have transformed educational experiences and opportunities for close to 10,000 students, the majority of whom did not have regular access to electricity or computers in the past. BBDL has taken a data-driven, design thinking approach to the creation and improvement of these labs, measuring laboratory use (through electricity consumption, server use, and search volumes), student and teacher satisfaction, and educational outcomes (test scores, graduation rates, and university acceptance rates). Briefly, we have noted high and uninterrupted use of the labs and technology, high satisfaction, increased test scores and graduation rates, and, in a country with a 1% university participation rate, increased entry into university. At one of the BBDL sites, educators noted a 550% increase in university entry for girls in the community.
