"Hostels for Hope", Mwanza, Tanzania, Hostels for Hope: The Hostel at Bugando Medical Centre

If “Home away from home” is not an empty slogan, the spaces of life in the new Hostel should have the capability to be flexible, to encounter changing and variable individual needs. Furthermore the spaces must reproduce a domestic size, at the same time fostering friendship among the inhabitants. So, the general design concept is based on a scheme recalling the “primordial atavistic village”, with individual small buildings grouped in rows, gently lying on the natural sloping shape of the site. The basic individual living space is an “L-shaped” room, shared by two residents, equipped with private toilet (to enhance infection prevention). Thanks to the L-shape, each resident enjoys three exclusive views: towards exterior green areas, towards his own private shelf and finally towards an exclusive wall customizable with pictures or photo portraits.