Original drawings by students

Original diagram drawn by students

Original diagram drawn by students

Architecture Case Study by
Lachlan McArdle and Anastasia Vitusevych

Cassia Co-Op Training Centre

Sungai Penuh, Kerinchi, Sumatra, Indonesia
TYIN Tegnesture

French Business man Patrick Barthelemy approached design firm TYIN Tegnestue Architects with the hope to create a safe and socially sustainable cinnamon school for local farmers and workers. The Norwegian practice responded with a design which would not only rival its competitors for top spot in product quality, but set a new precedent and standard in ethics.

Barthelemy told TYIN of current workers being underpaid while working long days in unsafe and unsanitary factories. In an area which provides 85% of the worlds cinnamon, the centre now provides training and schooling for local farmers and workers which receive proper payment and a decent healthcare program. This has combined to set a new standard in how to run a socially well functioning enterprise.

The building is comprised of five brick buildings covered by a single roof some 600m2 in area. The corrugated metal canopy provides shelter to the classrooms, offices, kitchen and laboratory beneath while allowing natural ventilation. Locally made bricks sit on a concrete slab which provide a heavy base to a lightweight structure. Two Durian Trees stand in their original location, in an open central courtyard which stands at the centre of the buildings. 

The project took roughly three months to construct using a large unskilled labour force, water buffalo which transported the timber to an on-site mill, and used only ten details in the whole construction. TYIN’s basic and pragmatic approach to designing the training centre made it possible for this project to be realized by an untrained workforce.

Sustainability
Approach
TYIN aimed to provide the local community in Sumatra with a school and training centre in which workers could improve their workplace and conditions. In an area which provides the majority of the world’s cinnamon, workers were being treated poorly, receiving no benefits and terrible conditions. Barthelemy sought to improve the lives of these workers and the people of the area by providing both sufficient training and education, and a safe and sanitary workplace. The centre has achieved this while also introducing the locals to some sustainable ideas and techniques. The cinnamon timber, a by-product of  the cinnamon production, had been considered by locals as low status. The choice to utilize the trunks in everything from the main construction to the interior of the centre has shown locals that it can be a reliable building material, not just a reject of the cinnamon production.

Scales
The Co-op centre reaches people across the cinnamon industry within Sumatra. It provides for workers and employers in the immediate area, but sets a precedent for other areas to follow. It has set an example of how the agricultural industry should be treated. The centre has the potential to change how the country views and treats the skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labour force. It has also instilled the locals with a sense of sustainability in regards to the treatment of site. Allowing the Durian Trees to remain and influence the building, rather than removing for the sake of convenience, it has instilled a great value in the nature which they inhabit. 

Program
TYIN’s centre in Sumatra has provided learning spaces for the local labour force in the cinnamon industry. The centre was designed in a way that would involve and depend on the locals to construct the buildings. The process results in the building being constructed by locals which benefit from learning new skills, and interactions with the design team. This is a place that the workers come to learn, receive training, and work in a safe and sanitary environment. It provides offices, laboratories and a kitchen to the workers to be used in a way of increasing the level of workplace conditions. 

How
A combined workforce of local unskilled labourers, architects, and architecture students came together to build the centre in three months. TYIN’s pragmatic approach meant that this was achievable through the execution of the basic and simple details in construction. Mass produced Y-Frame’s were constructed and bolted to the concrete footings. This dissociation and separation of different building components with different material frequency has helped see the building through several earthquakes above five on the Richter Scale. A wide roof with deep eaves protects the underlying space from sun rays and provides sound shading for cool crosswinds and ventilation. 

Challenges & Opportunities
TYIN’s approach to the Co-op centre is one based on their philosophy towards all design. They believe that solutions to real fundamental challenges call for an architecture in which everything serves a purpose - and architecture that follows necessity. They have strived to establish a framework for mutual exchange of knowledge and skills by involving the local people in the design and building of the project. 

Image References
Image 1-5. Cassia Co-op Training Centre. TYIN Tegnestue Architects. 
<http://www.tyinarchitects.com/projects/cassia-co-op-training-centre/> 
Photography by TYIN Tegnestue