Recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980.
This medical complex consists of two clinics, one of which is a maternity centre, and a 70-bed hospital. Its design and construction respect Mopti's great mud brick mosque nearby and the low-scaled mud structures of the town. The walls and part of the roof structure are of traditional banco construction using a mixture of local grey clay stabilised with concrete. Surfaces are finished with a smooth cement coating. Window openings are provided with metal shutters shaded by brise-soleils and deep overhangs. Heights of rooms vary to provide clerestory vents which ensure a flow of air through the clinics and wards. The latter surround a private courtyard. The galleries adjoining this enclosure invite use for cooking and sleeping by the patients' families accustomed by tradition to staying nearby and preparing food for them. The jury commended the builders of this centre "for creating a medical complex which responds with great sympathy both to the culture and to the sensitive surroundings. The design takes into account local traditions and practices, and makes effective use of available materials and techniques of construction. The imaginative relationship of public to private spaces within the complex is not only successful in use, but helps to integrate the building into the existing urban fabric."
Mopti Medical Center On-site Review Report, edited by Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1980.
Description
The On-site Review Report, formerly called the Technical Review, is a document prepared for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture by commissioned independent reviewers who report to the Master Jury about a specific shortlisted project. The reviewers are architectural professionals specialised in various disciplines, including housing, urban planning, landscape design, and restoration. Their task is to examine, on-site, the shortlisted projects to verify project data seek. The reviewers must consider a detailed set of criteria in their written reports, and must also respond to the specific concerns and questions prepared by the Master Jury for each project. This process is intensive and exhaustive making the Aga Khan Award process entirely unique.
