El Jicarito学校是一所创新的、低成本的学校，它通过合作的建筑方法和当地材料将一个社区聚集在一起，并创造了提高创造力的教育空间。这所学校位于蒂皮塔帕市（尼加拉瓜马那瓜）的小村庄El Jicarito。住在这个社区的27个孩子没有机会进入任何学校，在一个临时搭建的小屋里接受教育。最近的小学离这里有1.5公里，在雨季很难走到。因此，许多儿童要么没有上学，要么在完成六年级前就辍学了。为了满足这一基本需求，knitknot建筑事务所与非政府组织 “学习的种子 “合作，为幼儿园和小学生建造了一个有两个教室的学校原型。一个多功能空间和一个公共广场/操场也被预见为设计的一部分。

El Jicarito School is an innovative, low-cost school that brings a community together through collaborative construction methods and local materials, and that creates educational spaces that enhance creativity. The school is located in the tiny village of El Jicarito, in the municipality of Tipitapa (Managua, Nicaragua). The 27 kids that live in the community didn’t have access to any school and received classes in a makeshift hut. The nearest primary school was 1.5 km walk away along a road hard to trespass during the rainy season. As a result, many children either did not attend a school or dropped out before completion of 6th grade. To provide this basic need, knitknot architecture partnered with the NGO Seeds of Learning to build a two-classroom school prototype for kindergarten and elementary school students. A multipurpose space and a public square/playground were also foreseen as part of the design.

El Jicarito学校是一个在许多不同层面上加强社区参与的项目。首先，由于全球社区的经济支持，它的建设才得以实现。数以百计的匿名人士参加了建筑师设计的众筹活动，筹集了超过25,000美元来支持学校的建设。但最重要的是，El Jicarito学校的构想是让当地社区参与到设计和施工过程的每一个阶段。我们研究了可以通过集体参与的过程和低成本的当地材料和技术来建造的建筑系统，并在土袋系统中发现了这样一种方法。

El Jicarito School is a project that enhances community engagement on many different levels. First, its construction was made possible thanks to the economic support of a global community. Hundreds of anonymous people participated in a crowdfunding campaign designed by the architects and raised more than $25,000 USD to support the school construction. But most importantly, El Jicarito School was conceived to engage the local community in every single stage of the design and construction process. We researched construction systems that could be built by collective participatory processes and low-cost local materials and techniques and found in the earth-bag system such a method.

与预制建筑方法–需要高度的技术专长和昂贵的电动工具–不同，土袋建筑系统需要集体努力和非特定的知识。这种建筑系统为我们提供了使用廉价的丰富的本地材料–土壤的机会。通过与精密结构工程公司的合作，我们将这种传统材料转化为稳定的结构体系，以应对该地区的高地震风险。

Unlike prefabricated construction methods—which require highly technical expertise and expensive power tools—earthbag construction systems demand collective effort and non-specific knowledge. This construction system provided us with the opportunity to use an inexpensive abundant local material—soil. Through our collaboration with Precision Structural Engineering, we transformed this traditional material into a stable structural system that could account for the high seismic risk present in this region.

设计的过程也考虑到了社区参与。为了提高我们对社区具体需求的理解，knitknot建筑公司和学习的种子公司定期与孩子们和他们的父母组织设计研讨会。这些活动得到了建筑研讨会的补充，在那里对土袋技术进行现场测试。在这些研讨会上，建筑大师与Casa de Tierra一起工作，Casa de Tierra是一个当地的组织，以前有土建技术方面的经验。由于这些研讨会，该建筑现在成为了一个土包建筑技术的展览。它鼓励当地的建筑商和非政府组织将学校使用的各种系统应用到其他结构的建设中，如住房或仓库。通过这样做，它希望能提高目前当地建筑对地震和飓风的耐受力。

The process of design also accounted for community engagement. To improve our understanding of the specific needs of the community, knitknot architecture and Seeds of Learning regularly organized design workshops with the children and their parents. These events were complemented by construction workshops, where the earthbag techniques were tested on-site. In these workshops, the master builders worked together with Casa de Tierra, a local organization that had former experience in earth construction techniques. Thanks to these workshops, the building acts now as an exhibition for earthbag construction techniques. It encourages local builders and NGOs to implement the diverse range of systems used in the school to the construction of other structures, such as housing or warehouses. In so doing, it hopes to improve the endurance of current local structures to earthquakes and hurricanes.

该学校目前正面临第二个学年，学生在幼儿园和小学上课。此时，学校已经成为整个社区的一个公共场所，他们在这里庆祝社区会议和聚会。它也成为一个不仅为孩子们，也为成年人学习的地方，像加拿大变革之风这样的组织在学校大楼里完成焊接课程。

The school is currently facing its second academic year, with students attending kindergarten and elementary school classes. At this time, the school has become a public venue for the whole community, where they celebrate community meetings and gatherings. It has also become a place for learning not only for kids but also for adults, with organizations like Winds of change Canada completing welding courses in the school building.

Architects: knitknot architecture
Area: 650 m²
Year: 2016
Photographs: Silvio Balladares, Seeds of Learning
Architect In Charge:knitknot architecture
Design Team :El Jicarito School
Clients:Seeds of Learning
City:Tipitapa
Country:Nicaragua