the medical complex for the salam centre

looking at the amount of discarded containers laying around the building site of
the salam centre in the city of soba, sudan italian firm tam architecture had the idea to
use them again to house international staff in the complex. placed besides the hospital,
in the surroundings of the nile river it is realized around a courtyard full of mango trees.
it consists of 90 x 20ft containers for housing and  7 x 40 ft containers for the cafeteria.
every lodging is 20sqm and is realized with one and a half containers; the lodging is
composed of bedroom, bathroom and a small veranda on the court side.

particular care has been dedicated to insulation and energy saving. the containers are
insulated with a 'layer system'. inside the container 5cm insulating panels have been placed.
the outside 'skin' is realized with a second insulated roof and a bamboo brise soleil panel
system. in this way the sun rays never hit the containers. an innovative air conditioning
system has been tested by using solar panels and chilling machines. solar panels also
supply hot water for the entire compound.




























interior


shipping containers prior to being converted


construction of the medical complex


discarded shipping containers




project info:
location and date: soba, khartoum (sudan), 2008 - 2009
client: emergency ong onlus
dimensions:
area: 8 663mq
covered surface: 1668mq
design team: program coordinator: emergency technical office,
project: studio tamassociati, structural engineering: francesco steffinlongo,
site engineer: alessandro tamai, roberto crestan