111: A new market square in Mbeya.

A new market square in Mbeya.

5/31/2014

Location: Uhindini, Mbeya, Tanzania

Client: The Mbeya municipal council

Designer: Ntabuly Nana.

There was a market square once but it faced fire disaster in 2010 and after that the space was cleared and fenced. Architectural Technologist N.N saw the opportunity and proposed a new public market.

At Mbeya Uhindini area is like a dead town since the place is too cool and lack cherishing activities. This is because of the lack of lack of something which can connect people together. Previously the market used to connect people and cherish the Uhindini area, but since the burn of the market, the area is dormant.

The new proposed market will make the town alive again since it has a sense of public space, culture and adhere to its surroundings and nature.

The new market has two major buildings; the major design requirement for public market building designing is to acquire full nature ventilation and natural light and the building should be easily accessible from all the sides.

The first building in-composes open public market with major natural elements features of nature. As we see mountains and hills are the dominating topographical feature in Mbeya region and from history of ancient people; forest acted as the source of basic needs i.e. food, shelter and clothes and so leads to market as a centre provider of food and other commodities and thus to come up with the concept or idea. So the designer designed an elevation which looks like forest, it has steel structure which is arranged irregularly, which in fact brings the sense of trees in a forest.

The roof of the building is inclined from the ground in one side so as to reflect the nature of the mountains which surround the Mbeya city.

The second building consists of cubical rentable spaces. The building has three stories which both have rentable spaces. The floors have a courtyard at the centre which brings the sense of community since people circulate around it and can see below/upper floors through it also it helps in central void and allow stack ventilation. From the outside there is vertical circulation which takes people to the first floor and from within there are stairs which can take people from the ground – up. The façade has enough windows which allow cross ventilation