MAHIGA RAINWATER COURT
In 2009, Nike awarded The Nobelity Project, in partnership with Architecture for Humanity, a "Game Changers Award", an architectural grant to build a multiple purpose game, performance and rain water collection facility.
Designed and supervised by Greg Elsner, this athletic facility for Mahiga Hope High also provides a community center for Mahiga. More importantly, it also provides the schools a source of clean drinking water.
The Mahiga Rainwater Court opened in conjunction with the school's grand opening in 2010.
Austin architect, Dick Clark, was instrumental in the resource funding of the court and had the opportunity to visit Mahiga to meet the students and made sure the primary school kids had adequate classrooms.
His firm, Dick Clark + Associates continues to support Mahiga and keep Dick's legacy alive. In March 2019, the Dick Clark III Legacy Library was opened to students by partners Mark Vornberg and Kris White.
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DC+A describes the rainwater court project:
The Rainwater Court in Mahiga Kenya encompasses the spirit of sustainability in a way that few projects do. The full-court basketball court integrates rainwater collection into the roof system and UV purification systems with solar panels for the water system and night lighting in areas without electricity.
The hallmark of the project is the 90,000 liters of purified water that it produces which allows the women of Mahiga to redirect their time spent hauling clean water to the the pursuit of an education and thus fostering the notion of LEED community connectivity.
About Mahiga Hope High School
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The Nobelity Project partnered with the local community in Mahiga, Kenya, with Architecture for Humanity, Nike, Safaricom and others to build Mahiga Hope High School.
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AfH design fellow Greg Elsner lived in the community for a period of one year to build the rainwater court.
The high school is a 2-story, 8-classroom building that includes a library and computer library. The campus also offers a science building with biology, chemistry and physics lab, a kitchen and dining room/study hall, sanitation facilities, multiple rainwater systems and a new pre-school replaced the existing pre-school which was repurposed as office space for the high school.
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Read the whole story of Building Hope here.