The University of the Future Africa (UFA) Campus Master Plan developed by the landscape architects is the newest university to be planned in equatorial West Africa. The 400-acre site is legendary in Senegal's history. UFA will reside on the culturally and historically significant site of the former Ecole William Ponty, east of the Senegal's capital, Dakar, in the Sebikotane region. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the school produced highly trained executives for all of western Africa. The ruins of the school are important - both historically and spiritually - to the site and to the people of West Africa. Senegal's reputation as a center for secondary and higher education was unchallenged during its history as a colony of France. The vast majority of post-1945 African political activists were trained at Ecole William Ponty. As envisioned by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the 5,OOO-student university will have a dramatic impact on the economic and regional development in West Africa.

 

The landscape architects worked directly with Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC), a private, non-profit, non-government corporation formed for the purpose of developing, coordinating and implementing international education projects and programs. As a team, they worked with representatives from the World Bank, the United Nations, UNESCO and the African Millennium Challenge Grant Campaign to secure the funds to build the first technology-driven institution in Africa.

 

The landscape architects journeyed to Senegal to develop the climatic, cultural, site and vernacular analyses that shaped the campus plan. Numerous additional meetings with government officials, educators, tribal leaders and representatives from President Wade's office helped generate the facility and landscape responses to the culturally sensitive site and program. The team spent days on the site developing the many opportunities and constraints which would influence their master plan. Inventories of plant and animal life, drainage patterns, historic structures and tribal encampments and villages, etc., provided the landscape architects with an on-ground understanding of the site's potential.

 

Interviews with village herdsmen identified numerous issues previously undocumented in the historic mapping. Through interpreters, local villagers told of springs and wells that were to become the source of potable water for the campus.

 

The landscape architects were challenged not only by the historical significance of the site; they were also influenced by Senegal's fervent commitment to Islam. Research and analysis of the impacts and influences of Islam on the built form became shapers of the campus master plan as well. Local clerics chose the site for the mosque, which ultimately had a major impact on the campus master plan.

 

The landscape architects were challenged as well by the high technology mission of the institution in light of the cultural and vernacular influences shaping the campus. A distant education concept of simulation-based learning further shaped a campus that was both virtual and physical. The team's design response expressed the technology infrastructure as an integral element of architecture. The landscape architects also created the campus energy field where electrical energy for the campus was to be produced by both photovoltaic panels and windmill­powered generators. The energy field was a dominant form on the flattened savanna. To further develop and support a sustainable campus, the landscape architects worked with Senegalese agricultural officials to develop a campus working farm to support UFA's food needs and to provide jobs and income from the harvest to the surrounding villages. Where appropriate, campus recycled wastewater was proposed for the shelter belts and ornamental landscape zones.

 

The landscape architects paid careful attention to the location of the site's ancient Baobab trees. The centuries-old specimen trees are endangered throughout Africa. The campus master plan was partially shaped by the location of the giant trees. Roadways, building locations, infrastructure routings, etc., were planned to avoid disturbing the rare trees. The landscape architects proposed an onsite nursery to propagate the plant materials that are to be the planting palette for the campus.

 

Local Senegalese construction materials, systems and techniques were researched by the team and were incorporated into the plan's design guide. Architectural materiality was, for the majority

of the campus plan, simple and straightforward. Buildings were planned with breezeways, exterior corridors and shaded courtyards. Many will be naturally cooled and heated. Air-conditioned spaces were limited to auditoria and assembly halls.

 

The landscape architects worked closely with Ministere de l'Education du Senegal officials and representatives of President Wade's office to create the mechanism that would enable the majority of the project to be delivered locally in Dakar, with Senegalese architects, engineers and contractors retaining the majority of the fees.

 

To best communicate the final plan to the international community, the landscape architects created a leather-bound, silk-lined presentation book packaged in a boxed folio. Selected pages from the document illustrate the narrative of this submittal. Computer animations, campus fly­overs and supporting programmatic data accompanied the book.

 

The campus, as planned by the landscape architects, was far more than a collection of buildings. It was to be a symbol of the "new" Africa, reflecting President Wade's vision:

"A Pan-African institution that symbolized a unified continent."