Location: Lassa Ward, Sierra Leone

Client: World Health Organization

The result of a project to develop health facilities suitable for treating infectious diseases in low income countries, this building was designed in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, Bio Design Global, and Arup Associates.

The naturally-ventilated, 20-bed unit was to be built on the foundations of an unfinished building in the hospital at Kenema, a part of Sierra Leone, where Lassa Fever is particularly pervasive.

The building form maximises natural convection and cross-ventilation for passive cooling, while minimising the risk of airborne infection. The modular design was conceived to be adapted for lowcost facilities treating infectious diseases elsewhere in the world.d underfloor heating.