LAGOON OF LEARNING

Lagoon of learning

Not every school can be Stowe, an English public school and a place of privilege, and yet beauty can be found in the least privileged settings, too. Which school could be more special than the floating school in Makoko, a waterborne shanty town off the coast of Lagos. Here, NLE architects, a Dutch firm led by Nigerian-born Kunlé Adeyemi, have shaped a simple, yet hauntingly beautiful timber school floating among lagoon houses.

Beauty can be found in the least privileged settings

Makoko is a poor place, although like Stowe 90 years ago it has been threatened with destruction by politicians and officials who see it as an illegal settlement. Now, with a school that has won admirers worldwide, Makoko is a source of pride for an increasing number of Nigerians. Working closely with local people, NLE have brought not just education to Makoko’s children, but self-esteem and a new beauty to this shanty town, too.

In Makoko, Dutch architects NLE have shaped a simple, yet beautiful timber school floating among lagoon houses (Credit: NLÉ, Iwan Baan)

Beauty was both essential as well as natural to the founders of early seats of learning, especially those where spiritual and academic learning were seen as one as the same thing. The beauty as well as the practicality of the medieval colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, for example, have not just been celebrated and proven over many centuries, they have also inspired the design of university campuses worldwide.

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