Article 25 is the UK’s leading architectural Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), delivering humanitarian projects in developing countries. It has completed over 100 important projects in its 17-year existence.
Even more remarkably, its commitment to the highest design standards in locations where resources are scarce wins awards for its transformative health and education projects.
For instance, its low-carbon, passively-ventilated College Amadou Hampâté Bâ in Niger won the 2024 RIBA International Award for Excellence along with two AIA UK awards, including Exemplary Performance in Sustainability.
But to carry out such projects in the Global South means that Article 25 has had to become experts in collaboration both here in the UK and on the ground at the project’s location. Successfully bringing together people and skills can make or break a project, and even though the vast majority of Article 25’s projects take place thousands of miles away, the practice uses key principles of engagement to get the job done.
What do Article 25 do?
The not-for-profit practice (based in a London Docklands office donated by Canary Wharf Group) acts as designer and project manager to deliver complete projects, co-designing each building with the community as far as possible and using a local workforce.
“Eighty per cent of our work is with other NGOs who come to us and say, 'this is what we need'. We don’t run the schools or hospitals, but hand projects over to the people we work with who are already on the ground and delivering services,” explains Chief Executive, Gemma Holding.
Article 25’s focus is on education and health facilities, but the practice also delivers shelter and housing projects, particularly in post-disaster situations.
For instance, the practice worked on the reconstruction of 450 dwellings on the Caribbean island of Dominica that were destroyed by Hurricane Maria. The design team produced six hurricane-resilient model homes for families to choose from and adapt according to the site, and then rebuild where their previous house once stood. The recovery project was launched by the island’s government in collaboration with the World Bank.
Other post-disaster projects include a new national hospital in Montserrat to replace a previous hospital destroyed by a volcano eruption, and a new hospital and research laboratory for The Leprosy Mission in Nepal following a devastating earthquake.
Listen to RIBA Journal’s podcast, RIBA J meets, about consultation and community engagement.
How do Article 25 engage with local talent?
The practice operates where they are most needed and Gemma says it would never just parachute in a team from the UK to carry out a project, instead mindful of whether there is local expertise that can design and deliver the scheme of the right scale and quality. In fact, if there are skills and resources already in place locally, Article 25 will not take a project on.
“There is no point in a British NGO going in to deliver something if that is taking away the livelihood or income from a local architectural firm,” Gemma says. “There have been instances where we’ve tendered for a project, seen who we are up against and thought, ‘well, you could do that, so we will withdraw’.”
Instead, the practice will always recruit a local onsite architect where they can and will partner with local engineers where they are available.
On large technical projects like hospitals the practice will call upon its roster of engineering supporters for advice and consultancy. It counts heavyweight engineers such as Ramboll and WSP among the firms it has worked with and firms like SOM and Ridge lend their expertise.
Read more about RIBA’s Engagement Overlay to the Plan of Work.
What are Article 25’s key principles of engagement?
Having access to local knowledge and expertise is really important, says Gemma, and can pay huge dividends in achieving sustainability. The London team will usually be learning from local practices, she adds.
The award-winning College Amadou Hampâté Bâ, for instance, is built with laterite, a stone-like material made from hand-excavated soil left in the sun to cure. Sourced from a nearby site, it has negligible embodied carbon but has sufficient thermal mass to temper heat build-up internally.
This level of collaboration both at home and at the location of the project is vitally important.
The practice uses three key rules that can be crystallised like this:
1. Listening
All of the practice’s projects begin with extensive community engagement. It co-designs each building with the community who will be using it, ensuring it truly meets their needs.
2. Utilising the local workforce
As project managers, Article 25 forms a diverse team of local builders, making sure to include women and people in need of employment. It also trains local people in new construction techniques. This type of engagement encourages local ownership of a project and its building legacy, and even helps to boost the local economy.
3. Using local materials
This approach to the use of building materials that are sensitive to the landscape and culture helps to once again gives skilled workers and managers locally a sense of ownership, pride and localness. Article 25 also strives to build structures and buildings that last, helping to serve local communities for decades.
Architects can support Article 25 directly through its More Than a Building membership scheme. Sponsoring practices will see their contributions making a real difference by helping to build hospitals, schools and homes in places that need them most.
Member benefits include regular networking events, communications and PR opportunities, and access to free training and CPD that can help practices meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.
There are also occasional secondment opportunities for architects to work on impactful international projects.
To find out more and get involved, email Gemma.
Thanks to Gemma Holding, CEO, Article 25
Text by Neal Morris and the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
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