Project Description
BACKGROUND Recently, there has been a growing concern about eating well preserved and healthy food for people’s well being. That implies ensuring a well aerated and lightened environment suitable to preserve food commodities like cereals, vegetables, fruits and spices. SITUATION In Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Benin, a lot of market are not constructed considering the best conditions of preservation of food commodities. Sellers sit under trees or under sheds for protection against harsh weather conditions. These sellers are mostly women who come to the market with their kids. Some of them stay by the side of the road, to find more customers. By the roadside, smokes of cars and other pollution are very dangerous for both the seller and the food. Another problem is the risk of fire at night. Since they use traditional lanterns to see, the place could accidentally get burnt. OUR PROPOSAL The main purpose is to protect sellers against harsh weather conditions and likewise allow the right amount of light reach food commodities for their best preservation. We propose a model of market that can let daylight enter and provide natural ventilation. The traditional basket, most used tool in this context, inspired us. So, we designed three open circular spaces to distinguish from the produce. The materials are bamboo, flexible slat and straw for the roof. OUR LIGHT INTERVENTION The height of the three baskets change with the need of light. For example, in a place where they sell dried spices or dried meat, the roof is higher to get more light. The higher the roof, the greater the amount of light entering the place. Some of bamboos slats are painted with fluorescent yellow paint. This will provide free natural light during the night. OTHER BENEFITS This market could help to - Keep food produce healthy - Attract more customers by the originality of the market - Ensure well being and security of sellers - Grow local economy and fight poverty - Contribute to women empowerment - Save the biodiversity of firefly (which disappearance is caused by too much electrical light) The design of typical baskets allow the light enter through this market during the day. In the evening, markets users will have free light to operate transactions.