Kalabash Academy, founded by Foday Kabba, is looking to build a residential soccer academy and wellness center. The project currently runs through rented spaces. The site is in Conakry, Guinea, along the coastline. The project is composed of three main parts, Education, Soccer, and Wellness. The program hopes to give kids a fighting chance to excel through education, with a curriculum including English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, and character development. Kalabash’s soccer training takes an individualized approach by concentrating on player development through personalized coaching. The wellness aspect attempts to make a cone action with surrounding community members by offering a space for fitness and health. Wellness centers include activities such as dance, weight rooms, health classes, and physical therapy. The wellness centers will also be a driving force in creating funding for Kalabash education and soccer programs. The architecture amplifies the phrase “it takes a village,” by challenging the relationship between spaces of individuality and community. Using the existing hierarchical paths of travel and entrances on the site, space created by the void of movement adapts to inform activities based on adjacent path participants. Connection points between buildings will encourage interaction between academy participants, wellness members, and the surrounding community.
