connected by crafts
Envisioning a Symbiotic future for the Maya Community
info
site
community engagement
masterplan
stakeholders
vocational school
‘Connected by Craft’ aims to create a symbiotic future for a coastal fisherman community in the East Coast of Kenya by proposing a multi-phased development across the island landscape and a vocational school desired by the community, with the help of local stakeholders and government agencies.
Maya, a small fishermen island of the Kilifi region, Kenya, is facing complex urban challanges including improper accessibility, fish loss, poor infrastructure, poverty, climate change impacts, lack of proper sanitation and healthcare facilities, and workforce depletion. These issues make this region’s innate beauty invisible to the local townships. As a result, the island’s primary income sources lie outside the vicinity of the area, making the residents, especially the youth, aim to leave their native community.
group
academic
group members
miraz reza
macey haynes
level | studio | duration
Graduate | Spring 2026 | 14 weeks
animation workshop
site analysis animation
studiowide animation compilation
diagrammatic expression
BIM modeling
visualization and animation
maya island, kilifi region
kenya
area
undefined
extended partners
mTree, Local NGO
Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya
Dr. Donghwan Moon, Assistant Professor
Raja Bandari, Teaching Assistant
grasshopper
premiere pro
photoshop
illustrator
site
interconnectivity
The interconnectivity diagram shows how each courtyard functions as hearts, and circulate emotion and information throughout the island. It also shows the negative space towards the east and the west, creating potential buffer zones for the island’s growth.
workshops
The workshop focused on finding the most used spots on the island by the community and evaluating the communal lifestyle. We prepared 6 copies of the island’s simplified map, and 6 separate, simple yet pointed questions corresponding to the maps.
interviews
Besides the workshops, we conducted in-person interviews with some of the leaders, locals, outside scholars, and teachers of the community. Some very interesting aspects of the community surfaced through these interactions.
island masterplan
Using the results of the research, the masterplan design proposes several nodes (main, educational, and economic) to interconnect the community using the triple bottom line focus (people, planet, and profit).
Several education nodes focusing on mangrove research, fish research, and satellite classroom spaces are proposed along the north-south axis of the existing school at the center of the island.
The main node hosts the primary and secondary school, along with the proposed vocational school. All the proposed structures of the nodes will be constructed by vocational school students, integrating the local workforce in community development.
Due to the island’s proximity to the ocean, the Kilifi creek is salty and it has drastic tidal water level difference. This condition makes the high tide level difficult for the people to navigate and land on the island.
actor-stakeholder relationship
vocational school
concept
The vocational school follows the concept of Symbiosis, as it utilizes the required programs (carpentry, fashion, and IT) in a product-specific lens and distributes the spaces based on activity. For example, the carpentry school will produce the structure of the furniture or boats, the fashion school will make upholstery and fishing nets, and the technology school will design patterns, evaluate structural integrity, and mechanize the boats.
In the site parti, the spaces are distributed according to their contribution to the vocational school ecosystem: the control zone, the action zone, the knowledge zone, the display zone, and the auxiliary zones.