The architect based his design on the cambium, a local, spiral-shaped shellfish widespread on the Senegalese coast bordering Nianing, which is known as the Shellfish Coast. This shape was developed into an architectural structure, complying with the programme's constructive restrictions and providing optimum bioclimatic exposure. The hot, dry and dusty Harmattan wind blows to the north, while the trade winds from the sea provide cooler temperatures and humidity in the west.
The resulting slim, spiral-shaped volume comprises 3 types of vault: lowered vaults known as "basket-handle arches", semi-circular barrel vaults and ellipse-shaped cross-ribbed vaults. The 40 m-high bell tower is topped by an 8 m metal cross and serves as both signal and ventilation stack.
The project, which fosters the use of local materials, covers 455 m excluding culverts and external paving. It comprises five successive vaults and the belltower, supported by micropiles with tie beams and a suspended concrete slab.
The first double vault is low and oblique with an average width of 18.5 m for a height of 7.6 m, comprising 3 main transverse concrete arches and 4 cross arches at the centre. After this come four cross-ribbed vaults varying in width (between 4 m and 15 m) and height (from 10 m to 20 m). The final vault contains the belltower, reached by a spiral staircase.
Constructing the formwork proved to be the most difficult part of the project. The diversity of architectural shapes ruled out an industrialized process, which meant that specific formwork had to be built for each vault.
60 Eiffage employees are currently working full-time on the project, about 80% of which has now been completed. The inauguration is scheduled for early January 2018.
At the same time on the historic island of Carabane, Eiffage Senegal's teams have restored a church dating from 1885, in only 6 months.
The works were commissioned by the Senegalese Government as part of a programme to renovate places of worship and historic sites, to which local residents are deeply attached.
On 24 August the Culture and Communications Minister Mbagnick Ndiaye visited the site and thanked our teams for the quality of their work. The inauguration of this place of worship is scheduled for February 2018.
Eiffage Senegal builds a church in Nianing and restores another in Carabane
Eiffage Senegal is currently building Sainte Épiphanie Church for the archdiocese of Dakar in Nianing, in the south of the capital. The project is financed by the association Enfance et Nature (Childhood and Nature).
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