Integrate Health Green Center

In 2022, MASS partnered with Integrate Health and Construction for Change to design and build a new training center, a model of environmentally sustainable design, that will act as Integrate Health’s headquarters in Kara, Northern Togo. As Integrate Health grows internationally, they also aim to further contribute to a “winning coalition” for primary healthcare in their countries of operation, reinforcing existing ecosystems of government and civil society organizations. The surrounding Adabawéré community shares Integrate Health’s desire to invest in long-term impact within the region and has donated a 1.2 hectares site in Kara for the Green Center. 

To assist Integrate Health in planning for their long-term needs of their new training center and headquarters, MASS conducted a series of engagement workshops and meetings with Integrate Health leadership, staff, community health workers, community leaders, and local industry experts at every stage of the planning and design. The outcomes of this engagement process informed and refined the final campus and building design, ensuring that the project responds to the needs of different community members, and showcases Togo’s unique culture. The project design is led by MASS’s Design Director Lysette Niragira.

The Center’s design is inspired by the traditional Togolese Tata Somba homes, which are symbolic of Togo’s landscape and built to be socially and environmentally efficient. Its design also features spaces for community gathering and training both indoors as well as within the landscape. The Green Center will also serve as a replicable model for high-performing, healthy indoor air quality, infection mitigation, and comfortable building, in an increasingly challenging climate. Because Togo's climate often experiences dry periods, the design strategy leverages the building form with high thermal mass stone walls on the East and West facing walls, adequately insulated and double roofs with overhangs North and South providing shading throughout the day.

In addition, the new Green Center will function as an energy-efficient and regenerative campus. The Center’s roofs are covered with solar PVs powering an energy-efficient cooling system for indoor ventilation, promoting a healthy indoor work environment and adaptive comfort through an occupant control system. The selection and use of local materials were maximized for lower embodied carbon, buildability, and cost efficiency, achieving half the embodied carbon compared to equivalent training and office buildings. One of the main goals of the landscape design is to rebuild biodiversity on site, while preserving the existing ecosystem. MASS worked closely with Agence IDEA, local architects and landscape architects, to carefully select native plants and trees that will be planted on site, covering 60% of the site area.

The Green Center will highlight what is possible in sustainable design, and underscore Integrate Health’s commitment to work at the intersection of health and climate justice.