IDAL (Intellectual Disability & Autism Lesotho) is a non-profit parent-led association. IDAL commissioned rise to design & construct a center that had been a dream for over 20 years but lacked funds to build. Standard Lesotho Bank and their partners gave a grant to IDAL who then recruited rise to take on this life changing project which formed the 2019 in loco fellowship.

We created a beautiful multifunctional pavilion surrounded by sensory gardens and an educational farm. It is also Lesotho’s first center specially designed for youth with autism and intellectual disabilities. The center is an ecological structure that is completely off the grid, with solar panels for electricity, a bore hole and rainwater harvesting and eco-friendly fencing that blends in with the environment. As well as multi-purpose areas for training and other activities, the center also has a multi-sensory space as well as a diagnostics room for early detection of autism and intellectual disabilities.

 

Learn more about the IDAL center by watching this brief video. You can also watch the design process of the Centre here as well as the findings from the Participatory Design Workshop here and Concept Designs here.