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Cassia Coop Training Centre is a work of architecture that bears the responsibility of advocacy, and does well to uphold good ethics and values. TYIN Tegnestue Architects took on the project of designing a factory space for cinnamon production in Sumatra, Indonesia after receiving a visit from a French businessman who described the regrettable workers’ conditions and their mistreatment in the industry. Cassia Coop Training Centre makes amends by providing an encouraging, safe, and sanitary workspace that encourages embracing locally sourced materials. The center is built from locally crafted brick, and is surrounded by a light wooden construction from the trunks of cinnamon trees, which are ordinarily discarded as the by-product of cinnamon production. The Y pillars from the cinnamon trees create a forest of columns and crossbeams that support the roof, which sits slightly removed from the brick walls to let in sunlight and allow for cross-ventilation in the tropical climate. A combination of stone paths, wooden floorboards, and the surrounding durian trees incorporates the natural environment to create a warm and hopeful workspace. Photographs © Pasi Aalto, Zifeng Wei, Wenzel Prokosch.
