The Ger Innovation Centre is a community centre built from timber and polycarbonate by the Rural Urban Framework design group in Ulaanbaatar.

Hong Kong-based group Rural Urban Framework has been working with the residents of the Songino Khairkhan district of the Mongolian capital to create a gathering place for workshops, after-school clubs and community events.

A timber frame supports the whole building, which is structured as a room within a room. Mudbrick walls infill the wooden frames in four L-shaped configurations to bracket the inner space.

In the centre, a sunken conversation pit has amphitheatre-style seating with modular benches. The compact seating arrangement lets people sit cosily close together in cold weather.

The polycarbonate roof and outer walls let in light, and maximise the heat from the sun to warm the interior.

Extra warmth is also created by the buffer layer that traps heat between this inner sanctum and the outdoors, which doubles as a children’s play area when the Ger Innovation Centre is used as a creche.

The shape of the centre is informed by the Mongolian ger (yurt), which is made from, two poles, a surrounding lattice of wood and covered in layers of felt.

Songino Khairkhan is home to formerly nomadic people who have moved to the city, where they have permanently set up their gers and built homes from cheap bricks. The Ger Innovation Centre was set up to help ease residents’ transition from the nomadic lifestyle.

Every year some 30,000 more people arrive to Ulaanbaatar, seeking job opportunities, education for their children and access to healthcare.

Families live side by side in areas with no running water or sewer system. People dig their own pit latrines, and burn coal to keep warm in bitter winters where temperatures drop to below minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Throughout the year the community centre will host educational workshops on sustainability and courses in vocational training. In the summer, gardening workshops will work on planting the area around it.

As soon as the coronavirus pandemic is over, it is hoped that the centre will begin work in serving the community.