The work on Cassia Coop Training Centre was completed in Summer 2011 and was lead by TYIN tegnestue in which Rozita (founder / architect) was part of the project team. It all began with a visit from a French businessman, Patrick Barthelemy with TYIN. He told the story of how an area of Sumatra supplies 85 % of the cinnamon consumed worldwide, yet another and more sinister part of the story concerned workers without rights, underpaid and working long days in unsafe and unsanitary factories. The story made an impression and TYIN had the ambition and passion to design build a sustainable cinnamon school for local farmers and workers.

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Cassia Coop Training Centre became a unique centre with ambitions of being better than its competitors, not only in quality, but first and foremost in ethics. The centre set a new standard in how to run a socially well functioning enterprise; local farmers and workers received proper payment, a decent healthcare program and access to schools and education. In addition, the factories of Cassia Coop were sanitary and safe.

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The project was mainly constructed from the use of two materials; locally crafted brick and the trunk of the cinnamon tree. The trunks are a by-product from the cinnamon production and it has a low status among the locals. This low status, however, seemed quite undeserved, and so TYIN chose to utilise the trunks in everything from the main construction to the interior of the centre. The finesse of craftsmanship found on, amongst other things, the doors and windows of the centre, is some of the most impressive we have witnessed during our projects.

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The main construction consists of a mass produced Y-pillar, bolted down into a concrete footing. The placement of the pillars subordinates to the floor-plans, while the system of the construction secures tightness and rigidity. Underneath the massive roof surface we find five brick buildings, amongst them a small laboratory, classrooms, offices and a kitchen.

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In a project of this size, with a short timeframe of three months, logistics was a major challenge the team worked together to learn and develop from. With seventy workers taking part, eight water buffaloes hauling trees from the forest and an on-site sawmill, project management was essential. The entire project was made up of ten simple details. Basic and pragmatic approach to design that made it possible to realise the project with an untrained workforce.

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Another major challenge of building in this area was the frequent earthquakes. The construction had already survived several quakes reaching over five on the Richters scale, which proved that the idea of separating different building components with different material frequency worked. Cassia Coop Training Centre has passed the test of the forces of nature. 

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In the time this project was completed, it has gone to won several awards including Archdaily Building of the Year and European Prize for Architecture and Global Award for Sustainable Architecture. Another great success if not the most important is that years after the project was completed, the local community began to adopt this new vernacular language into their own homes and businesses, creating an orbital ripple effect around the the training facility. Creating employment opportunities to those who were involved in the project and educating on sustainable strategies even through climate change.

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The impact on this project that Rozita was part of, also carried with her in the decade that followed in her career. She felt that understanding the community, the local vernacular / building style and working closely with them had a genuine long term effect that could be further invested in with education from all ages. This project was the foundation of setting up CIRCLE studio and creating a facilitator that would enable pathways to be created to allow for genuine long term change through architecture and education.

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