The selected building

The selected building is one of the blocks that forms part of the P.E. College Struandale Campus. This block houses 2 Motor Workshops and 2 Electronic Workshops for the use of the Engineering students.


                                         This is the North-Western facade.

                                          This is the South-Eastern facade.

                                          And this is the South-Western facade.

The site analysis will follow...

I will if you will...

Let us unite to save the planet!

Earth Hour inspires a global community of millions of people to switch lights off for an hour as a massive show of concern for the environment. Earth Hour 2013 will be held on Saturday 23 March at 8:30pm-9:30pm wherever you are in the world.

A change this big needs you. I will if you will...

SA children can't afford books

I was delighted to see that News24 recently published an article that relates to my proposed function for my B.Tech project!

South African children are eager to read, they just can't afford books according to a survey. It was found that most young South Africans enjoy reading and want to read more, but are held back by the cost and availability of books.

Read the full article here: SA children can't afford books

For all who love colour

Find the palettes you love. http://design-seeds.com/

Creating a reading culture

Since the Eastern Cape’s public schools have the fewest functional libraries and computer centres, it is difficult to find a central location where learners from different schools, with no libraries or computer centres, can meet and share library material that include visual and digital media. As mentioned before, transport is another obstacle to overcome. The aim is to allow all learners in the Nelson Mandela Metro access to educational material. Thus, the concept is to make use of a central hub (chosen building) from which mobile ‘pods’ (recycled shipping containers) can be easily transported to several primary schools with no resources, in the Nelson Mandela Metro, and possibly to areas in the Eastern Cape, in order to distribute library material.

The central hub and the mobile ‘pods’ (recycled shipping containers) will be used to create spaces which serve functions such as a library area, computer centre, study/homework area, cafeteria and an integrated playground. The cafeteria will only sell healthy food and drinks to learners to promote healthy eating habits necessary to reach maximal educational potential. The playground will encourage learners to engage in several physical activities. It has been proven that physical activities improve learners’ academic scores.

The functions listed above will together create a secure environment where learners from Grade 1 to 7 will have access to reading material and computers as well as space to do homework or study. Through the sustainable design approach learners will also become aware of their environment and how to take care of it. This resource centre and its mobile ‘pods’ will incorporate valuable environmental lessons and create interactive learning opportunities for learners. 

I truly believe that this reuse proposal will most definitely add value to the education of countless learners in the Nelson Mandela Metro, as well as the Eastern Cape, without access to library material, such as books and computers, as it will provide them with these educational tools at the comfort of their own school. The proposed function will play a critical role in growing our nation. Books open a world of learning for children. The concept of the resource centre and its mobile ‘pods’ are not solely based on the distribution of information in the educational sense, which is important, but also to implant the love of reading, exercising and their environment as well as encourage children to open their imaginations. 

The images below served as inspiration for my B.Tech treatise proposal. The Vissershok container classroom by Tsai Design Studio (top) and the Jerusalem children's home by Four Design and Architecture (bottom). The children's home has been constructed from 28 shipping containers!

We can't afford not to

The joy (of reading) has been mine all my life, and it is one I wish for all South Africans.” (Nelson Mandela 2005).

For over two decades international research has proven that school libraries are beneficial to the progress and academic development of learners. In a major international study, for instance, researchers concluded that a stocked, staffed and fully-funded library in operation within a school alone improves students’ reading performance by as much as 8%. Beyond direct academic benefits, libraries offer social advantages too. In a survey, over 50% of learners identified school libraries as places where they would do homework and study for exams.

Libraries are essential for this country to improve its poor literacy and numeracy levels and to provide access to much-needed information (information literacy). Access to a library improves general academic performances since reading strengthens interpretational abilities. In communities where homes lack books and quiet spaces, school libraries offer stable sites for learning. School libraries do not only give children access to reading material and expose them to the joys of reading, but it often provides a save space for study that might not be available at home.

We can’t afford not to...

The heart of the SA education crisis

The right to education for all has been a key public priority since South Africa’s democratic transition. The legacy of apartheid, and in particular the fragmented education system which for over 40 years was based on racial division, left South Africa and its people with a deep-rooted crisis.

A mere 22% of 24 699 public schools in South Africa have libraries from which only 8% are functional. One can also look at it from another perspective – 78% of South Africa’s public schools do not have libraries. This appalling figure is the number of schools that do not have a physical space for a library, nor a book collection.

With relation to the Eastern Cape, only 9% of this province’s 5676 public schools have libraries, denying the rest of the learners access to regular reading opportunities. This figure further indicates that this province has the fewest libraries in relation to the number of schools. This comes as no surprise that the Eastern Cape is one of the provinces that perform the poorest academically compared to public schools in other provinces.

Further statistics show that more than 19 000 primary and secondary schools, in South Africa, do not have libraries or computer centres. KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape have the most shortages with more than 4000 schools in each province without a library, as opposed to Gauteng and the Western Cape that have fewer than 1000 schools each that do not have libraries or computer centres.

This really goes to the heart of the South African education crisis. 

Setting the scene

Our B.Tech year entails us to identify an existing building that can be used for a fictional design proposal i.e. an adaptive reuse proposal that would add value to the area and the community it serves. I want to propose a function that would deal with social and environmental issues, enrich a society at large and also make a difference...fixing is my way of thinking.